The Island

Michael Bay

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The Island
Directed by: Michael Bay
(Dreamworks/Warner Bros.)
Cremated by critics and ignored by the cinema-going masses, one of this summer’s biggest bombs is now available to be seen on DVD. Surprise, surprise — this Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbour) blockbuster is a great escape on video. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) are strangely naïve members of a controlled society of the future who discover they’re clones, kept alive to serve as organ life support systems for their human counterparts. A remake of little-seen Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979), The Island is equal parts THX 1138, Logan’s Run and Blade Runner — original it is not. The typical over-the-top Bay action sequences get tedious, but the pacing is swift and the tone light: Johansson’s Calvin Klein “Eternity” spots are featured in one startlingly meta scene, as is McGregor’s talent with both American and his homegrown Scottish accents. The line between hard science fiction and campy fun is straddled, and for once, Bay makes it work, though much more effectively with expectations reduced by rental prices.
—Carsten Knox