Basically one crazy chase after another, which is fitting considering that it’s directed by Michael Bay.
The Island (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:180
Fresh:72
Rotten:108
Average Rating:5.4/10
Consensus: A clone of THX 1183, Coma, and Logan's Run, The Island is another loud and bombastic Michael Bay movie where explosions and chases matter more than characters, dialogue, or plot.
Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor") directs the futuristic action thriller "The Island," starring Ewan McGregor ("Star Wars: Episodes I, II & III," "Moulin Rouge!") and Scarlett Johansson... Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor") directs the futuristic action thriller "The Island," starring Ewan McGregor ("Star Wars: Episodes I, II & III," "Moulin Rouge!") and Scarlett Johansson ("Lost in Translation," "Girl With a Pearl Earring"). Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the "The Island"—reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet—until he makes a terrible discovery that everything about his existence is a lie…and that he is actually more valuable dead than alive. Together with a beautiful fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson), Lincoln makes a daring escape to the outside world he's never known. Now, with the forces of the institute that once housed them relentlessly hunting them down, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a desperate race for their lives. Rounding out the main cast of "The Island" are Oscar® nominee Djimon Hounsou ("In America," "Gladiator") as the leader of the security team pursuing Lincoln and Jordan; Sean Bean ("National Treasure," "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy) as the head of the Institute; Steve Buscemi ("Ghost World," "Armageddon") as a man who befriends Lincoln despite working for the institute; and Oscar® nominee Michael Clarke Duncan ("The Green Mile," "Armageddon") as another resident who is elated and envied when he is selected to go to "The Island." Michael Bay directed "The Island" from a screenplay by Caspian Tredwell-Owen and Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, based on a story by Tredwell-Owen. Walter F. Parkes, Michael Bay and Ian Bryce produced the film, with Laurie MacDonald serving as executive producer. "The Island" is a co-production of DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, with DreamWorks distributing the film domestically and Warner Bros. handling the international release. -- © Dreamworks [More]
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Michael Bay
Director: Michael Bay
Screenwriter: Robert Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Story: Caspian Tredwell-Owen
Producer: Walter F. Parkes, Michael Bay, Ian Bryce, Laurie MacDonald
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC
Reviews for The Island
The Island is nothing so dull as a total failure. But it has enough surprises up its clingy white sleeve to make you wish it were better.
If you find yourself at The Island I have only three words of advice: Vote yourself off.
Michael Bay's stab at grafting his brand of high-octane mayhem onto an idea-driven sci-fi story gets off to a promising start before degenerating into endless car chases and stuff blowing up.
I'm not sure which is worse: a movie without ideas or one that has ideas, but no idea what to do with them.
If The Island qualifies as cheese deluxe even by Michael Bay standards, it's because it's the only one in his lavishly decadent oeuvre that actually pretends to trade in ideas.
Once they're outside -- in a dispiriting vision of our near-future -- Bay falls back on his old playbook, creating more mayhem per square inch than in all his other movies combined.
[Bay] turns what had been a thoughtful science-fiction film into a series of car crashes and jarring cuts.
There is something familiar about it all. Yet with the addition of a plot and even a few ideas, one cannot call this a clone of his earlier work.
Bay's action is flashy enough to compensate for some of the shortcomings of the script.
The story splicing isn't any smoother than the movie's own awkward bio-engineering, and by the film's finale it's hard to care much about any of it.
Theaters showing Michael Bay's futuristic thriller The Island won't be offering any money-back guarantees. They just need to be sure they have enough popcorn on hand.
The Island grows dumber as it goes along, gradually disintegrating into a generic good-versus-evil spectacular that not only defies all known laws of gravity and physics, but also suffers from the lack of morality that plagues Bay's films.
The Island starts out as a passably good sci-fi flick. Then it turns into a Michael Bay movie.
This movie is so bad it's good, especially because Ewan McGregor helps sell the silliness with a strong performance that would have worked in a much more serious film.
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