The Island

The island was an attractive albeit predictable sci fi film about the evils of cloning. When a super curious clone called Lincoln Six Echo , discovers things at the habitat where he lives aren't quite what they seem, he warns his girlfriend and they escape together. At this point, the film devolves into a number of chase scenes which were entertaining at first but quickly became boring. I particularly hated the scene on the building where the two clones are hanging on the sign and they are getting shot at. Lame. Also,it seems to me that the group hired to apprehend the two clones were about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It would've been much better to trick the clones than run through crowded city streets shooting cops.

Overall, this was an entertaining, unchallenging action film with hints of science fiction. It could've been better with a more clever plot, a more devious villain and less boiler-plate action.

Visually beautiful with attractive and believable stars who work well together, this sci-fi action movie blends intelligent concepts with a briskly moving plot to offer viewers a breathtaking view into the not so far off future, now. Ewan McGregor was excellent as the childlike and curious Lincoln, and also is a convincing supercilious jerk as his owner, in a dual role. Scarlett Johansson is perfect as the nymph-woman, a role which would take quite a bit of depth to carry off as well as she does, a subtle and understated performance, with her innocence being crucial to the mercenary, played by Djimon Hounsou, in realizing his essential truth. The mind blowing special effects scenes with the train wheels and the falling sign are seamlessly integrated into real life action, like, how did they do that without someone getting creamed? Steve Buscemi adds both a lightheartedness and a dark comedy of horrors feel that the movie needed in order to make the transition from the ultra-hygienic, synthetic world to the real, gritty one, believable. With elements from Coma, The Sixth Day, The Matrix, and even Dave, but not derivative or copying.

For some reason Michael Bay gets panned by everyone yet his movies are always blockbusters. Personally I think he makes excellent movies and his visuals are spectacular. Its not the explosions or the excessive actions its all about the colors, angles, moods and emotions he manages to capture on film. His films are art, he is an artist, they are visually beautiful. I know a bunch of avant garde loving film geeks will despise me for saying this but honestly I would MUCH rather watch Michael Bay films over hyper inflated, avant garde schlock like Tarkovsky.

Good movies and good art need to be accesible to ALL. Michael Bay manages to achieve films that appeal to all audiences.

This is a fun movie and one that is a great contemporary telling of Plato's cave allegory. Interesting, well executed and visually stunning.

Hate me if you will but I think Michael Bay is an excellent film director.

The Island is quite a thought provoking movie that explores the concept of cloning and cloning for human organs as a commercial exercise. Although the movie is a 'bit' disturbing at times, overall it has a strong story line, excellent visual effects and lots of technology thrown in. There's a very cool flying bike contraption and a levitating Amtrak train.

A point to note is that all throughout this movie you can see very recognizable logos of well known companies. Perhaps this movie is also an experiment in 'in-movie' advertising. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson make a good team here and overall add to the likability of an already quite capable movie.

I think this movie would have done a lot better on DVD than in theaters. A scifi fan cannot go wrong with this one.

This is a good film by Michael Bay that obviously has some story to it dealing with some important ethical and morailty issues on cloaning. This is not the first time a movie has been made on such issues, though its an improvement over such films such as The 6th Day. With a great cast, excellent use of cgi action in a futuristic setting, and a fine plot - one would think it is an overall success. It is enjoybale in the end, but the three main elements seem to clash along the lines too often to keep it from perfection.

The movie begins with the enclosed lifestyles of the clones, though we don't know that they are clones quite yet. It brings up many questions as to what exactly is going on, and though a bit slow at times, it doesn't really matter cause it makes you want to keep watching to figure all this out. Once we discover the meaning of what is exactly going on, the thrills of the chase and action begins, and that's where it gets exciting yet the story gets a bit crumbled down. Then comes the question of if this is exactly right, what people are doing to these clones, and it comes to the point that even bad guys will do good when the line is pushed too far in their field of work (you'll know what I mean when you see the Djimon Hounsou character).

If the moral/ethical point of view is tiresome or doesn't interest you, there is still plenty of sci-fi thrill to entertain, as well as plenty of humor thrown into the mix. Again, the cast list is impressive, and even the smaller roles seem to play an interesting part in this film.

Overall, this is a fine movie that is good but not great. Things don't flow too smoothly altogether, but this is still a movie sure to entertain and make a great comment about ethics and morality about longlivety.

Acting - 4
Action - 4
Characters - 4
Story - 4
Overall - 4