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The
Island, a film by Michael Bay (director
of Armageddon and The Rock),
is a science fiction/action movie that
had "blockbuster" written all
over it, but somehow bombed at the box
office. Its production budget was $126
million, and it only made approximately
$160 million worldwide. Most of the time
this happens because a film is terrible.
This movie just happens to be an exception.
Sometimes good films just get overlooked,
as we have seen with past movies like
Ed Wood, or Gattaca.
The
Island gives us a thought-provoking
storyline that has been used many times
before in various forms, but it does it
better. It is similar to the film Logan's
Run, in that there is a facility
in the future isolated from the outside
world for one reason or another (viral
outbreak, contamination, etc.) where the
inhabitants participate in an organized
society that does not really know who
they are, but supposedly know what their
purpose in life is. In Logan's Run,
when they reach a certain age they are
to take a trip to eternity to get "reborn."
In The Island, there is a lottery
drawn where the inhabitants who win can
go to, well, "the Island" -
a place assumed to be the last "pathogen-free”
environment left over from a contaminated
world.
Ewan McGregor
plays the main character named "Lincoln
Six Echo," who is trying to escape
the facility after questioning the way
things are run. It is a sterile, overly
health-conscious environment where people
are constantly asked over the intercom
to be “polite, pleasant and peaceful,”
and to watch their proximity with the
opposite sex. Lincoln just does not understand
these things, nor why everyone wears white
uniforms, or why he cannot have bacon
for breakfast when he wants it. This is
just the beginning of a series of questions
that lead him to an even bigger question:
Does the Island even exist? What is more,
if it does not exist, then why are they
trapped in this facility? After learning
some of the truth, Lincoln escapes with
his friend, Jordan Two Delta (played by
the beautiful Scarlet Johansson), who
just won the suspicious “lottery,”
to find out the rest of the truth and
to do something about it.
This
is where Logan’s Run meets
The Rock. Once they escape, the
action never stops. This must be one of
the best sci-fi action films to come out
since The Matrix. But although
the action is fantastic, with things like
futuristic jet bikes that go to infinity
and beyond, intense car chases and crashes,
and people falling from great heights
- Lincoln and Jordan never get a scratch.
Okay, perhaps Lincoln gets a scratch on
his head. But after hanging on for dear
life from a falling company logo that
was previously attached to the top of
a skyscraper, crashing through various
things on the way, one would think they
would both be dead on the spot. No, they
survive the whole thing without a single
broken bone. They just keep surviving
one death trap after another during this
30-minute chase to the point where it
gets ridiculous. We are offered an explanation
however, as an onlooker says to them,
"Jesus must love you!"
There are
many aspects of this film that
are interesting, one being the way it
deals with sexuality. The inhabitants
of this strange and mysterious facility
are only educated to the level of a 15
year old, but with no knowledge of sex.
And yet, throughout the course of the
film, Lincoln and Jordan end up figuring
it out. It suggests a message that no
matter what, human beings are sexual beings,
and, when given just a little bit of enlightenment
about it, are bound to experiment - especially
when someone on the outside world who
meets these two starts a conversation
by saying, "You're kicking around
with her and you're a virgin?" A
whole new can of worms is opened on the
reality of these once isolated individuals.
As this
is a Michael Bay film, he could not resist
putting in some roles for actors he previously
used before. In this case, two Armageddon
stars, Michael Clarke Duncan and Steve
Buchemi. Buchemi is your typical, quirky
character actor in most every film he
is in, and it is no exception here with
his role as "McCord," a worker
at the facility who lives in a place where
none of the inhabitants can go called
"Sector 5," which of course
sounds suspicious from the start. He is
always amusing to watch, and brings some
great humor to the whole thing as a temporary
sidekick that helps Lincoln and Jordan
in their quest. Duncan, although he plays
a minor role of another inhabitant of
the isolated facility, his character (who
goes by the name "Starkweather")
reveals to the audience just what in the
world is going on, and he does it with
such realism and heart-felt ambition.
This
is a film filled with all sorts of messages
about humanity, and how far we may be
willing to go to survive. Since this takes
place in the year 2019, the film assumes
that technology and genetic research has
developed to the point where we can actually
preserve life for decades more. It poses
the question: To what lengths will we
go to live longer, or even forever, if
it is possible? Certainly the prospect
of living longer is intriguing, as there
have been fountain of youth stories for
centuries. One might not have to deal
with confessions or regrets in front of
their Creator if they can find this "fountain."
Just how moral is it to disrupt the natural
course of life, avoiding death itself?
On what level are we with God, below Him
or equivalent to Him?
It
is a crying shame that moviegoers overlooked
this movie. Perhaps it will be one of
those movies that do better on DVD. But
one thing is for certain: this film asks
some of the ultimate questions of life,
and does it in such a way that is both
intelligent, as well as thrilling.
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(out of four) 
