Review of The Island (2005) by Threeboxindoors — 22 Dec 2016

The Island had such great potential with an intriguing premise - and while it is a good movie, it could've been so much more. The first act tries to be mysterious, with Lincoln Six Echo questioning his life.

However, for me anyway, it felt like a very weak build up to a first-half-second-act that is actually rather good and exciting. Lincoln is the protagonist, played by Ewan McGregor, who felt a bit robotic and obviously just didn't suit his character at all.

His character I found bland and unlikeable, and he has this high voice in the movie that got on my nerves. I don't have a problem with the rest of the cast, and Steve Buscemi was terrific. Scarlett Johannson plays Jordan, the love interest in the movie, who didn't really do anything until right up at the end.

The way she and Lincoln meets just felt extremely forced, and the reason she comes on this big journey with him was so convenient. But there is a moment that happens later in the movie when Jordan and Lincoln are stuck in a seemingly imposs - sorry, I mean litterally impossible situation, and i'm wondering what brilliant writing could ever come up with a plausable solution.

They manage to survive - but in an insanely ridiculous and impossible way, and the writing there was just flat-out lazy. There are some genius moments in the movie, and some really good humor amongst lots of stupid humor as well.

But in the end, The Island is just the same old Michael Bay movie with the same tired structure and cheesy, lazy and unmemorable one-liners and the same Michael Bay movie tropes. It has some great parts to it, a great, exciting first-half-second-act, and some very surprisingly suspenseful moments, and nothing that you could look at and say is terrible.

But it definitely has its stupid moments and cliches we've all known to expect from a Michael Bay movie. In the end I am going to give it a 6/10.