“Michael Bay’s stylish sci-fi thriller stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as members of a strictly regulated indoor futuristic colony who hope to win the lottery, a contest in which the grand prize is a trip to a utopian island. It’s reportedly the last uncontaminated place on Earth. But a startling discovery about the true nature of “the Island” — and their very existence — leads the two to stage a desperate escape to the outside world.”
I’ve actually seen Parts: The Clonus Horror. I suppose compared to that, The Island is, well…no. It’s pretty bad.
In the original, the characters are completely and almost painfully stupid. In this movie, characters are allowed to have just a shred more intelligence; evidently the creators decided that their audience would have a hard time rooting for a total moron. The problem is that it’s entirely inconsistent. Lincoln Six Echo is at once thoughtful, confused, sophisticated, childlike, sharp and dull. It just doesn’t work. (And I’ve seen The Men Who Stare At Goats – I know McGregor can play stupid convincingly)
The whole movie is like that. The highways are filled with people driving their sedans and SUVs, but meanwhile the police officers are riding hovercraft motorcycles mounted with machine guns. Did they have such a limited production budget they decided to throw in fake technology here and there so we know it’s really The Future?
And here’s what I really don’t get: several people in this movie have British accents, including at least one clone. So if you’re going to allow the other British actors to retain their natural inflections, then why OH WHY do you make Ewan McGregor talk like an American? He does not do this well. I think this has been well and duly established. It’s only redeemed by a funny scene later in the movie where it turns out that the original Lincoln does have an accent.
The Island has some very basic spooky elements working for it: cloning, evil corporations, multi-layered conspiracies, coordinated outfits. And it’s a Michael Bay movie so, you know, EXPLOSIONS. If you want all of the scifi-esque intrique, watch Moon. If you want meaningless bits of dialogue and mediocre acting strung together with cars blowing up, by all means, watch The Island.
