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:

Your time will come...

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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

At 15 mins) the nano trackers crawling into Lincoln's eye was accomplished with a special bellow lens that required a tremendous amount of light. The closeup on his eye being held opened involved ILM digital work and string glued to McGregor's eyelids and then pulled. "Quite painful process, fun scene to do though."

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Goofs

(at around 1h 30 mins) When Merrick's colleague gives him the results of Lincoln's brain scans, you can clearly see that the "panel" pictures are projected via static LCD beamers.

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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

Referenced in Dimension 404: Matchmaker (2017)

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Soundtracks

Charmaine
Written by Lew Pollack & Erno Rapee
Performed by The Mantovani Orchestra
Arranged by Ronald Binge (uncredited)
Courtesy of Delta Entertainment and San Juan Music Group
By Arrangement with Source/Q

User Reviews

The Popcorn Action Sci-Fi Thriller for summer 2005

I worked at Eworks when I first saw the trailer for "The Island." I wasn't blown away by the trailer and neither was anyone I worked with, mainly because we couldn't figure out what the hell the movie was about. Several trailers and TV spots later, I still felt the same way about it. The only thing about the film that interested me was the cast. I really like Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, and Steve Buscemi. So considering that there was nothing else out this weekend I decided to give "The Island" a chance.

"The Island" is basically about the end of the human race or so we think. The movie's basic storyline for the film is this: the human race gets contaminated and there is this compound that rescues people and decontaminates them. So all of the world's survivors live in this compound with the ultimate goal of going to the Island, where everyone can live a safe and happy life. However, Lincoln (Ewan McGregor) finds that this compound doesn't make much sense and begins to question the whole idea of the island. It isn't long before Lincoln finds out the truth behind the island but just when he does his best friend Jordan (Scarlett Johansson) gets selected to go to the island. It is now up to Lincoln to save Jordan and the rest of the people in the compound from going to the island and ultimately finding out the truth of their existence. An intense and action packed film ensues…

Like I said earlier this film never really interested me but since this summer is really lacking in films, I gave it a chance and I am glad I did. This movie may actually be Michael Bay's move from all action to action and story. While there are still some plot holes in the film and the script could use a little fixing up, the majority of the film was well done especially for someone like Michael Bay. The story was very interesting and seemed pretty realistic. Sure it had a few far-fetched action scenes but what's a summer action movie without them? But on the whole it was action packed, entertaining, interesting, and thought provoking film(wow who would believe that one day I could say that about a Michael Bay movie).

I also never thought I would see Scarlett Johansson play in a Hollywood action/thriller and from her scenes in the trailer it looked like I never wanted to either. However I was pleasantly surprised by how she pulled it off. She seemed to fit the role and was very good at it. But if you ask me would I rather see her in big budget popcorn flicks or independent films, I would still pick the independent films. Ewan McGregor was actually good as well, and again I never thought I would see him pull off a role like this but I guess that proves that both McGregor and Johansson are good actors. It's was also fun to have Ewan and Scarlett giving the film a few chuckles here and there. Steve Buscemi is our comedic relief guy as well as the guy who basically explains the whole island thing to us. He was good but I felt was cut out of the film awfully fast.

Bottom line is that I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of "The Island." It was a lot better then "War of the Worlds" which basically had all action and no story. This film doesn't have a perfect story, but it still has one and has an interesting concept at that. This film isn't going to win best picture any time soon but it's a good summer blockbuster. The basic premise of the film to me seems very believable in the near future. I just suggest buying the biggest popcorn and soda at the theater and enjoy! MovieManMenzel's final rating for "The Island" is a 7/10

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