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"The Island": Good end to summer |
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Written by ALAN SIMONIS
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Friday, 22 July 2005 |
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It is both ironic and somewhat fitting that a summer movie season filled (for me at least) with remakes, sequels, and adaptations is nearing a close with a film, literally, about cloning.
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"The Island"
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 Entertainment
 Art
Directed by Michael Bay
Written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci
Starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean and Djimon Hounsou
Rated PG-13 for frightening sequences of sci-fi violence and disturbing images.
Released July 22, 2005 |
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However, even “The Island” (an original work, not a new version of some other property) is not completely free from the stigma of repetition.
Aesthetically, director Michael Bay seems to be channeling the 1976 sci-fi classic “Logan’s Run” for much of his film’s artistic vision. Story-wise, “The Island” is also quite similar to an old Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie called (dig this) “Parts: The Clonus Horror."
For what it is though, “The Island” is an enjoyable picture. Bay is one of the architects of the modern summer blockbuster (“The Rock,” Armageddon,” “Bad Boys,” and so on), and this film is one of his better efforts. As “The Island” begins, we are informed that in the not-too-distant-future, much of the Earth’s population has been wiped out by a plague. The “survivors” of the contamination reside in a luxury condo/shopping center facility where they are cared for, re-educated, and entertained, while they wait to be relocated to the last safe natural habitat, “the island.” Most of the inhabitants seem fairly content in their existence- who wouldn’t be happy with Virtual Reality X-Box, free food, and all the Puma gear one could want? Aside from an understandable anxiousness to get to the island, they have nothing to worry about. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) doesn’t see it that way though; he has a capacity for questioning that most of the others do not. He wants to know why he has to wear a white tracksuit all the time, why he can’t have what he wants for breakfast, where the workers at the facility live, where the tubes he helps maintain go… All these questions come raining down on Lincoln when he accidentally witnesses one of his friends being dissected for organ harvesting. We later learn there is no island, and that they are actually clones, grown for use as spare parts by their cell donors. While Lincoln doesn’t immediately comprehend what’s going on, he does realize that it’s not good for him, so he makes a run for it with his friend Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) in tow. At that point the film switches into the typical Bay action film mode: lots of chases, gunplay, and lines of dialogue that read like stage directions (“Move!” “Come on!” “They’re over here!”). True, the film misses the opportunity to comment on hot-button issues, specifically stem cell research and persistent vegetative behavior. Also, I have the same plot device problem here as I did with the entire “Matrix” saga. There is no reason I can see why the organ harvesters or the Matrix programs couldn’t have saved themselves a lot of trouble and simply lobotomized everyone under their control, rather than create elaborate fantasy worlds for them where exposure seems to be inevitable. While “The Island”s mad scientists intimate that conscious thought is required to maintain healthy organs (which seems scientifically dubious, but anyway…), all I’m saying is that there must be some level of consciousness which doesn’t require them to put on a phony raffle every day to fool their victims. Still, those are the concerns of the art-house movie lover in me, and one only needs to look at the miles of product placement (I had no idea Johnny Rockets was still in business today, let alone in 2050) to see what a crass, commercial venture this is, and always was meant to be.
However, because Bay is a skilled director with an eye for eye-candy, he has made a film that is both technically competent, and enjoyable to watch: basically a perfect end of summer kind of flick. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
Other Recent Articles by ALAN SIMONIS:In Cloverfield Reality Bites BackSmith’s “Legend” GrowsUnrealistic Issues Cloud “Real Life”Cronenberg And Mortensen Deliver on “Promises”Cheeky Fantasy for the Post-Potter Crowd
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