The Island

The other day I decided to go see Michael Bays The Island. Despite the horrendous reviews, I wanted to see what the fuss was. The last Bay movie I saw was Armageddon, and that was just painful. Cool effects, but painful.

What happens if cloning humans becomes a reality? The storyline of the film isn't that deep, but it is interesting. I really had no idea what this film was about until I actually started watching it. In that sense, I was led along as just another captive audience member. The performances by all the main actors, Steve Buscemi, Scarlett Johannson, Ewan McGregor and Sean Bean, were fairly well done. Djimon Hounsou continues to impress. He was Papa Midnite in Constantine, among other films. All the roles by all the actors in the movie were played level, no over acting it seems, but definitely some over directing. Lots and lots of wild camera moves, wild effects, several "how did they get out of that?" scenes. Luckily nothing overtly pro-American, like Armageddon was.

Visual effects wise, ILM (they touch EVERY film, don't ya know?) and Black Box are the ones I remember. I was not really focused on the visual effects, for once. They did stick out, but I wasn't really bothered with it. Lots and lots of greenscreen work, some digital double work, and expansive matte paintings are some of the more obvious shots.

As an action movie, I'm fairly impressed. It did go long at times, two hours and fifteen minutes is way too long to tell a story of this simplicity. A couple of scenes could have been cut for sake of timing, but it seems that if it was huge and crazy, it was in the film. I quite like the giant iron wheels rolling down the freeway, and the destruction of the cars and the like are quite impressive. Practical effects rule.

There wasn't a time that signified when this cloning would take place, except for a comment Sean Bean makes about human cloning being illegal as set forth by a law set in 2050. Which is all fine and good, but then don't make the technology 2005! RX-8s and Dodge Magnums and Chargers roam the streets, and Cadillac has debuted a supercar called the Cien. Which, apparently, is still the new thing in 2050 or after. Save for that one comment, I would have enjoyed most of the film and not have said, WTF? There's a Dodge Magnum. In 2050. Ugh.

Overall, decent film. No Americanism, perse, which is good. Hopefully this film will appeal to the rest of the world with its look on cloning. 6 out of 10.