Running time: 127 minutes
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Djimon Hounsou, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan
Rating 6 out of 10
If there was an Academy Award section for the Loudest Film, then Michael Bay would have a mantelpiece lined with gold statues. The director of such deafening froth as The Rock and Armageddon would be a shoe-in for the Oscar with The Island. This aural assault is unrelenting. A Metallica concert would provide more respite. But it's not only the ears that take a hammering in this overwhelming visual cacophony. There is no denying The Island ranks as an impressive technical piece of filmmaking, but its sheer scale leaves little room for humanity, which is ironic considering it's about cloning. Based on Caspian Tredwell-Owen's story, The Island offers an intriguing premise, one that is all the more frightening because of its plausibility. The fact that this sci-fi thriller is set less than 15 years in the future is an indication of how close we are to actually offering personalized cloning for the privileged. The film begins with promise as it establishes a seemingly utopian society inhabited by well-ordered citizens who busy themselves like ants in their underground environment while awaiting the opportunity to move to the apparent tropical paradise of The Island.
Every facet of their lives is closely monitored, from measuring the sodium content of their urine to their proximity to members of the opposite sex. Few question their situation, content to believe they are there for their own protection following the World's contamination. One however does. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) challenges Merrick (Sean Bean) the head of the Merrick Biotech facility by asking why Tuesday night is tofu night and "Why is everyone wearing white? I want to know answers."
With Merrick providing no response, Lincoln's curiosity takes him in search of explanations. What he discovers is that everything he'd been led to believe about his environment, himself, even the Island is a lie and his only hope is to escape. Taking his friend, the plucky Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson), Lincoln starts to run. Indeed, for the remainder of the film, the pair barely stop running, so much so they could have named it Marathon Man And Woman.
It's at this point Bay cranks up the sensory volume with an endless spate of explosions, chases and shootouts. The stunts, whether real or computer generated, are truly spectacular. One sequence involving a truckload of train bogies on a freeway beggars belief. With its jerky hand-held camerawork, rapid fire editing, saturated colour and grainy photography, The Island resembles a mix of music video and video game.
The Island is the ideal popcorn movie, if only inasmuch as it's the one film guaranteed to drown out the sound of popcorn munching. At one point, when Merrick discovers Lincoln's bid for freedom, he declares, "We have a product on the loose." It's a statement that could equally apply to The Island.
Kevin Murphy
