The Island

[Animal Boything]

I saw this last night and it surprised me by being not only a good action movie but a good science fiction movie as well. It's as good as popcorn movies get... it's up there with T2 and The Matrix, in my opinion. (I know to some people those are the best movies EVER so you don't need to take my word for it.) It doesn't hurt that it has a really strong cast. Ewan McGregor is great as always... I don't want to spoil anything, but there are some scenes near the end with some really tricky acting and he really nailed it. I think doing all those Star Wars movies made him an even better actor, because he's entirely at home in the midst of crazy special effects shots.

I've seen a fair bit of Michael Bay hatred on the internet, but if you average out all the sci-fi movies Steven Spielberg has made in the last decade and pit them against this one, Bay is kicking Spielberg's ASS. I think he's a seriously underrated director.

[cured]

I'm going with AB on this one...I loved it. As has been the case, though, the "pull back the camera during the fights scenes, dammit!" rule has to be invoked here...sometimes I had a vague idea of exactly what was going on. But aside from typecast actors, this was really well done and Ewan and Scarlet really nailed the roles. The story unfolded pretty logically and I would have run out of popcorn pretty fast if I had any :)

[Winston]

as i expect a lot of this movie, readings these comments, make feel even more exited

[Animal Boything]

I hear this movie has been a real flop financially, which is really a shame. More people need to see it, because it's a ton of fun.

[cured]

Looks like the idea of this movie was taken from a movie called Parts: The Clonus Horror. While that movie didn't turn out so good, it seems, the basic premise was borrowed for The Island.

Still liked The Island, though, even with that bit of knowledge. Who knows if the film will be a complete flop or not...it isn't done domestically and with the international revenues, merchandising, DVD sales, etc...it still may make a nice penny or two. What was the budget on it, anyway? Must've cost a fortune...

[Animal Boything]

I think I heard it was over 120 million, so they've got their work cut out for them. I could see it doing well, on DVD, though. I'll probably buy it.

By the way, I saw some crazy review somewhere that bashed the movie for being a giant piece of anti-stem-cell-research propaganda, which I think is just ridiculous. I think you have to be pretty far gone in the head to come away with that impression. I'm not sure its message is even anti-cloning when it comes down to it... the bad guys are just unethical businessmen, just like in any other movie like this. If there's a political agenda in it, it's buried pretty fucking deep.

Oh, and I heard about that Clonus thing, too, but that has no real bearing on the quality of the movie... just call it a far superior remake. Maybe if they end up making a profit, they'll owe some of it to the makers of the original, but that seems like a big IF at this point.

[b.miller]

By the way, I saw some crazy review somewhere that bashed the movie for being a giant piece of anti-stem-cell-research propaganda

yeah i hate it when people think about movies :P


actually that's not fair because the whole movies seems pretty specifically designed against making people think about anything, and that's not really an insult either considering it's a Michael Bay summer action movie and by now people should be aware of what they're going into when they buy a ticket.

As far as plot similarities... Logan's Run and THX 1138 should also be mentioned... but really... the car chase/jetbike/building logo sequence alone is worth the price of admission. just don't worry about why Djimon's character is covered in sweat the whole time.

[adam]

Are you serious, b miller? You think this is worth seeing? Because I loathe Michael Bay's previous films, but if you recommend it, I'll take your word for it. (No offense, others recommending it, I don't know your taste in movies)

[dubman]

the previews made it look really atrocious

"what was that?"
"i dont know.... but i want one!"
gwaugh.... visible squirming ensues...
and some quasi sex scene trying desperately to encapsulate "steamy"

and plus it didnt help that, for several weeks, each commercial break featured it, bombing my consciousness until it was numb and full of mute rage at senseless repetition....

