The Island
2005 · Your time will come...
2 out of 5 reels
Reviewed by Andy Hayler
The Island is set in a dystopian future where people live in tightly managed confinement in skyscrapers that are what is left of society after an unspecified “contamination”. Hope is given to the masses by a regular lottery where people are selected to be evacuated to an idyllic island.
Of course, this being a movie, things aren’t what they seem. Supervisor (Sean Bean) presides over the carefully monitored society, which has a sinister purpose. Two of the inhabitants, played by Scarlett Johannsen and Ewan McGregor, escape and start to uncover the truth, aided by an unreliable but likeable and kind hearted technician played by Steve Buscemi, who easily walks off with the paltry acting plaudits that this film possesses.
After the escape of the two main characters, the film descends into a cartoonish chase film. In a curious way this part of the film is suited to director Michael Bay’s wildly overactive shooting style, which resembles a that of a chipmunk who has taken amphetamines and has somehow been given a large special effects budget. The movie line “There is no way to get our fugitives quietly” could sum up a the Michael Bay genre: the man does nothing quietly. I had forgotten just how irritating Michael Bay’s style is: frenetic, rapid cutting with an overly loud soundtrack. The script offers little in the way of mystery, and the film unfolds predictably. The excessive running time of 136 minutes doesn’t help.
It has a curiously respectable score on IMDB, which I can only put down to overly enthusiastic Scarlett Johannsen fans, or confused people who mixed this up with some other, better, film.