L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, July 21, 2005 7:00 pm
Michael Bay is one of the last directors you'd think would make a movie with a message. His calling card is action and spectacle sometimes done well, as in "Bad Boys" and "Armeggedon," and sometimes not so well, as in "Pearl Harbor" and "Bad Boys II."
But with "The Island," Bay and a trio of screenwriters deliver a warning about the risks of cloning while delivering plenty of tension and action in a futuristic sci-fi thriller.
At the center of the mid 21st-century picture are Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson), two residents of a contained facility where they are protected from the contamination which has wiped out all life on Earth except for one spot, the Island.
Working at menial jobs, the duo are among thousands hoping to win the lottery and get sent to the paradise where they will help repopulate the earth. But Lincoln is troubled, having bad dreams and questioning what's going on around him. His curiosity leads him to maintenance worker McCord (Steve Buscemi), who gives him just enough information to figure out that the Island is a hoax.
That, of course, happens just when Jordan wins the lottery. So he grabs her and, using his wiles, manages to escape from the institute. The couple emerges into a desert, then finds themselves pursued by Albert Laurent (Djimon Hounsou) and his elite security team of former military special operations experts, hired by Merrick (Sean Bean) to try to stop them from fleeing.
Turning to McCord for help, Lincoln and Jordan make it onto a bullet train bound for Los Angeles, where the chase continues and Lincoln and Jordan learn the truth about themselves and the institute.
The lengthy chase sequences let Bay churn up his traditional mayhem, this time incorporating helicopters, armored cars, a semi truck and flying motorcycles which are a pretty cool invention. Using all kinds of camera trickery, Bay creates a series of breathtaking sequences that makes "The Island" one of the better pure action films of late.
As always, unless you care about the characters, even the best action is wasted. In "The Island," you care about the characters, who are smartly written and very well acted.
McGregor is probably best known as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the second "Star Wars" trilogy. Given George Lucas's inability to write dialogue, those pictures are hardly actor showcases. But McGregor's a fine actor, as he has shown in "Trainspotting," "Velvet Goldmine" and "Moulin Rouge!"
Here, he and Johannson, the best of today's young actresses, were charged with playing innocents thrown into a high-stakes, high-tech world running to stay alive. As they run, they become more knowledgeable, but still don't know much about the world they have entered or why they're being pursued.
That's a tough balance to strike, and the pair does so perfectly. McGregor is particularly good in showing the torment of uncertainty and the pressure that comes as he gradually figures out what is going on and who he really is.
To say much more would give away everything about "The Island" and that's not fair to either the filmmakers or the audience. Suffice it to say that all the performances, from Bean in another bad guy role to Buscemi in another of his comic, but dramatic roles, are strong and help push the film forward, both in terms of action and meaning.
"The Island" isn't a classic, and its themes have been visited plenty of times over the years. But it is a rare summer movie that has some depth beneath the popcorn, and Bay is one of the best action directors going. That makes it likely one of the best pictures that will hit screens from now through September.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.
The Island
*** (out of four stars)
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean
Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, sexual content/nudity and language)
Now showing: Edgewood, the Grand, SouthPointe
The reel story: McGregor and Johansson star in this sci-fi thriller full of Bay's trademark action that has a message about the dangers of cloning.