Movie Haiku - The Island

www.theislandthemovie.co.uk


Dir: Michael Bay


Cast: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean


She wins lottery

he uncovers the real truth

they're cloned for spare parts


Set sometime in the near future, The Island introduces us to a community living and working deep underground following the contamination of the Earth's surface, under the watchful eye of Merrick (Bean). The only chance of escape to a better life is by winning the State lottery which allows its winners to relocate to the mysterious island, the last remaining hospitable area of land above the surface. Lincoln 6 Echo (McGregor) is a curious fella, and starts to question his environment, especially when he finds a flying bug in one of the shafts. He soon discovers the truth - the island doesn't actually exist and the lucky winners are in fact being killed for their organs. It's particularly bad news for his lady friend Jordan 2 Delta (Johansson) as she's just become the latest lottery winner. The film's set up - mixing elements of Minority Report and The Matrix - is expertly handled, giving the viewer exactly the right amount of exposition needed to work out what is really going on. The pacing is slow to begin with but never fails to hold the attention and allows the film to flesh out each of the main players before the action kicks in. Once our pair escape to the surface they track down Lincoln's mate McCord (Steve Buscemi) who's a sympathetic member of the community's staff, and he reveals what we've known all along - the people are all clones, farmed for the use of their organs by their sponsors. And so the chase begins as Lincoln and Jordan attempt to find their sponsors and expose the whole operation, whilst Merrick deploys his special forces, led by Albert (Hounsou), to find and eliminate the two clones. The action stuff is pretty good and benefits from a lot of stunts being performed for real, rather than relying on a lot of CGI effects (although the hover bikes are a little poor). The carnage on the freeway with Lincoln releasing large rusty train axels in the path of oncoming vehicles is certainly better than anything that Bay attempted in Bad Boys 2. Whilst the film runs out of steam towards the end, and the conclusion is typically formulaic, there are a lot of good ideas in the movie, especially the ethical questions raised by cloning and whether the clones have awareness of their surroundings (Merrick's presentation clearly informs potential investors that the clones are dormant, hence his panic that the real truth will come out). Director Bay is back on form here combining a high concept idea with strong visuals, whilst reigning in his previous desire to just blow sh*t up. The colour palette used is really striking and Steve Jablonsky's soundtrack (especially in the first half) really complements the action, relying on a more orchestral / ambient soundscape rather than the usual hard-rock tracks. The casting is fine throughout and is even able to make clever use of Johansson's advertising work by billing her sponsor as a top model-cum-actress. This is an ideal popcorn movie and probably the best "blockbuster" type film that we've had this Summer, so why not pay The Island a visit?

soulmining rating: ****

I also went to see The Devil's Rejects for a second time (check out my original review from the FrightFest screening in May here) and I'm pleased to report that the ending didn't disappoint. The fact that it caused eleven people to walk out in disgust during the screening almost makes me want to upgrade my initial rating to a full five stars. The kind of grubby little movie that makes you want to take a shower straight afterwards...