The Island
Review by Peter T. Chattaway | posted 7/22/2005
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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.
On the one hand, we have a dystopian science-fiction movie about people who live in an artificial environment under a totalitarian regime, oblivious to the fact that they are actually clones who have been manufactured as spare parts, or "insurance policies," for the rich and famous of the world. The all-white production design and the theme of escape, as two clones try to break out of their world, brings George Lucas's THX 1138 to mind; but the emphasis on genetic engineering and sterile perfection recalls Andrew Niccol's Gattaca, and the way the creators of this society use comfort and fear to discourage curiosity about the outside world—all of the inhabitants believe they are survivors of a global catastrophe—recalls Peter Weir's The Truman Show (also written by Niccol).
Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star in this clone thriller
On the other hand, we have a standard-issue Michael Bay movie. Bay is the director of such crass, over-edited action movies as Armageddon, The Rock, and Pearl Harbor, and in The Island—the first film he has made without producer Jerry Bruckheimer—he steals more than one idea from his last film, the stupendously immoral Bad Boys II. In that movie, one chase scene featured Will Smith and Martin Lawrence dodging vehicles thrown off the back of a car carrier. This time, our heroes stow away on a similar truck and begin dumping heavy, massive train wheels off the back. Once again, the camera pivots around a door as heroes and villains approach it from opposite sides. And, once again, a scene gets its cheap punch line from some anonymous black person who barks something about Jesus.
The science-fiction part of the movie seems to be trying to say something significant about our society and its mad rush into technologies that we are not yet prepared to deal with ethically, especially where the creation of human life is concerned. (Does all this cloning have any bearing on the debate over embryonic stem-cell research? Discuss.) But the action-movie part of the film couldn't care less about the deeper issues raised by the script. When two clones escape from the island and a corporate executive (Sean Bean) tells a team of ex-military mercenaries (led by Djimon Hounsou) to "contain" the situation, it's just another excuse to pile on the car chases, the exploding airborne public-transit vehicles, and the extensive property damage. And if the film had any credibility before the scene in which two people survive a fall from near the top of a skyscraper, it stops right there.
Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) finds a living clue that all is not as it seems
At the heart of all this are a handful of actors who have proved their worth in numerous other films, and who can therefore be forgiven for hopping aboard this roller-coaster. Ewan McGregor plays Lincoln Six-Echo, a clone with a slightly rebellious streak who is haunted by nightmares and a long list of unanswered questions; note how his first name alludes to the president who oversaw the emancipation of the slaves. Scarlett Johansson plays Jordan Two-Delta, the cute girl who slips him bacon strips when the food servers aren't looking—apparently he isn't supposed to eat them—and who would probably be his girlfriend if the security guards didn't enforce the "proximity" rules. (The enforcement of this rule seems pretty selective, though, since the clones' nightclub seems crowded enough.)
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