Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director :
Michael Bay
Cast :
Ewan McGregor……….Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln
Scarlett Johansson……….Jordan Two Delta/Sarah Jordan
Djimon Hounsou……….Albert Laurent
Sean Bean……….Merrick
Steve Buscemi……….McCord
The Movie
There are two distinct ways of viewing Michael Bay’s summer blockbuster The Island. The first is as an intriguing science fiction movie that turns into a Michael Bay action movie. The second is that The Island is a great action movie mired with a boring science fiction story attached. Either way, the lack of a true identity is probably why it fizzled at the box office.
And at first glance, The Island is a combination of several movies of the science fiction genre meshed with some superb action sequences. The plot is reminiscent of the 1970s science fiction ground-breaker Logan’s Run, car chases in the manner of The Matrix: Reloaded and stylized action sequences commonplace in any Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Bay has $130 million dollars to play with for this movie and doesn’t have Bruckheimer there to oversee him. And coming from a man who’s created plenty of films with simplistic plots and big action, The Island represents a rather bold attempt at a much more in-depth plot than Bay has been known to use.
The story is a rather simple one. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star as Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta, two star-crossed lovers in a world not of their own doing. Crafted from real people’s DNA, they are meant as spare parts. Problems arise when Lincoln realizes the truth and flees the oasis, taking Jordan with him. The man behind all of this is Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean), brilliant doctor and geneticist. He objects to this and hires Albert Laurent (Djimon Hounsou) to bring them back. From here it’s a mad cap rush of escape and survival filled to the brim with lots of explosions, chases scenes and some gunfights all stylized for your protection.
The strength of the movie is in its action sequences. Bay plays to his major strength, which is making his action tight, engrossing and dramatic. When The Island is in full-bore action mode it is operating at its peak efficiency. Bay knows how to craft his action sequences so that they are believable and suspenseful on top of being incredibly well done. When the movie goes into being more action than plot, it is gripping and engrossing.
The world surrounding this action is also crafted magnificently. Set many years past today, The Island borrows heavily from Minority Report in trying to imagine the sort of world possible, warts and all, a lifetime from now.
The problems begin when the movie isn’t in an action sequence. Bay’s problem as a director is that he isn’t good when it comes to building dramatic tension without the use of an explosion or a gun fight. With having the amount of talent to work with on this film, Bay does a remarkably poor job of putting them in position to succeed. He leaves his main characters (McGregor and Johansson) one-dimensional, rooting for them if only be default. He also does a poor job trying to create his villain in Bean’s Merrick. Merrick is evil but in an innocuous way; he isn’t given enough scenery to chomp to really make the cause of Lincoln and Jordan seem noble by comparison. He’s evil and bad in a visceral way but he lacks the sort of depth an action movie villain required. Bean’s Ian Howe of National Treasure is an easily imitable archetype that Bay fails to copy.
Bay’s pacing also has a lot to be desired; the first act of the film is developed at a snail’s pace. Bay crams the bulk of the plot into his first 40 minutes, leaving the last 2/3 of the movie to be comprised of minimal plot and maximum action sequences. This is Bay’s first production without Bruckheimer’s steady hand over him and it shows; the movie takes far too long to stop with the plot and back-story, little as it may be, and places far too much time and effort on a story that requires a more minimalist approach. His attempt at making it a slow build until his big action sequences is commendable but he does it in such a boring, melodramatic fashion that the action is a welcome relief from the plot for the wrong reason.
Score : 6.5 / 10
The Video
One of Michael Bay’s signatures is providing spectacular visuals and visual effects for his films; in the theatre they look great, but sometimes the transition to the small screen can leave a lot to be desired. In this DVD release, presented in a widescreen format with a 2.40:1.0 aspect ratio, Bay’s vision comes through spectacularly well with great color separation. The transfer from screen to DVD is a seamless one.
The Audio
To go with a spectacular look, Michael Bay always has a big booming sound. And boy does The Island deliver that. Featuring a Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, there’s a great sound separation to go with a generally tremendous sound quality. It really comes out during the action sequences as Bay’s scoring and the soundtrack come out vividly.
The Extras
The Future in Action is a 15 minute featurette with Michael Bay and the crew behind the action sequences. Without a focused narrative, the featurette is a sort of cut & paste of behind the scenes footage and interviews with various crew members about the various action sequences and how they were able to pull them off. It’s interesting on certain levels but is rather unfocused; there’s so much more in terms of information that could’ve provided on how they did things that is left unsaid.
Commentary by: Michael Bay
Score : 3 / 10
