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If you enjoy good science fiction, intriguing ethical questions about science and power, adrenalin-rush action, suspense, and dazzling special effects, here are several worthwhile movies that offer such a variety: THX 1138, A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), Minority Report, Star Wars: Episode Two—Attack of the Clones, The Matrix, The Truman Show, Coma, and Gattaca.

If you'd prefer to see a film that borrows most of its ideas from better movies and slaps them together into something that insults your intelligence, rattles your senses, and wastes your time, go see The Island.

Michael Bay's latest barrage of explosions seems to leave gaping holes in the film's plot. The Island stars Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan of the Star Wars prequels) and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) as clones, living in a clone society, oblivious to their origins or their purpose. They're walking, talking "insurance policies" waiting to have their organs harvested for the benefit of their "originals."

The "originals" are rich investors who believe they're investing in non-sentient tissue development. If they were to find out that their money is funding a whole society of expendable human beings, they would cause a fuss. So the clone-making company does what it can to keep its child-like residents and its investors happy and oblivious to the truth. (The Lord of the Rings' Sean Bean plays the nefarious genius in charge of this misguided operation.)

Bay and Company seem to think they're wrestling with tough ethical questions. And the film does carry echoes of the debates over stem-cell research and abortion. Thus, viewers might find themselves in some worthwhile conversation after the credits roll. But this exploration is no more provocative than Soylent Green's Charlton Heston running around in a panic, shouting, "Your insurance policies are PEOPLE!!!" We end up watching five very fine actors—McGregor, Johansson, Bean, Steve Buscemi (Ghost World), and Djimon Hounsou (In America)—waste their formidable talents on a ridiculous and forgettable motion picture. (The film's plot is apparently almost identical to that of an older B-movie called Clonus, and the resemblance is causing a stir. If they had to steal a story, why not steal a good one?)

My full review is at Looking Closer.

Other Christian film critics wish they could have voted these filmmakers off The Island.

Peter T. Chattaway (Christianity Today Movies) writes, "The Island is a movie about clones, and so it comes as no surprise that the movie is, itself, something of a clone. But it is also something of a chimera; that is, it seems like the sort of movie you would get if you took pieces of two very different movies and squished them together, and the result is a monstrosity. … Ultimately, whatever message the film might have had is ultimately drowned out by the violence."

Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films) says, ever so carefully, "The Island is the closest thing so far to a good Michael Bay film. Damning with faint praise, yes—but bear in mind that most of Bay's filmography to date … deserves to be damned with loud damns. So let me repeat: The Island is Bay's best film to date, and Bay's best effort to date at a meaningful, thoughtful film."

Tom Neven (Plugged In) says, "The stunts are so extreme and over-the-top you just can't suspend disbelief for long enough chunks of time to enjoy them. Granted, it's more serious than your typical Bay movie, but that does little more than call unwarranted attention to the story's inadequacies. So with no compelling reason to dwell on the main text or the subtext, pretty much all you're left with is lots and lots of chase scenes and explosions, a few fistfights and smatterings of vulgarity."

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July (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49