The Island

B+

After 5 movies to his resume, Michael Bay has finally grown up, sort of. Besides the eye-candy factor that signifies all his movies, viewers wouldn't be able to guess that this is a Michael Bay film, a list that includes hits (Armageddon) and misses (Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys II). In fact, The Island is Bay's most mature movie to date, beating 1996's The Rock.

Ewan McGregor plays Lincoln Six-Echo, an inmate living on an offshore colony in the year 2090. Therein live about a thousand others who believe they are the lucky ones to have survived a "contamination" that supposedly wiped out the planet. They live lives as normal as can be in a big brother-esque system - they have their meals, have jobs and socialise - and their only break from this insipid routine is the hope that one will win the Lottery, and get transported to The Island, an safe haven out of the colony. When Lincoln Six-Echo wanders around the grounds late at night, he witnessed something he should not - a friend who was supposedly transported to The Island lied dead on a delivery-table after giving birth. Lincoln had just enough time to realize the truth about The Island when his best friend, Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson), won the lottery. Getting themselves out was easy, but surviving out there with a group of bounty hunters (led by Djimon Hounsou) hot on their tail is another story.

At 2 hours 15 minutes, The Island is not overlong. That's probably because the plot is thick and heavy, and the attention to details is clearly visible. From the population of the collony in their ubiquitous white uniforms, their jobs and their lifestyles, to the cityscape of 2090 LA (where there's an impressive car-chase), visually, The Island is on par with great scifi movies like Blade Runner and Minority Report, if not a notch above them. If not seen for anything else, this is at least worth the ticket price.

The script could have been more tightly wound. There are very little moments of characterisations or humour to break the long expositional run. Indeed, while the subject matter of the movie is provocative, the script is anything but. We have the situations, but somehow the forcefulness is diminished.

Indeed, if not for the charismatic leads and supporting players, The Island might have been Bad Boys II all over again. Ewan McGregor has once again shown his versatility (especially towards the end when he plays 2 characters); and Scarlett Johansson will only come out of this stronger than ever as she now shows that she can juggle action roles with her own kind of sex appeal. Sean Bean and Djimon Hounsou play the villains with cool. Steve Buchemy has a small role as Lincoln's friend who helps after their escaped.

The Island might have some flaws and the impact of some parts of the movie might have been lost, but none are dentrimental and the movie is still always enjoyable. Michael Bay still has some milestones to cover before he realizes that what happens on the screen sometimes comes second to what happen beneath the layers, but The Island proves to be a step up for him. With his next project, the live-action version of Transformers, already in progress, I reserve the right to be sceptical. But if it happened once, it can always happen again.
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