The Island dir. by Michael Bay

This could have been a really interesting film, a proper sci-fi film that raises questions, that asks about society and what we believe in.
Opening with Lincoln Six Echo on a boat, this film looks fantastic. Glossy, bright, cinematic and impressive, but everything that is good about this film is limited to the surface, but what else did I expect from a Michael Bay film?

Lincoln Six Echo believes himself to be a survivor from some great contamination, where almost all of humanity was wiped out. The only purpose he and his fellow survivors have is to be chosen in the lottery and go to “The Island”. But Lincoln is different than the others, he asks questions, he has strange dreams, and eventually he discovers the truth.

He, and all the others in the lottery are clones. Products used to replace their sponsor’s organs if and when they are needed. Going to the island is really going to get harvested.

I’m presuming you can guess what happens? He and Jordan Two Delta break-out and have a whole bunch of adventures in trying to escape the clutches of the evil Merrick and the mercenary-type team he has sent after them, headed by Laurant. Cue car chases, explosions, death, destruction, mayhem. You get the picture.

A fun, no-brain film that’ll entertain you while its on, but you wouldn’t really be bothered if you never saw it again. The problem for me is that it had possibility. Merrick, the doctor who created the clones, sees them as product, as soulless, as not human. They live their lives as they are programmed to do, quite happily until their trip to the island. But Lincoln is different, so surely that was an opportunity to make Merrick question what he is doing, to question whether or not the clones are as non-human as he had though. Instead the film simply serves up a stock bad-guy, who’s really only in it for the money. And of course his own god-complex.

And lets not get started on the Laurant character who ends Show Spoiler ▼

Also this film continues in the long saga of US big budget production that feature Sean Bean only to have him either a)play a bad guy, or b)die. This film fulfills both of these.

Official site | IMDb | Guardian review | Empire review | A butcher’s review (kuro5hin)