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I knew that if I waited long enough a movie would come along this summer that would kick-start a season of humdrum film-antics.

Michael Bay directs a solid cast in The Island; a futuristic, action, Sci-Fi, thriller that has all the elements of a highly enjoyable summer movie.  You want action, comic relief, suspense, and thrilling chases? _The Island_ delivers that and more in this modern day Logan's Run.

Like everyone else who survived the supposed contamination of planet Earth, Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) is waiting to go to the Island. But unlike the rest of the inhabitants of his utopian multiplex he is not sold on the world around him. When he stumbles on a startling reality it's up to him to expose the lies that will ultimately destroy them all. With the help of Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) and McCord (Steve Buscemi) Lincoln takes on a government hit man (Djimon Hounsou) and an egomaniacal Doctor (Sean Bean) bent on keeping the truth under wraps.

_The Island_ goes beyond the normal sci-fi thriller in that it takes the sterile, futuristic blueprint and builds upon it with modern elements of life, action and humor. The characters are believable and no single actor has to carry the rest of the cast. Steve Buscemi is fabulous as always playing the disheveled working stiff with a sarcastic view of the world around him. Steve has a witty delivery that steals a scene every time. Fans of Ms. Johansson will be pleased to see her hold her own in the action world that is different from her normal fare. All in all it is safe to say that moviegoers who normally avoid Sci-Fi films may want to give this a go.

The Island is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action. The language is very mild to non-existent save for the one complimentary F-bomb that PG-13 movies are allowed. But even it was used in a context that was fitting and not with a vulgar or crude objective. I give The Island  4 out of  5 slices of bacon. After the disappointment of the last several weeks I am pleased to say that this could be my favorite movie of the summer. 

With a spin on entertainment, I'm Matt Mungle.

"Matt hosts the weekly syndicated Indie Rock Radio Show Spin 180. Plus with his wife Cindy they do a weekly radio feature, The Mungles on Movies. For additional reviews and interview clips visit the website www.mungleshow.com"

With a basic storyline similar to The Truman Show but with the sinister implications of the dystopia created in the novel Brave New World, The Island is both a semi-intelligent look at certain moral issues cropping up in modern science, and a semi-entertaining summer
blockbuster.  

The film divides itself right down the middle into two distinct halves.  The first act introduces us to a cold and creepy sci-fi society where everyone wears white uniforms for work and plays 10th generation Xbox's for fun.  This closed society is a sanctuary from the poisoned outside world, a fallacy the audience can sense almost right away but that the characters, who are not educated beyond a freshman high school level, are relatively incapable of seeing through.  A lottery takes place once or twice a day, the winners of which get to leave for "the island," a paradise that is the last safe zone in the world.  But a certain subject by the name of Lincoln Six Echo begins to question things- "Why can't I have bacon when I want to?  Why can't I dress in a different color than white?" Giving in to his curiosity, he begins to secretly explore.  

The second act begins with the escape of two of the closed society's members, the aforementioned Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta, and from this point on the film never halts to take a breath.  The head of the Institute orders a mercenary force to hunt down the escapees; foot, car, and jetbike chases result in some impressive if somewhat hollow visual effects, filled with all the explosions and crashes you'd expect from any summer action flick, while various shootouts and fisticuffs allow our hero and heroine to practice in reality the cool fight moves they learned from their days playing virtual reality games in the closed society they escaped from.  A thumping techno
soundtrack plays almost constantly, even during actionless dialogue sequences.  

Both halves work to an extent, a result of solid acting and dialogue and a plot that deals with relevant modern affairs.  But the impact of the film is dulled by a few problems.  The film is too long, with certain late twists that don't flesh out the story as much as they merely drag it on.  As spectacular looking as the action is, it gets too unbelievable and bombastic in a couple instances, crossing the line from being good fun to being simply ridiculous. The constant thrumming pulse of the action in the second half tends to undermine the excitement of an otherwise amazing climax.

The Island struggles under the weight of its director's notorious reputation for loud, mind-numbing action fluff.  It can be easy to dismiss the film-predominately because of its second half, as nothing more than another irrelevant Michael Bay film, but doing so would unfairly undermine other aspects of the film.  The Island tries to move both the heart and senses with its moral themes and incredible action,
and it manages to do so, if only mildly.  Many may find it underwhelming--a more effective script that intermixed the action and smarts of the respective half may have resulted in a more impressive and moving work.
 

Jonathan Avants 7/25/05