The Island

In terms of content (screenwriting), The Island is Michael Bay’s most riveting film yet. It’s serious subject matter (with several depressing scenes) is skilfully made into a brisk Hollywood blockbuster that fulfils all of the required parameters. The central duo of actors was a bad commercial (producer) decision, but it was a perfect dramaturgical (directorial) move. Their characters needed the greatest possible realism and they played the biggest character roles as they were being familiarised with the “new world”. My favourite passage of the film is the encounter with the children at the station... Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson did not disappoint. The action scenes are peak Bay; the one with the “wasp” and its flight over a skyscraper is a real eye-candy highlight. The visual and musical concepts are kitschier than in Minority Report, for example, but still maintain a certain dignity, are believable and manage to captivate the viewer. And composer Steve Jablonsky steps out from under his own shadow. There are a few holes in the logic and the film has two endings, but it never becomes boring. I was glad it wasn’t ending yet and I could be kept in suspense for a while longer… This is the first Michael Bay movie that interested and entertained me with more than just nice visuals. The Island is a more interesting and daring sci-fi popcorn flick than last year's I, Robot. (24/09/2005)

The first film of the repulsive megalomaniac after The Rock, which I again enjoyed with all the icing on the cake. I really don't know why I would want to talk about a more serious idea in the case of The Island, which may be interesting at the embryonic stage, but fortunately Bay is obviously afraid of deeper topics - he reduces the island's ant base into crumbly but tolerable dialogues, and after a while the whole plot is reduced to "from whom it is necessary to escape / who needs to be defeated and what needs to be destroyed". No loops, but on the contrary great action fire from all cannons, fast editing, excellent background music, breathtaking effects (especially the scene with train wheels is breathtaking). The island is dominated by a clinically pure image style, a crystal clear and uncomplicated futuristic aesthetic that is as clear and legible as the story of the film. It slides down the neck and does not burden the stomach. I do not mean that in a bad way. Michael Bay is good at all the cliché slow motion, camera flights, etc., and he can do them cleanly and precisely like few others, and The Island operates with the expression of an action film with absolute bravura. The result is two hours, my brain was sweetly turned off and I rode only on a wave of adrenaline, which is not muffled by anything. A great relaxation experience - I of course understand that whoever was waiting for intelligent sci-fi must have been disappointed. But wanting it from Michael is like wanting a circumcision at St. Vitus. Have I ever written that Scarlett Johansson is absolutely GORGEOUS??? (10/01/2007)

Bay’s attempt at making a different type of movie than he usually does stopped somewhere half-way along the route. In the end, the initially intriguingly developing screenplay proves to be the weakest aspect of this movie. Despite the fact that something is always going on in this picture and despite the frantic editing, paradoxically this seems to lack pace. But even so, thanks to an excellent McGregor and the precise technical aspects, this is an above-average picture which is definitely more endearing than Bay’s previous movies, but unfortunately it isn’t one of his best. (05/09/2005)

When I thought, after the second Miserables, that Michael had permanently drowned in his action-comedy mannerisms, I couldn't have been more wrong. Orci and Kurtzman wrote him a script that suited him perfectly and although it's a timid prequel compared to Transformers, the futuristic romance is worth it. Ewan McGregor excels in a role that could finally elevate him to the absolute top class (but due to the mentioned box office failures, we didn't get to see it this time either), the rest of the actors support him at a distance, but skillfully. Perhaps it could have spent a little less time before burning the point, but the action in the second half lifts the film completely somewhere else. (14/02/2006)

For someone who has seen Logan's Run, The Island is a completely pointless affair. Even though the story does go in a different direction in the second half and the whole thing seems to be just a bastardized take on Equilibrium. But I realize that it may not be that much of a big deal for fans of McGregor, Johansson, or Bay. (06/11/2011)

Gorgeous Bruckheimer-style camera filters, swooping shots, and overhead views – basically everything that Michael Bay can offer us. The Island is visually stunning, full of gloss, light, and thrilling action. At the same time, it is philosophically and narratively the most sophisticated film by this creator. (02/09/2005)

A weaker 4 stars. Definitely not because Bay made a swashbuckling actioner out of stuff someone else would have made Blade Runner out of -). More because I kind of got lost in it at times, and if the camera had stayed still for a moment I wouldn't have minded at all. Otherwise, probably the most logical lapses I've seen recently. (01/10/2009)

I don't like Michael Bay and after watching the film "The Island", that hasn't changed much. I've always liked "The Incredibles", but that's about it. "The Island" has an interesting concept and that's about it. Bay tried to make something that could be called utopian sci-fi, where the social criticism should work primarily. It mainly works on the action level because that's what Bay enjoys. It's noticeable. Everything else is just a big bubble to make the film longer than two hours. A good idea fragmented into an unbelievably long boredom. (01/04/2014)