Michael Bay/USA/2005; R4
Warner Bros, NZ$34.95 | Reviewed by John Spry

ONE OF A spate of summer blockbusters released on DVD lately, The Island boasts one of the more bankable Hollywood directors in recent memory, and a cast any studio would beg to work with. Yet it cobbles together a myriad of ideas and ideals from comics, television and movies to prove that the whole is less than the sum of its (Xeroxed) parts. The results are somewhat uneven and in most cases will leave the audience with the feeling they’ve just eaten a sandwich with little filling.

Directed by Michael Bay (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor), The Island is a formulaic genre film conceived with an unlimited budget and unlimited ego. The film looks great, sounds great and should be great, but is let down by its story, and misses the mark. It seems there was an attempt somewhere along the line to produce a film with some real ideas. These have been edited out to produce a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, all without actually having Mr. Bruckheimer involved.

The Island concerns a make-believe world where a group of people – convinced they inhabit the last outpost of a barren world, and are segregated by sex – wait for their chance to win a lottery to be taken to a ecological paradise to live the rest of their lives. This is a fabrication, created by a government-sponsored corporation; in reality, all residents of the complex are clones of real people living in the “real world”. One clone, Lincoln Six Echo, begins to question his environment, and gains access to a behind-the-scenes department. Here he meets McCord (Steve Buscemi), who is aware of the real world and divulges some of what is really going on. Lincoln becomes attached to Jordon Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson), another clone, and when he discovers the ugly truth through infiltration of the upper complex levels, he plots an escape to the outside world, where even greater truths are unearthed.

The screenplay, credited to Caspian Tredwell-Owen and Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, reads like all of their previous work combined – Beyond Borders and numerous episodes of Alias – whilst drawing from any number of action and sci-fi films from the past thirty years. There are strands of Logan’s Run (1976), Soylent Green (1973), The Planet of the Apes (1968), the comic mini-series World of Krypton (1987-88), THX 1138 (1971), and the ultimate clone film, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982). Of course, appropriating ideas from existing films isn’t a negative comment, as this film is part of a genre – the question is what genre is it? Unfortunately, Bay hasn’t created a new cross-pollination of genre, and hasn’t said anything new with this film. What appears to have happened is that Bay has not had the courage to stick with the script – when an original concept surfaces, an action piece is inserted so as to reinforce his own background in the action genre.

This is the first film Bay has directed since 2003’s Bad Boys II. He has also produced two further films, both remakes: one of a seminal period horror (The Texas chainsaw Massacre) and the other a haunted house movie (The Amityville Horror). Both were hits at the US box office and a prequel is being made to the massacre film. On these alone, Bay is the perfect postmodern filmmaker in style and subject. In terms of style, action sequences dominate his films with no rhyme or reason, while the reality of what takes place is outside normality. In Bay’s films, one would have to be superhuman to survive the opening credits. In terms of substance, everything about Bay’s films – this one in particular – is all surface and no depth. In addressing The Island, it is easy to follow what is happening, but the reasons are clouded by a simple back-story with no relevance to the modern world. Like so many other films of the new millennium that can categorised in the action genre, motives and reasoning are secondary to the chase; and the bigger the chase, the more we find ourselves forgetting who is being chased by whom.


THE DVD is presented in widescreen. With most large budget films, the action is clear, true and offers crispness and clarity to the viewer. The special features consist of a commentary by Michael Bay (available only on the US R1 version) and a making of featurette. Despite the extra material being limited in terms of what modern DVDs offer – especially blockbusters – this does not count out another release down the line. The commentary is interesting and contains many relevant details in terms of production, but lacks much on the critical response to the film. This is possibly due to the commentary being conducted shortly after production was completed.

Whilst this is entertaining on the surface, offers some huge action set pieces, and a cast of actors that are engaging or Scarlet Johansson, the actual details of the film leave little to the imagination. One huge gripe is that Michael Clarke Duncan is barely seen, and that is a waste. Duncan is an actor that since appearing in Bay’s Armageddon, has been nominated for an Oscar and has proven that for all his size and looks, he has become an accomplished character actor of wit, humour and gravitas normally associated with major stars. I would recommend this film as a good watch, but even considering Bay’s own films this would only rate a little above Pearl Harbor. Once all the action is over, the ending gives way to ideas for either a sequel or – like Logan’s Run – a television series that plots the course of the different clones, ala the recent 4400.