The Island (2005)

A man living in a futuristic sterile colony begins to question his circumscribed existence when his friend is chosen to go to the Island, the last uncontaminated place on earth.

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

Caspian Tredwell-Owen (screenplay), Alex Kurtzman (screenplay)

Stars:

Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ewan McGregor	...	Lincoln Six Echo / Tom Lincoln
Scarlett Johansson	...	Jordan Two Delta / Sarah Jordan
Djimon Hounsou	...	Albert Laurent
Sean Bean	...	Dr. Bernard Merrick
Steve Buscemi	...	James McCord
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Starkweather Two Delta / Jamal Starkweather
Ethan Phillips	...	Jones Three Echo
Brian Stepanek	...	Gandu Three Echo
Noa Tishby	...	Community Announcer
Siobhan Flynn	...	Lima One Alpha
Troy Blendell	...	Laurent Team Member
Jamie McBride	...	Laurent Team Member
Kevin McCorkle	...	Laurent Team Member
Gary Nickens	...	Laurent Team Member
Kathleen Rose Perkins	...	Laurent Team Member

Storyline

Set in a dystopian future, a group of people work in a facility, essentially as slaves. They do have an incentive though - a regular lottery is held and one of them gets to leave the facility and its restrictions and move to The Island, a paradise. Lincoln Six Echo is one of the workers in the facility and he is infatuated with Jordan Two Delta. His life is fairly uneventful and mundane until Jordan Two Delta gets selected to go to The Island. Then Lincoln starts to discover the truth about the facility and The Island.

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Plot Keywords:

year 2019 | island | clone | same actor playing two characters simultaneously on screen | actress playing dual role | 

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Taglines:

They don't want you to know what you are.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexuality and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

While filming the highway chase, the rig carrying the jet bike reached over the highway median and destroyed a Panavision camera.

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Goofs

(At around 43min) You can see the film crew with their camera wearing cargo pants in the top left corner standing on the stairs. The scene where Lincoln and Jordan are running through the crowd together.

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Quotes

[first lines]
God-Like Man: You're special. You have a very special purpose in life. You've been chosen. The Island awaits you.

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Connections

Featured in HBO First Look: The Island (2005)

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Soundtracks

Ave Verum Corpus
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Courtesy of Extreme Production Music USA

User Reviews

Good Action Thriller

I saw the movie at the Detroit red carpet premiere on Monday, July 18. In attendance were Michael Clarke Duncan and Djimon Hounsou.

The movie reminded me very much of Total Recall and The Matrix, not only with the plot line, but with its intensity. This was a very good summer action thriller. It was a little slow at first but once Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson's characters discovered that they were clones, the action picked up immensely.

I was a little surprise about the lack of time Duncan was in the movie. Hounsou did a fabulous job as the hired gun. I am not a Ewan McGregor fan but I think he did a great job as Lincoln Six Echo and Tom Lincoln, especially when both Six Echo and Lincoln were in the same scenes together. Johansson looked good on the screen but her dialogue was limited.

Steve Buscemi did an funny job in his supporting role as McCord, the human buddy of Lincoln Six Echo. The scene when Johansson's character, Jordan Two Delta, and McCord go through McCord's closet to find some normal clothes for Johansson is a riot.

As parts of the movie was shot in Detroit (See when Ewan and Scarlett arrive in L.A.), I was looking for shots of the Motor City. In this sense, the movie did an excellent job making Detroit and "L.A." look really snazzy. However, in two shots of downtown "L.A.", you will see on the side of one of the buildings, a giant mural of Stevie Yzerman in his Red and White Red Wings jersey. I don't know if this was a goof, but it was interesting to think of why Yzerman would be on the side of a building in L.A. forty years hence.

Overall, I give it a seven. If you are a giant action and science fiction fan, you should not miss The Island.

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros [France]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 July 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Island

Filming Locations:

Cook Bank Building, Rhyolite, Nevada, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$126,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,409,070, 24 July 2005

Gross USA:

$35,818,913

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$162,949,164

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dreamworks Pictures, Warner Bros., Parkes/MacDonald Image Nation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1