What the clone lovers find is a new world -- it's 2019 -- of highway collisions, flying motorbikes, exploding buildings, bad acting and moral incoherence, very much like old Bay movies.
The Island (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:35
Fresh:13
Rotten:22
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: A clone of THX 1183, Coma, and Logan's Run, The Island is another loud and bombastic Michael Bay movie where explosions and chases matter more than characters, dialogue, or plot.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexuality and language
Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:Jul 22, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $35,799,026
Synopsis: Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor") directs the futuristic action thriller "The Island," starring Ewan McGregor ("Star Wars: Episodes I, II & III," "Moulin Rouge!") and Scarlett Johansson... Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor") directs the futuristic action thriller "The Island," starring Ewan McGregor ("Star Wars: Episodes I, II & III," "Moulin Rouge!") and Scarlett Johansson ("Lost in Translation," "Girl With a Pearl Earring"). Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the "The Island"—reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet—until he makes a terrible discovery that everything about his existence is a lie…and that he is actually more valuable dead than alive. Together with a beautiful fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson), Lincoln makes a daring escape to the outside world he's never known. Now, with the forces of the institute that once housed them relentlessly hunting them down, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a desperate race for their lives. Rounding out the main cast of "The Island" are Oscar® nominee Djimon Hounsou ("In America," "Gladiator") as the leader of the security team pursuing Lincoln and Jordan; Sean Bean ("National Treasure," "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy) as the head of the Institute; Steve Buscemi ("Ghost World," "Armageddon") as a man who befriends Lincoln despite working for the institute; and Oscar® nominee Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile," "Armageddon") as another resident who is elated and envied when he is selected to go to "The Island." Michael Bay directed "The Island" from a screenplay by Caspian Tredwell-Owen and Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, based on a story by Tredwell-Owen. Walter F. Parkes, Michael Bay and Ian Bryce produced the film, with Laurie MacDonald serving as executive producer. "The Island" is a co-production of DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, with DreamWorks distributing the film domestically and Warner Bros. handling the international release. -- © Dreamworks [More]
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Michael Bay
Director: Michael Bay
Screenwriter: Robert Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Story: Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Producer: Walter F. Parkes, Michael Bay, Ian Bryce, Laurie MacDonald
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC
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Reviews for The Island
Since Michael Bay never knows when enough is enough, every chase is restaged over and again and the narrative matrix is as simplistic as it is repetitive.
You have Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, these terrific actors reduced to saying, 'Go, go and duck' and hanging from buildings and all that stuff. And it just falls apart.
The Island is nothing so dull as a total failure. But it has enough surprises up its clingy white sleeve to make you wish it were better.
If you find yourself at The Island I have only three words of advice: Vote yourself off.
If The Island qualifies as cheese deluxe even by Michael Bay standards, it's because it's the only one in his lavishly decadent oeuvre that actually pretends to trade in ideas.
The story splicing isn't any smoother than the movie's own awkward bio-engineering, and by the film's finale it's hard to care much about any of it.
Theaters showing Michael Bay's futuristic thriller The Island won't be offering any money-back guarantees. They just need to be sure they have enough popcorn on hand.
Its tale was more tame and thoughtful when Steven Spielberg, having done the related Artificial Intelligence, pitched it to Bay. But Bay, being Bay, punched it up, hiring script doctors to mainline some action.
Like War of the Worlds, The Island is essentially a chase movie where the actors' job is to look good and keep moving.
As is inevitably the case with Bay films, The Island goes on long after we have become exhausted from all the breathless fun to be had in high-speed chases and dodging fireballs.
This mixture of sci-fi musing and crash-and-burn chaos packs a wallop only when metal crashes against metal.
Like the first half of Minority Report, Bay's movie creates an entire new world, making us believe it and dread it at the same time.
The Island isn't the best sci-fi thriller out there this summer but it's enjoyable.
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