Film Review : The Island

The Island is a sci-fi / action film set in 2019, and tells the story of “Lincoln Six Echo” (Ewan McGregor) and “Jordan Two Delta” (Scarlett Johansson), two residents of a futuristic colony containing the last remaining survivors of the “contamination”. If you have read anything about the film you will know that all is not as it seems, and that behind this façade lies a sinister secret.

The film is split into two quite different halves. The first half paints a picture of life inside the colony, slowly and intelligently unravelling the mystery. The second half, after our heroes escape from their prison, is an all-out action movie, containing more chases, crashes and explosions than you can shake a stick at.

I enjoyed the first half more – it was great to look at, was intelligently written, and kept me guessing for a while. The second half was a bit more formulaic, and although the stunts were spectacular they got a bit repetitive. The plot was on the whole pretty good though, except for a couple of slips towards the end - why did no one check Jordan for a concealed weapon?!

Overall though I really liked this film. Ewan McGregor was excellent in the lead role(s), and there were fine supporting turns from Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean and Ethan Phillips (Neelix from Voyager, instantly recognisable from his voice). Johansson was of course very easy on the eye, but her character wasn’t all that interesting.

I’d give it a **** rating, and would definitely recommend it.