The Island

I still wonder why the movie did not do better at the box office. It is one of the best action movies in the last 5 years.
Great story, great actors, fast pace..........
I already watched it 3 or 4 times by now

I think the Island was the best movie I saw the year it came out. It started out with a great story and within the second half of the movie exploded with great action sequences.

The basic plot is that ewan mcgregor and scarlett johansen live in a environment that is supposed to be a contaminant free area and they have survived a sort of global contamination that killed most people. Every once in a while there is a drawing to leave this clean environment that is sort of boring and go to this sort of tropical island where I guess it is also contaminant free. They find out there is no island and they are clones used for rich people as spare parts. So they escape and the rest of the movie is them being chased while they are trying to find their sponsers(the people that they are the clones of) and then trying to free the other clones. That is pretty basic I didnt want to give to much away.

Anyway ewan mcgregor and scarlett johansen do a great job as well as steve bucsemi and the guy that plays in those dex commercials as well as a great villian in sean bean and the guy from blood diamond djmon houston was good as the guy hunting them down. Great sci fi. Great message too.

Also very good special effects and action sequences, great story and acting.

Kevin

Ok, so I'll admit. I think sci-fi is boring, star trek and weird and star wars......... well......... I liked the princess! So when I watched this movie with a couple of friends I thought, oh lord........ another scifi movie that I have to keep myself awake for. The humanistic plot and the riveting graphics was such a pleasant surprise! I was actually able to watch this movie twice, something I rarely do! It's a great compromise to satisfy your "tech boyfriend" without creating a snore fest.

First, while I very much liked the movie -- it surprised me how good it was - something really irks me about Michael Bay. In his audio commentary, for example, he arrogantly laments the fact that the movie only made $35 million when in opened in the US. He blames it on the marketing campaign. It didn't inform people properly that this was an action movie, he claims. Furthermore, the choice of title detracted from sales because it was "too complex," i.e. not action-sounding enough (although he never mentions a better title; what does he want: Escape of the Clones?).

Michael, Michael, Michael...

The thing that made this movie superior to your other movies was that it was not just another action-packed thriller! It spoke to deeper levels!

Bay is a wonderful technician. He even understands the value of, and often succeeds to some degree, of incorporating a human element in his movies (e.g. father-daughter in Armageddon; innocent clones learning about the birds and the bees in this movie). However, the reason he is not in the class of immortal or truly-serious directors is because to him the action is the main thing while the deeper and/or even human elements are secondary -- or worse, merely tools to raise his sales figures (which he never loses an opportunity to remind you of).

Michael, the thing that makes this movie more than just another action flick is that it has depth built into it. Like THX 1138 and The Truman Show you have a character (or characters in this case) living more or less unconscious in the womb of a seeming utopia only to discover (i.e. be born into the reality) that there is a real, not-so-utopic existence beyond the literal four walls of their existence. It's both intriguing and stimulating to watch the characters struggle with the feeling that something is just not right with their worlds and then eventually come to the epiphany that they have been had. Like THX and Truman, in The Island the viewer's consciousness of the situation progresses along with the character's level of consciousness, starting with the feeling that something is not right, discovering more things that confirm it, being confused, asking what is going on -- and eventually having it hitting you like a brick that the world is not at all as it seems.

This is one of the things I loved about The Island.

It differs from THX and Truman in that the characters discover the hoax of their lives and emerge into the outside world not just at the end, but in the middle of the movie. This works very well here, in my opinion, because it allows them -- and us -- to explore in greater depth the wonder and horror of the real world they have never been privy to.

In any event, one could argue that such levels of meaning do nothing for, and maybe even detract from, a movie's sales. However, this is the very stuff that makes a movie more than a box office hit padding the director's pocket, but a work that can transcend his life and ours. Unfortunately, it seems this was lost on Bay.

The last point I wanted to make was about the social commentary inherent in this movie. Others have spoken about it. One of the reasons it resonates was because the science bordered on that imaginary line between fiction and reality. The technology is beyond our present level but not so far beyond that it is inconceivable.

Also, these are not the clones of Star Wars, who all look the same, speak the same and are equally devoid of emotion. These are human clones, with the emphasis on human. They may not have developed capacities more than young teenagers, but they are human - in fact, their human capacities are bursting of the seams. (Indeed, their humanity spinning out of their maker's control is one of the things that drives the movie.)

Furthermore, the social commentary aspect of The Island doesn't hit you over the head. You don't get the feeling that this movie was the pet project of some producer/director trying to make a social comment (although the shadow of Spielberg, who recommended Bay for the project, may be present in this regard). It's genuinely an exciting, satisfying sci-fi action movie, which also happens to have a very poignant social comment woven seamlessly into the concept.

However, beyond that, arguably the greatest value of the social commentary in The Island is that it delivers something no congressional hearing or brilliant paper/lecture can do. It makes you FEEL, EXPERIENCE and IDENTIFY with what it would be like to be a clone in a non-clone's world. It's the experiential projection of it that makes you a more sensitive and informed human being no matter which side of the argument (or arguments) you are on.

The Island is not the best or deepest movie ever made. But it is more than your average action thriller - even if that fact may have been lost on its director.

"The Island", the combination of Action / Sci-Fi/ Thriller and more is quite enjoyable (it is always fun to see not just one but two Ewan Mcgregors on the screen; Scarlett has become a real beauty, and Steve Buscemi makes any film watchable) but easily forgettable summer blockbuster. "The Island" takes place in the near future and tells the story of a world where the cloning have became a reality and the wealthy citizens can and do order the clones in order to successfully treat their present or future health problems. The clones are living human beings with the feelings and dreams that have no idea about their destination which is to become the source for matching body parts, blood, and organ of the ones who paid for them. The movie raises very interesting, serious, and important ethical questions but does not have time to stop and to contemplate on them - it is too busy with the non-stoppable fast and furious action sequences. It had the potentials of 'The Matrix" (first one) or "Minority Report" - it just did not happen.