My Favourite Movies: The Island

This was a film that, at its heart, contained an interesting idea – actually several interesting ideas. It was a real shame, therefore, that Hollywood turned it into a chase movie, albeit a good one (chase that is).

This was in essence a movie of two halves. In the first we are presented with an apparently futuristic society made up of survivors of a global catastrophe called ‘The Contamination’. In reality, as we discover through the experiences of Lincoln Six Echo (played by Ewan McGregor), the so-called survivors are in fact copies – clones – of their super-rich sponsors and are being used as repositories for spare parts and as pain free baby factories. When his best friend, Jordan Two Delta (played by Scarlett Johansson) is chosen to go to ‘The Island’, the supposed last refuge for mankind but in fact a euphemism for organ harvesting, Lincoln investigates and discovers the truth about everything. The second half consists of Lincoln escaping with Jordan which triggers a dramatic (OK overly melodramatic) chase across America as the two clones try to make their existence public and the corporation who owns them does everything to stop them.

There were several interesting questions raised in the first half of the movie before it honestly got rather silly (don’t get me started on the flying motorbikes!). Questions regarding the nature of identity, ownership of ‘property’ that happens to be living human beings and the powerful desire for longevity (or even immortality) by any means necessary. In line with the overall philosophy of the film the cast were by and large disposable or at least interchangeable. They were certainly able enough the carry the film forward but, for me at least, the only character who stood out – probably because he was just about the only character in the film - was Djimon Hounsou who played the leader of the team assigned to bring back the clones for orderly disposal. After being hired to do a job – return or destroy defective product – he quickly finds himself conflicted between his orders and his personal history of having a father executed for being involved in a failed rebellion against an oppressive regime.

It may seem strange on the face of it that, taking into account all of the above, I’m still picking this movie as one of my favourites. In all honesty this is not a great film. Although adequately scripted it is full of plot holes and plain lazy directing. Watch when Jordan is returned to the facility near the end of the movie. Now just try to work out where that gun came from! There is a great chase sequence on a freeway that’s almost ruined by the previously mentioned flying motorcycles but at least both of the leads are very engaging to watch. I’m a fan of McGregor and, as you know, deeply in lust with Johansson so quite happily watched her run all over the West coast often filmed from behind…… The ‘bottom’ line is that despite everything wrong with this film it’s still lots of fun especially if, unlike me, you don’t pick holes in the plot – at least too much. For a brain in neutral two hour bit of fun you could do a lot worse. Believe me, I have.