THE ISLAND (2005)

There are many people out there that like to bash Michael Bay. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone even ripped him through a hilarious song in their puppet movie Team America. Yes Pearl Harbor did miss the mark, but one thing Michael Bay always' has a sharp eye for is extravagant action sequences. Bay's major problem has always been the cheese laden melodrama he peppers through out his movies, which is what sunk Pearl Harbor. I'm happy to report that this time around, Bay has kept the melodrama to a minimum, and the end result is one of Bay's best films to date. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star as Lincoln Six-Echo and Jordan Two-Delta, two members of a futuristic colony of people who are kept completely unaware of the real outside world. The only thing that keeps the inhabitants of this facility going, is the thought of winning a lottery that will move them to The Island, a supposedly magnificent utopian paradise. Eventually Lincoln Six-Echo's curiosity leads him to discoveries that make him realise he has been living a lie. McGregor and Johansson turn in very good performances and have a nice onscreen chemistry. Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi and Michael Clarke Duncan round out a superb A-class supporting cast who help to gel together The Island's plot very effectively. The science fiction elements aren't all that original but there are some interesting little tidbits and everything flows nicely to allow Michael Bay to insert his trademark blow-you-out-of-your-seat action which is exactly what he does, to maximum effect.

After some decent early setup, The Island turns into an all-out adrenalin onslaught. There is one sequence in particular that is truly spectacular involving a truck, cars, hover jet bikes, and a massive amount of destruction. This scene alone is worth the price of admission and it left the audience in the theatre I was in "ooohing" with pleasure. There's lots of light humor sprinkled between the eye candy that makes the drama work and McGregor is particularly hilarious in a few of his scenes, seemingly cranking up his character's wittiness as the movie goes on. There are a couple of spots of poor and misplaced melodrama, but nothing like the heinous levels seen in Pearl Harbor or even Armageddon for that matter, and these scenes are very brief enabling most of them to fly just beneath our slush radar.
Michael Bay still has that hyper kinetic, quick cutting style, but he seems to have matured a little since his early day's. The Island is shot more clearly and the editing is wound down a notch allowing the viewer more time to linger over his highly polished cinematic style. Bay is sort of like a coked-up version of Ridley Scott, both of them have a very good eye for cinematography, but Ridley Scott's movies flow beautifully while Michael Bay movies can't sit still and have to jump around all over the place. This helps Bay in the big furious action sequences, but it sometimes damages him when it comes to the all important storytelling. It seems like Bay gets bored with regular scenes and can't let them simply play out without doing something flashy. With The Island, he has vastly improved the way he films the close, personnel moments allowing the story to flow much better and engage the viewer with a more subtle ease.

Overall The Island is a very fun movie going experience. The fabulous cast keeps it strong and Michael Bay's direction and awesome action sequences make it much better than most of the movies that come out. It also shows that he's truly grown as a filmmaker and that his best days are probably still ahead of him.