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Rating:  - The Island is a good movie to a certain audience.
The Island, like most Hollywood films is geared towards a specific audience. If your a film buff who is heavily into period pieces and the bueaty of shot composition than this film may not be for you. However, if your a person like me who enjoys seeing massive destruction performed to it's grandest scale or a person who is into utopian worlds and the dangerous prospects they present as unfolded in such great literary works as Brave New World and 1984, or if you think that Scarlett Johansson is simply too cute for words, than this movie is perfect for you and not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Lincoln Echo Six played by Ewan Mcgregor discovers that he along with the other inhabantants of the undergrond society are all clones who are being kept alive because thier human counterparts will eventually need to harvest thier body parts. The big brother esque figure and his bosses have devised something known as the lottery for a trip to the "Island" which unknown to the clones is really a mask for thier empending death. Lincoln becomes particularly alarmed when his friend Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johanssen)wins the lottery and escapes with her into modern day Los Angeles.
Adding to the intrigue of this movie is the fact that the clones have been programmed not to feel love or sexual emotions beyond friendship, so throughout the movie, there's this cloud of profound chemistry over our two main characters who are being chased by the police and a higly trained and motovated team dedicated to destoying Lincoln and Jordan. Can they escape...only time will tell.
Rating:  - Interesting start, devolves into action film filler
The island was an attractive albeit predictable sci fi film about the evils of cloning. When a super curious clone called Lincoln Six Echo , discovers things at the habitat where he lives aren't quite what they seem, he warns his girlfriend and they escape together. At this point, the film devolves into a number of chase scenes which were entertaining at first but quickly became boring. I particularly hated the scene on the building where the two clones are hanging on the sign and they are getting shot at. Lame. Also,it seems to me that the group hired to apprehend the two clones were about as subtle as a sledgehammer. It would've been much better to trick the clones than run through crowded city streets shooting cops.
Overall, this was an entertaining, unchallenging action film with hints of science fiction. It could've been better with a more clever plot, a more devious villain and less boiler-plate action.
Rating: - The President is a Clone!
Visually beautiful with attractive and believable stars who work well together, this sci-fi action movie blends intelligent concepts with a briskly moving plot to offer viewers a breathtaking view into the not so far off future, now. Ewan McGregor was excellent as the childlike and curious Lincoln, and also is a convincing supercilious jerk as his owner, in a dual role. Scarlett Johansson is perfect as the nymph-woman, a role which would take quite a bit of depth to carry off as well as she does, a subtle and understated performance, with her innocence being crucial to the mercenary, played by Djimon Hounsou, in realizing his essential truth. The mind blowing special effects scenes with the train wheels and the falling sign are seamlessly integrated into real life action, like, how did they do that without someone getting creamed? Steve Buscemi adds both a lightheartedness and a dark comedy of horrors feel that the movie needed in order to make the transition from the ultra-hygienic, synthetic world to the real, gritty one, believable. With elements from Coma, The Sixth Day, The Matrix, and even Dave, but not derivative or copying.
Rating: - GREAT FILM
For some reason Michael Bay gets panned by everyone yet his movies are always blockbusters. Personally I think he makes excellent movies and his visuals are spectacular. Its not the explosions or the excessive actions its all about the colors, angles, moods and emotions he manages to capture on film. His films are art, he is an artist, they are visually beautiful. I know a bunch of avant garde loving film geeks will despise me for saying this but honestly I would MUCH rather watch Michael Bay films over hyper inflated, avant garde schlock like Tarkovsky.
Good movies and good art need to be accesible to ALL. Michael Bay manages to achieve films that appeal to all audiences.
This is a fun movie and one that is a great contemporary telling of Plato's cave allegory. Interesting, well executed and visually stunning.
Hate me if you will but I think Michael Bay is an excellent film director.
Rating:  - Pretty Good Sci-Fi Flick
The Island is quite a thought provoking movie that explores the concept of cloning and cloning for human organs as a commercial exercise. Although the movie is a 'bit' disturbing at times, overall it has a strong story line, excellent visual effects and lots of technology thrown in. There's a very cool flying bike contraption and a levitating Amtrak train.
A point to note is that all throughout this movie you can see very recognizable logos of well known companies. Perhaps this movie is also an experiment in 'in-movie' advertising. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson make a good team here and overall add to the likability of an already quite capable movie.
I think this movie would have done a lot better on DVD than in theaters. A scifi fan cannot go wrong with this one.
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