1) It is shiny and bright for a start. No drab realism here, the film exists in a world of sharp colours and illuminated tints (something I really like actually!).
2) It is dazzling. Most obviously the beauty is found in the cast - a group of unconvential hotness that is captured in a running series of slow-mo poses. Scarlet Johansson with wide eyes and wind-swept hair. Ewan McGregor - times two! in a suave suit version or dusty leather mode - with swaggering walk and infectious smile. Djimon Hounsou dripping with chiselled, ebony manliness.
3) It is hard. There are no moments of weepiness or soft edges. The entire film is cut in deliberate angles that reflect distrust and danger at every turn.
4) It is clear, or rather, transparent. There is no challenge to see where the film is going or for whom one must cheer. And although admired in diamonds, perfect clarity is a falsehood in relationships and an emptiness in films.
The Island is the story of Lincoln Six Echo (McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Johansson). (The film takes time to explain the names as if to prove that someone really thought about the movie but it is a discussion that is both unnecessary and flawed.) Both characters are clones that live in a colony that resembles an intense wellness center for fitness and purity freaks. The entire clone population, of course, has NO idea that they are the "property" of "real" people out in the world. They have been manufactured as replacement-part recepticals for the weathy. The world is maintained through three key devices: developmental control that inhibits natural human interaction, mass belief in a contaminated external world, and propaganda about "the island" - the last safe zone. The story is jump-started when Lincoln's curiosity gets the better of him and all hell breaks loose as he tries to fight for his (and Jordan's) life. It seems that the "sponsors" believe their organ donors to be genetically-perfect vegetables. They are not supposed to be walking, talking, feeling humans! The secret must be maintained! At all costs! Using as much destructive force as necessary!
From the description, it can be seen that The Island has the potential to be an engaging, dialogue-instigating film. The nature of humanity is begging to be explored. The first creature Lincoln and Jordan encounter upon escaping from their sanitary and harmonious world is a snake - a blatant reference to the biblical "fall from innocence". Jordan is exposed to sexualization scenarios three times but none bother to investigate the impact on the neutral characters but rather pushes them towards the act itself. Lincoln faces an extreme amount of violence and yet maintains his composure well beyond what his societal training should allow.
Bay seems to see these story cues as pesky hornets that are to be swatted away lest they sting the viewer with intelligent thought. His implement of choice is a loud, frenetic action sequence. Bay is known for cutting the life out of his action and The Island is no exception. An inability to see what is happening mixed with a seizure-inducing pace and soundtrack make his action unsatisfying. When the sequences are done to yank one away from interesting moments that have promise, they become downright frustrating.
The true story of this film is not the cat-and-mouse adventure. It is in the study of how humans interact and what about those interactions make us human. It is on these grounds that The Matrix proved so satisfying. If Bay had cut his freeway chase and helicopter shots and created scenes where the innocence of Lincoln and Jordan confronts hate, greed, envy, jealousy, lust, ect. then he could have done something intriguing. But instead, Bay chooses to emulate I, Robot and punctuate his story with exclamation points rather than questions. Definitely not an anniversary worth remembering.
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