In The Island, director Michael Bay (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) creates a fast-paced and exciting sci-fi action adventure - one of the best of the summer.Ewen McGregor (Star Wars Episodes I, II, & III, Moulin Rouge) portrays Lincoln Six Echo, a man who lives in a self contained and seemingly utopian facility of the mid-21st century where food, exercise, and even emotions are monitored to protect the inhabitants from outside nuclear contamination. Only those lucky enough to win the lottery are chosen to live on the Island, the last uncontaminated place in the world.
After discovering a flying insect thriving in a restricted area, Lincoln begins to question the contamination story, and soon discovers that the Island is a lie, and that the winners of the lottery are brought to a cruel and meaningless end.
When his friend Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation, The Girl with the Pearl Earring), wins the lottery, Lincoln rescues her and together they escape to the outside world. To protect his interests, facility owner Sean Bean (National Treasure, Lord of the Rings trilogy) hires a security force headed by Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, In America) to hunt down and kill the escapees as they desperately search for help and answers.
Overall this is a well-made film with an excellent story, believable characters and amazing action sequences (including a vehicle reminiscent of the swamp speeders from Return of the Jedi). The second half of the film - when Lincoln and Jordon make it to the city - is the weakest and perhaps would have worked better as a sequel. Newly introduced characters and story lines are respectively one-dimensional and under-developed. The remarkable talents of Michael Clark Duncan, sadly underused in the first half of the film, could have been revisited here. But despite this, and the fact that Bay gets hoaky Hollywood with the final scenes, we can forgive him, for the ride getting there was well worth it. A -
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