The Island DVD Review

"THE ISLAND" reviews

DVD

THE ISLAND

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-02-02 16:55:40

Provider

MRIB

DVD Review

Michael Bay's latest epic has proved more Pearl Harbour than Armageddon at the box office, where it tanked, despite the efforts of Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson.

Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) lives a regulated life in an environment controlled by shadowy figures. His is a world of mundane routine, but as he and his fellow citizens have been 'educated' to be unquestioning automatons this isn't a problem. Ambition is confined to a relocation to The Island, to which two lucky lottery winners are sent each day.

However, our curious hero uncovers the truth: that his existence is a carefully constructed lie and he is just a human clone developed for 'harvesting' for his human opposite. Suitably chastened by such a discovery, McGregor and Scarlett Johansson's gorgeous, but vapid, blonde Jordan Two-Delta (surely you'd have thought one of them might have got suspicious about their clinical names!) resolve to escape their laboratory (brave new) world and head for normal society.

Michael Bay has created an all-action thriller with nods to contemporary society (the vexed question of stem cell research) that deserved a better reception. McGregor and Johansson are both up to the task and ably supported by Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean and Michael Clarke Duncan.

The Making Of The Island and a ROM link to director's commentary are among he special features.

Copyright © MRIB 2006.