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The Island |
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Year:
2005 |
Rated:
PG-13 |
Runtime:
Insert
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Starring:
Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou,
Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi |
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Directed
by: Michael Bay |
Written
by: Caspian Tredwell-Owen,
Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci |
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Music
by: Steve Jablonsky |
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Movie
Studio: Dreamworks SKG |
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Review |
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Reviewed by
Edwin Hopkins |
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Super In a recent interview (Comingsoon.net), on her latest film, "The
Island", Scarlett Johansson expresses the opinion that movies
don't necessarily need a message, that it would be preachy and
boring. She remarked that if she's spending a certain amount on
a movie and popcorn, she wants to be entertained. I'm sure there
are many moviegoers who would agree with her. |
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Of course, this does not negate The Island's apparent
parallels to the controversial subject of stem cell
research. Director Michael Bay's new sci-fi actioner takes
this to an even more dangerous level from destroying human
embryos to actually cloning fully grown humans for spare
body parts It's one thing to find cures for diseases. It's
another to have a copy of yourself prepared in a secret
underground facility whose purpose is to provide you with a
heart, lungs etc. when yours begin to stop functioning. All
for the incredibly low price of 5 million dollars.
Geneticist Dr. Merrick, played with sinister finesse by
Sean Bean provides this mid 21st century service to wealthy
clients willing to pay the price. His business acumen when
discussing the cloning of humans for harvesting renders him
totally apathetic to any moral issues. Are we as people
headed for a similar type of apathy toward life? |
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Bay directs his prime characters through such a melee of
foot, helicopter and highway chase scenes, you barely have
time to dwell on this subject. Nevertheless, The Island is
thought provoking as it is volatile.
Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson play Lincoln
Six-Echo and Jordan Two-Delta, teo cloned residents of
Merrick's huge austere complex where everyone and everything
is under strict control. Of course they have no idea who
they really are and what they're there for. They've been
nearly brainwashed into believing the earth has suffered a
radioactive holocaust and the only uncontaminated spot on
the planet is The Island.
Each day, Lincoln, Jordan and their
co-residents gather in a large central area for the Lottery.
A sort of "Wheel of Fortune" where one "lucky" person wins a
their chance to move out and onto the Island. When Lincoln
discovers this lottery is a death sentence for those "chosen
ones", he flees the complex with Jordan (a recent winner) in
tow to the outside world that's not as devastated as they
were led to believe.
Eventually, with help from a scraggly Merrick BioTech
employee (Steve Buscemi). Both learn they are actually
copies of real people, then set out to find their originals.
Naturally, Merrick makes this difficult by hiring the best
tracker in the business (Djimon Honsou) to hunt down and
kill his two escaped "products."
Caspian Tredwell-Owen's crisp dialogue for these
characters compensates for Bay's visceral style. His script
skillfully elicits the humanness of these clones helping you
to empathize with them and their fight to live, not die.
It's a "Logan's Run" type tale where two people are learning
the truth about many things, realizing they must share this
truth with everyone thus preventing many tragic deaths.
The Island has the makings of a great popcorn sci-fi flick
complete with plotline, visual effects, riveting action
sequences and admirable cast performances. Notwithstanding,
in light of what's happening today in stem cell and cloning
research, this film raises some serious social and moral
questions which must be answered sooner or later. |
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