The Island (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Michael Bay (Transformers 1-5, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor)
	Actors: Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation), Ewan McGregor (Transpotting, Star Wars 1-3), Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy), Sean Bean (The Fellowship of the Rings), Steve Buscemi (Con Air), Michael Clarke Duncan (Armageddon)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 04.03.2017, VOD, 32" TV screen.
Synopsis: The last survivors of a global contamination are locked in a controlled environment in which they have to stay in good shape and perform their work without questions, but Lincoln 6 Echo (McGregor) has issues with conforming to that.
Review: The Island belongs to this category of movies built from a small SF story that could have been featured in The Outer Limits TV-series (the 1960's classic or its 1990's revival) and blown out of proportion, as I could or have said about Paycheck, The Final Countdown or Oblivion. And you can count on Blockbuster master Michel Bay to blow things out of proportion! The movie had obviously a big budget as you can tell from the sets design at the beginning and the stunts later on. The cast also gives you a hint: the trendy and probably expensive couple Johansson/McGregor is well-matched and accompanied by more known faces like the clown Buscemi or Sean Bean and a short apparition by Michael Clarke Duncan. The story and how it is shown is pleasant to the SF fan that I am, while the epic chase scenes talk to the Action freak in me. In particular the highway chase with the dropping of train axles, useless to the story and not credible especially since the truck driver doesn't stop for a minute, is among the best ones made since the revolutionary Matrix Reloaded in 2003, and in line with the one the same year in Bad Boys 2 by the same Michael Bay. That scene comes as a climax to a good half hour of chase in train stations, buildings and streets that can be overwhelming to the viewer (dropping unharmed from a 100-storey building is the straw that broke the camel's back), and the visual quality of the whole has always seemed to be in contrast with the appearance of the digital characters at the end of the movie that I have always found made of cheap digital effects. Anyway, I cannot hide that I like this genre of spectacular in-you-face movies in which I find that the character development is better treated than in the blockbusters made since (see the Transformers series for a bad example), thanks to more serious time spent with them and details I enjoy like the difference in accents between Lincoln and his sponsor.
Rating: 6 /10