[b.miller]

I wouldn't recommend that anyone not ready to like it go see it and expect it to change your minds. I mean i don't want to rag on it too bad because it's good whenever anyone likes a movie but to give those that are on the fence about it a hint of what type of story it is, the clones (which we are not supposed to really know are clones in the beginning but come on... really) are given a stunted level of education, i think they explained it so they never learn enough to question their environment or something like that, so that's why you get a lot of the cheesy dialogue that appears in the trailers. not only are they exposed to the "real world" for the first time, they are also supposed to be at like a 5th grade level (either 5th grade or 15 years old, i can't remember)... so they are even more wide-eyed and innocent/vulnerable.

Honestly, I'd say that the best parts of this movie are the action sequences (and really one gigantic sequence stands above all the rest) so if you are thinking about seeing the movie and you don't expect much whenever stuff isn't blowing up, or if you're planning on renting it, I'd say definitely see it in a proper theater rather than rent it at home (of course, unless you have a banging home theater set-up).

If you hate Michael Bay movies already, this one won't change your mind. Personally, I'd say it's better than Pearl Harbor but Bay's seemed to succumb to American shaky-cam too-close action in parts and the story is very familiar and the characters are all, well, to make an unoriginal/clone joke here would probably be too much.

but you know, it's Michael Bay... for those that can appreciate a really well-executed action sequence, this is pretty cool.

[Animal Boything]

That's a good summary... there are definitely a few things from the trailers that make more sense in context.

It really is hard to beat Michael Bay when it comes to huge action scenes. I'll say it again, he is underrated as a director. (Then again, I never saw Pearl Harbor because I have issues with any movie that makes a spectacle of real human tragedy. See also: Titanic.)

[lukeyd]

scarlett is HOTNESS.

[IsiliRunite]

I enjoyed the movie, but the only thing that bothered me was a virtual non-existance of a government.

[Animal Boything]

The government wasn't really involved in the story, because everything was basically happening behind their backs. Why does it matter?

[cured]

I'm actually quite sick of "corrupt government behind everything" schemes. This movie really didn't present any ambiguous climate of who you can and can't trust. Conspiracy-type movies usually lose their replay value because of plot twists such as a seemingly-trusted character somehow betrays the main characters and join the evil team.

[b.miller]

this was a conspiracy type movie?

[IsiliRunite]

The government wasn't really involved in the story, because everything was basically happening behind their backs. Why does it matter? I would have liked to learn a little more about the future world, from the eye of the writer.

[cured]

this was a conspiracy type movie?

Nope. The only element resembling that is something that holds the story together but doesn't sacrafice the pace of the action with a heavy-handed betrayal moment that changes what you knew about the story.

[Animal Boything]

I would have liked to learn a little more about the future world, from the eye of the writer.The story was told through the eyes of people who had no fucking clue, so it actually makes a lot of sense that we the audience only caught snippets.

[oversight]

Has anyone noticed this movie being 2 hours of non-stop ads? We actually have to PAY to watch commercials :cool:.
XBox, MSN, Puma, etc, etc.. Every ten minutes a new brand is introduced. If this is the future, then let us at least watch for free!

[lukeyd]

the " placed ads" (i think thats the way its referred to) wasnt anyway near as bad/obvious/hilarious as the converse ad known as i, robot.

but again, i think you are all missing the point. scarlett is HOTNESS.

[Animal Boything]

Has anyone noticed this movie being 2 hours of non-stop ads? We actually have to PAY to watch commercials :cool:.
XBox, MSN, Puma, etc, etc.. Every ten minutes a new brand is introduced. If this is the future, then let us at least watch for free!
I actually find really shameless product placement highly entertaining. When some huge logo goes up on screen I just start laughing.

[groovypanda]

saw this last night and was hoping it was going to be good instead of the absolute crock of shit it turned out to be :(

it started off well enough and was quite interesting but as soon as scarlett & ewan escaped from the facility it turned into a series of inane, far fetched stunt sequences and to be honest me & my girlfriend considered walking out halfway through and we very rarely do that - after this and the atrocious bad boys ii, i'l doubt i'll ever watch another michael bay movie again :(

and i thought the idea was ripped off michael marshall smith's excellent book spares (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0006512674/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_1/202-8721366-4329419)