The Island Movie Review: Harvesting Humans in the Island

Set in the year 2019 in a hermetic complex where everyone wears white suits and their health and food intake monitored up to the tiniest details, the story follows the everyday life of Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson) living in a sterile environment after a world contamination.

The Island is a derivative science-fiction thriller about the clones of humans used as spare parts (to replace defective body organs, adopt new-born babies without any biological parent running after the kid after some years (and can even have kids by using specific clones), and insure lost or malfunctioning body parts) of their sponsors (mostly supermodels, athletes, politicians and billionaires). These clones are believed to be fortunate survivors of a world contamination. But at the middle of the story, chunks of information about the underground complex they live in are revealed. It turns out that the said futuristic environment is a top secret facility run by corporate smug Dr. Merrick (Sean Bean) who grows clones and raises them as products being prepared for harvesting. Soon, they will be ready for consumption by their sponsors who have problems with their specific body parts.

Talk about the dark side of human experimentation. This sci-fi adventure movie seems to pay some homage to the futuristic stories of the past (Logan's Run and Coma during the 70's and 80's). The colors are very saturated and futuristic. The whites (particularly the white suits inside the sterile clone town) are cool and neat. The blue seas seen in the tight and compelling opening scene and the holograms of The Island have such visual appeal. Michael Bay, as usual, takes his shots action-packed Hollywood style, that Bay-Bruckheimer style (Bruckheimer being a mentor) as seen in the films like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Rock, among others.

The Island takes an uncompromising stand against the vegetation of human clones and human harvesting. Though the movie's plotpoints are very fictitious, the effects give that flair.

As the inquisitive mind of Lincoln pushes the story forward, he escapes with his love interest Jordan (quite unconscious of it as they are not brought up with the idea of sexual attraction) from the hands of Dr. Merrick who runs the cloning research institute and masks himself as the clones' trusted shrink. Through the help of Steve Buscemi's character, Lincoln and Jordan discover the nooks and cranny of things. The why's and how's of them having cushy lives inside a sterile space filled with white-clad inhabitants, the truth behind the lottery, the much revered utopian island, and the unlikely vegetative state of the new clones inside a clone lab.

After living all their lives inside their antiseptic underground prison, Lincoln and Jordan could have had more comic interactions during their fresh moments in the real world up there. But Bay focused most on the chasing scenes, which is quite normal for him and for the genre. However, some possible hits on the comic side of things are actually missed. And these could have added more spice to the story (for instance, the main characters' "first time in bed," which is almost "just a usual bed scene"). The speedway chases are typically Hollywood mainstream (both in story and effects).

The digital effects, massive sets, great stunts, futuristic elements, fight scenes on freeways and airways, and train wheels on a big rig turned into resourceful weapons, are very hot and striking. And the viewers' thrust for speed and action are fed. McGregor wrestling himself is a good buy... thanks to motion control cameras.

This movie also boasts on some big time product placements including Puma and Microsoft.

The strength of The Island is the intriguing concept of what technology brings to humans. The plot and the story are mix-and-match of various sci-fi hits and not so hits.

It is a universal thing: humans want to live longer. Humans don't get contented of what they have. But up to what extent should anyone achieve this? It's a great need for people suffering that they get a liver, heart, kidneys for them to live longer. For personal gratification, some have insurance on body parts as the buttocks, or having new skin, etc. But getting them the way it is presented in the movie makes an eye-opener of "how human" human beings can be and should be. The Island makes a stand against this kind of human harvesting as it treats humanity as nothing more than a piece of meat. Bay makes a firm stand on this by using scenes that can make the audience empathize with the clones who seem to also have souls. Some gripping scenes to support this include: the killing of the woman clone who just bore a child and the football star mercilessly played around and hit by the real humans in the lab like an animal ready for the fridge.

Humans need a purpose in their lives. And this movie reiterates how far issues like such can be raised... and warn us of the possibilities that await...