THE ISLAND: Blu-ray (Dreamworks, 2005) Warner Home Video

Under the old euphemism about ‘everyone having a twin somewhere in the world,’ director, Michael Bay’s The Island (2005) is a sci-fi action/melodrama, ripped from the pages of embryonic stem cell research gone horrible awry. In this pseudo-Hitlerian futurist utopia, rich people are given the power and the right to clone copies of themselves expressly for their use as ‘spare parts’, the laboratory run by oligarchic scientist, Merrick (Sean Bean). Unbeknownst to the clones, they are being bred for ‘harvesting’ at some future stage in their developmental research. The remoteness of the institute – buried deep beneath the red earth of New Mexico - is enough to convince the clones they are living in a virtual and all-inclusive paradise removed from the rest of the world which has been contaminated by nuclear fallout. Ewan McGregor stars as Lincoln ‘Six’ Echo, the clone of Tom Lincoln (also played by McGregor). ‘Six’ is in love with another clone, Jordan ‘Two’ Delta (Scarlett Johansson). However, when Jordon wins the institute’s ‘lottery’ – that is to say, she is being recalled by her human counterpart, Sarah Jordon for harvesting – Lincoln becomes suspicious. After all, none of the previous ‘winners’ ever returned from the island to tell their tale. Where did they go?

Lincoln employs the help of another resident, McCord (Steve Buscemi) to investigate the insidious mystery behind the island. Learning the truth, Lincoln is tagged for immediate extermination by Merrick. But he escapes with Jordon into the shocking ‘reality’ of life circa 2019 – not all that more progressive than life circa 2007, but ultimately just as unsettling. Falling somewhere between The Matrix and Minority Report, the rest of Bay’s excursion quickly degenerates into his predictable and formulaic ‘us versus them’ chase scenario (seen in The Rock, Con Air, etc., et al). Lincoln and Jordon are stalked at every turn by unrelenting, Albert Laurent (Djimon Houdsou) and his hit squad. Throughout, the movie’s visuals are highly stylized and blessed by CGI - clever, quirky, but perhaps with more than a hint of foreboding for the future. Bay’s forte, as he has clearly proven in countless movies, is action. The Island has some of the most breathtaking action sequences yet filmed. Alas, there is an overriding sense of ennui to this exercise – a very transparent realization we are seeing has already been done elsewhere before. Ewan McGregor is an amiable hero for this un-heroic age, suave and deviously threatening. Scarlett Johansson does her best to appear shell-shocked and demure while scaling tall buildings a la Laura Croft: Tomb Raider-style, firing rounds of metal nails into potential attackers. Once more, Sean Bean’s baddie is the most appealing of the lot – a very palpable personification of the man without a soul. Steve Buscemi sleepwalks through his part. In the final analysis, The Island isn’t ‘bad’ entertainment. It’s just not as terribly original as one might expect.

The Island arrives on Blu-ray from Paramount Home Video in a gorgeous 1080p transfer, loaded with eye-popping colors. The sterility of the cloning facility is spectacularly contrasted against the earth tones of the desert and gritty hues of the urban city-scape. Contrast is excellent and the light smattering of film grain adds to the textures and density of the visuals. Truly, this is an exciting visual presentation. Curiously, close-ups of actors’ faces tend to suffer from homogenized skin tones. Not sure if this is due to some untoward DNR applied, or just great make-up, designed to make all the clones look alike. Otherwise, nothing here will disappoint. Add to this, an aggressive 5.1 DTS track that wallops the soundtrack with a lot of exhilarating spread across all the channels and, well, you have an excellent experience ahead of you. Extras are scant and derive completely from the tired old DVD release. We get Bay in an audio commentary in which he has some fascinating recall about virtually all facets of this production. Clearly, he was very ‘hands on’ throughout the film-making process.  We also get a disposable ‘making of’ featurette, made to promote the theatrical release, and another on the ‘ground-breaking’ SFX and action sequences, and a scant backstage pass at visualizing everything in a computer-animated storyboard. Bottom line: The Island is an enjoyable – if predictable – sci-fi/thriller. Nicely put together, the picture lacks the impetus of a truly original thought to make it click as an outstanding cornerstone in the genre.  

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

5+

EXTRAS

3