Island Escapade

I was recently in the mood for a Big Dumb Action Movie, and decided to try out The Island. After all, you can usually rely on director Michael Bay for Big, Dumb, and Action.

Unfortunately, I may have picked the one movie where he was actually trying for something a little more. The Island is a science fiction tale that lifts heavily from a number of predecessors, perhaps most heavily Logan's Run. It aspires to the lofty heights of "real" science fiction, examining a moral question through a futuristic, "it's only imaginary" lens.

That's not what I signed up for. And what's more, Michael Bay isn't really capable of offering that either. The whiz-bang thrills of the movie are there, but they're sometimes separated by long, heady filler. And since it lacks subtlety, just like his crazy action sequences, that part of the film isn't very entertaining.

On the plus side, when the thrills do come, they're pretty slick. The script overall gets perilously close to a "paint by numbers" approach of a car chase, and foot race, a motorcycle chase, one from each of the Action Food Groups. But there manages to be just enough excitement to these set pieces to keep thought at bay. (Thought often being the death of these kinds of movies.)

Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson both manage to make a mountain out of a molehill, giving strong performances with limited material. (In the case of McGregor, it just underscores even more what a hack of a director George Lucas is, that he couldn't get a good performance out of him in the Star Wars prequels.) Sean Bean plays villainous more or less the same as in a plenty of other movies he's made (see: Goldeneye, Don't Say a Word, etc.), but is essentially enjoyable.

One more mark against the movie is its extensive and awkward use of product placement. A half a dozen or more completely illogical products (XBox? Really?) are given conspicuous and obnoxious screen time. Sort of takes the edge off that whole attempt to be serious science fiction.

Overall, I'd give The Island a C+. Could have been worse. Could have been better.