Monday, January 23, 2006

The Island

"You want to go to the Island."

Well, too bad. There is no island. They've been lying to us.

They have been told that they are survivors of a nuclear holocaust. They live in a seemingly utopian society. They all live for getting a chance to go the island. Unfortunately, they are really clones that are produced to provide organs for their sponsors.

When Ewan McGregor discovers the truth, he takes Scarlett Johansson and runs like in the movie, Logan's Run. There is also some similarity to A Clockwork Orange when the clones are being programmed with video screens.

It starts off as a sci-fi flick and then turns out to be an adrenaline-inducing special effects action chase thriller.

It turns out to be a dark themed movie though. Ewan McGregor's clone just wants to survive. When the clone meets the real person, he turns out to be a jerk that just wants to live as well and doesn't care a lick about what happens to his clone. There's a little bit of some Face/Off similarity when the main assassin has to figure out who the real person is. The clone puts the bracelet on the sponsor, and the real person gets shot.

It's interesting to see what downtown L.A. would look like in the future. I skateboarded down Grand Avenue where they filmed the flying motorcycle scene. The special effects are great. No doubt, this wasn't the actors' best work though.

The movie wasn't as bad as some critics have said about it. There are a lot of philosophical issues to look at in this movie. Is it okay to make clones to provide organs for their sponsors? Which life is worth more? Pretty interesting to consider. I think we can clone humans in the future. The problem is the ethical issues that would ensue after we do this. Will it provide hope for the sick or will it cause more horrors than we have ever experienced in our society?

My rating: B, 86.

No comments: