Thread: Review:The.Island.2005

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi
Directed by: Michael Bay
Produced by: Laurie McDonald (II), Walter F. Parkes, Ian Bryce

VFX Studio/s Involved:
Industrial Light + Magic, Black Box Digital, Asylum

Full ILM Credits:here



I had missed this at the theatres but lately caught it up on DVD. I'm not really such a big fan of Bay's movies, but i find them very entertaining. As this was from the sci-fi realm, and it had ILM behind it, I had to watch it. Boy, I wasn’t disappointed!

The opening scene started the movie on a very high note. Tricky mix of editing/transitions and vfx here. By now, you get an idea of what to expect of the movie. The water-receed-Lincoln-getting-up shot blew socks. Totally.

First half of the movie was a li'l documentary style storytelling in the lines of I, Robot with Bay's treatment on it. On the effects front, the entire underground bunker-converted city was very intriguing to begin with. But I thought the 2019 here was way too futuristic. Said that, the set design was totally sweet! Everything from the building architecture to the futuristic displays (reminded me of Minority Report!) was taken care of. So much effort into it. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Second half and we are into business. Michael Bay kinda business. The Digital-Set/ Set extensions were very well thought of and well made. They fit so beautifully into the entirety of the city. The Projection system, the blinds that keep the 'agnates' from seeing the reality was very intriguing. This was creatively used later to......(those who saw, know abt it!).

Then it’s the ‘real’ 2019 with real people. This was a much believable 2019, with a gradual progression, the kind-of you would expect having lived for 20 years in this world. It's a real treat for car lovers then on. Cars were futuristically re-done and don’t they look hot??!!! There is even a Hummer (It's a Bay movie, Duh!!!!) in its H2 variant. For Caddy lovers, there’s a Cien, which is super-cool (If ya want it, just start saving enough, you might just make it by 2019!). Alright, hot cars are here, what to do with them??? Chase em', Bang em', Crash 'em! Non-Stop Car Chase Action. Singly worth the price of the DVD(or the movie ticket). I was awestruck at the amount of research put into the design on Los Angeles 2019. Even the AMTRAK that brought the agnates to L.A, was a believable future train that runs on Magnetic Levitation Tech. I had seen a documentary abt these on Discovery which inferred it as the future. A prototype was also shown which was so very similar to what I saw here. A perfect example to the kind of genuine painstaking research and development put into it even though it is ' just a movie'.

The main course was regular, so I had more or less guessed the dessert. I would like to leave this half untalked abt for the people who still couldn’t catch this movie.

I cant find reasons why this movie did'nt do all to well as Bay's other movies. Maybe it was because of the absence of Jerry. I dunno, and i seriously dont worry abt it that much as long as Bay comes out with entertaining movies like this.

The Island had very obvious visual effects in it, considering the time it is set in. But the original story, the entire design of the movie, the awesome vfx, Scarlett(I love her!!) blinded me enough to watch the movie, instead of each shot. That makes me to see this as a movie with invisible effects because all of them were so very well done. A1 quality. A near perfect example of how visual effects should be effective enough for telling a story.

That prompted to title this a Review rather than a Critique. Follow on with your version or comment. Thank you for reading this.

Meanwhile check out the production stills at yahoo! movies. It has some storyboards from the car chase sequences and some general stills.

Cheers!

This is a great breakdown of the movie! I have to say that i really enjoyed it, the visual effects were very good and very smooth and well integrated.

The bike chase was really cool, off the hook... and the bike itself was just awesome. I must say i didnt really expect such great effects when i started watching the film.

The only part i didnt really think was that well done was in the end when they blew up the holographic system and the large fan that provided the ventilation fell down into the underground system... it kind've looked like a minature...

I am going to pop the DVD back in and check it out again to see what else i can pick up, until then i would love to hear what other people think about the FX!

Ugh, I didn't like it, and I'm a fan of big stupid action movies. Heck, I liked Stealth.

The Island was a bore. Overly long, the last act takes place where the first act takes place so it has a very repetitive feel to it. And the chase through the city was not very intense, all they do is toss those big weights off the back of the truck. Not very inventive at all, the three year old Matrix Reloaded freeway scene still blows it away.

That big R that fell off the building was cool, but that was a trailer shot and I was expecting it to be the climax of the movie. The end of the movie paled in comparision to that scene. Plus the actors survived the fall in a fake movie type of way.

Also, the island apparently doesn't have good security clearance, Ewan Mcgreggor was going anywhere he wanted. Would they really perform the surguries just one floor above where the clones live, and have a ladder leading to a loose tile so Mr. Mcgreggor can pop his head in whenever he wants?

I hate Michael Bay now because I feel like he's gonna blow the Transformers movie, which should be the coolest thing to hit theatres ever, but his long, repetitive, and very uninnovative style has left me wanting... actually, wanting a different director to take the helm of Transformers.

So now I'm off to rent Transporter 2 tonight to get my fill of big dumb action, The Island didn't deliver... well, it did on the dumb part.

you are right - there is no way in hell they could have survived that fall off the 'R' the way they did - if they had gone back in the building through a window i could have beleived it but to fall 50+ stories and get caught in a net?

but those big weights did some serious damage...

Originally Posted by hiphopcr

he's gonna blow the Transformers movie

Ugh, he's not going to do the Transformers is he? Good-bye fond childhood memories - they're sure to be drowned out under a flood of brainless set pieces and pointless cinematic tricks.

I have no doubt the effects were top notch in The Island. My biggest gripe was that he tried to cloak his usual bag of tricks in a pseudo-'issue' wrapper - to attempt to lend the movie more credability that it was worth. He has a fantastic premise chock full of ethical landmines and pertinent questions about where science and medicine is heading, then proceeded to beat it over the head repeatedly with meaningless explosions and cliffhangers every 20 minutes.

I watched "Team America, World Police" last night.....

Loved the song with the lyrics:

"I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark,
When he made Pearl Harbor.
I miss you more then that movie missed the point,
And that’s an awful lot girl.
And now, now you've gone away,
And all I'm trying to say,
Is Pearl Harbor sucked and I miss you"

That said, I've not seen The Island....

I have a lot of respect for Ewan McGregor's talent as an Actor so I decided to rent this DVD. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I am a real sci-fi / conspiracy enthusiast. This has both. Not to mention the artistic look and feel of the flick. Not to mention the ASSets Scarlett Johansson brings to the picture! It will make it into my catalogue...

I vote for Quentino Tarantino to Direct Transformers! Now we are talking

Scott San

My Review. It was a popcorn movie. But I would definitely rate Transporter 2 above this in terms of mindnumbing excitement.

Yeah, I saw the Transporter 2 this weekend and loved it. Very over the top and very mindnumbing for sure, it was awesome... although that psycho chick swinging around on the beads in the bedroom over did the cheese factor.

Oh, and those exterior shots of the airplane during the finale should have never happened. The movie is cheesy but that was just straight goofy.