The Island
08/08/2005 17:38 Filed in: Movies and Television
The life-clocks are a lie!! Carousel's a lie!! Oh wait, wrong movie.
Semi-spoiler warning: if you are planning to see this movie, I would recommend waiting to see it before you read my review. The less you know about the movie, the better (and I do recommend it). However, if you have no desire to see this movie, based on what you've seen in the trailer, please read on so that I might hopefully change your mind!
Okay, let's get the negative out of the way, first. The Island seems to be a blatant rip-off of Logan's Run , but with a twist. There are more parallels than I could even begin to list here (even the outfits look similar), and the ending of both movies could probably be swapped out and it wouldn't make a difference for either movie.
Having said that, The Island is actually a pretty good movie. The trailer did a pretty good job of not revealing too much about the story that would give away the secret (that I'm about to give away). It's best enjoyed if you gradually learn the secrets as the characters do. However, that little-revealing trailer may also have worked against the movie because it hasn't done well at the box office. Further, it's received some rather undeserved (in my opinion) bad reviews. Perhaps this is because it's the only large-budget movie this summer that really deals with any current ethical issues.
Okay, here's the story. The year is 2019 (the same year in which Blade Runner takes place) Ewan McGregor plays a character named Lincoln 6 Echo (kinda like Logan 5 in Logan's Run) who lives in a utopian pleasure-world where everyone want to win a lottery to go the "The Island." Right about the same time his friend, Jordan 2 Delta (kinda like Jessica 6 in Logan's Run, and played by Scarlett Johansson ) wins the lottery to go to the island, Lincoln finds out that there is no island. It's all a big lie. To his horror he find out that he and his friends are all clones, grown as "insurance policies" for wealthy individuals in case any of their organs fail. The clones have been grown to the same size and age of their real live counterparts and implanted with false memories. They've been told that the outside world was contaminated in some kind of apocalyptic holocaust. The clones have been educated to about the level of a 15 year old, males and females are not allowed to touch, and they know nothing about sex. In reality, they have the maturity of adolescents, even though they look like full grown adults.
That's the setup. Inevitably, a number of clones begin to question their existence, and predictably Lincoln and Jordan escape to the "real world." From this point, the movie becomes your typical "fugitive" type movie as Merrick (played quite wickedly by Sean Bean) who is the mastermind who is behind the clone insurance policy, sends mercenaries out to retrieve the two escapees who have gone to find Lincoln's "original." It's at this point that The Island departs somewhat from the original Logan's World. And I won't tell any more (although it's somewhat predictable).
Anyway, even if this much sci-fi is more than you usually care for, let me tell you why the movie is significant. It's important because it wrestles with the question of what it means to be human and the question of cloning for medicinal purposes. I found it interesting that the movie was based in 2019, only 14 years away. That's not far off, but cloning a human being isn't that far off either. Scientists have cloned a sheep, a cat, and last week a dog. Supposedly, there's already a race on to clone a human being. Now, move to the debate over stem cells. Scientists want to harvest stem cells from aborted fetuses, and there are even some who want to fertilize eggs without letting the fetuses grow to full term for the purpose of harvesting stem cells. The next step once a human has been cloned will be to clone humans for harvest. Would you be willing to clone human beings to supply stem cells or supply organs for transplant? If not, then why is it right to use aborted fetuses? Get ready--it's coming.
And there's a horror to cloning that the average person never sees. To create the cloned dog announced in Korea a few days ago, scientists had over 1,000 failed attempts. That's 1,000 dogs (at some level of development) that had to be destroyed. Are you ready to start doing that with human beings? The Island is a movie that people need to see and then afterwards use as a springboard to discuss the ethical issues. The fact that a lot of people want to ignore these issues is part of why this movie hasn't done that well--at least that's my hunch.
McGregor and Johansson both prove strong leads. McGregor has the task of playing two roles in this movie: the original Tom Lincoln and his clone, Lincoln 6 Echo. He does a very nice job of distinguishing between the two, even down to different accents for the characters. For Johansson, this is her first opportunity to play a lead adult female role. She's no longer the little girl or someone's daughter. But, the movie is not perfect. As I already mentioned, it's a clone (pun intended) of Logan's Run. And it's a bit long to be honest. After some point, you just want the story to get resolved. And finally, if I can put myself into the shoes of the bad guys again, as I did in my Batman Begins review , I would like to make a suggestion for evil megalomaniacs everywhere. Rather than kill the clones who were questioning their existence, why couldn't Merrick simply put them in jail cells in solitary confinement? Why do they have to be content and happy and have purpose to be good organ donors?
I'm telling you, I would be a really successful bad guy because I would just be so much more practical in my schemes for power...
Semi-spoiler warning: if you are planning to see this movie, I would recommend waiting to see it before you read my review. The less you know about the movie, the better (and I do recommend it). However, if you have no desire to see this movie, based on what you've seen in the trailer, please read on so that I might hopefully change your mind!
Okay, let's get the negative out of the way, first. The Island seems to be a blatant rip-off of Logan's Run , but with a twist. There are more parallels than I could even begin to list here (even the outfits look similar), and the ending of both movies could probably be swapped out and it wouldn't make a difference for either movie.
Having said that, The Island is actually a pretty good movie. The trailer did a pretty good job of not revealing too much about the story that would give away the secret (that I'm about to give away). It's best enjoyed if you gradually learn the secrets as the characters do. However, that little-revealing trailer may also have worked against the movie because it hasn't done well at the box office. Further, it's received some rather undeserved (in my opinion) bad reviews. Perhaps this is because it's the only large-budget movie this summer that really deals with any current ethical issues.
Okay, here's the story. The year is 2019 (the same year in which Blade Runner takes place) Ewan McGregor plays a character named Lincoln 6 Echo (kinda like Logan 5 in Logan's Run) who lives in a utopian pleasure-world where everyone want to win a lottery to go the "The Island." Right about the same time his friend, Jordan 2 Delta (kinda like Jessica 6 in Logan's Run, and played by Scarlett Johansson ) wins the lottery to go to the island, Lincoln finds out that there is no island. It's all a big lie. To his horror he find out that he and his friends are all clones, grown as "insurance policies" for wealthy individuals in case any of their organs fail. The clones have been grown to the same size and age of their real live counterparts and implanted with false memories. They've been told that the outside world was contaminated in some kind of apocalyptic holocaust. The clones have been educated to about the level of a 15 year old, males and females are not allowed to touch, and they know nothing about sex. In reality, they have the maturity of adolescents, even though they look like full grown adults.
That's the setup. Inevitably, a number of clones begin to question their existence, and predictably Lincoln and Jordan escape to the "real world." From this point, the movie becomes your typical "fugitive" type movie as Merrick (played quite wickedly by Sean Bean) who is the mastermind who is behind the clone insurance policy, sends mercenaries out to retrieve the two escapees who have gone to find Lincoln's "original." It's at this point that The Island departs somewhat from the original Logan's World. And I won't tell any more (although it's somewhat predictable).
Anyway, even if this much sci-fi is more than you usually care for, let me tell you why the movie is significant. It's important because it wrestles with the question of what it means to be human and the question of cloning for medicinal purposes. I found it interesting that the movie was based in 2019, only 14 years away. That's not far off, but cloning a human being isn't that far off either. Scientists have cloned a sheep, a cat, and last week a dog. Supposedly, there's already a race on to clone a human being. Now, move to the debate over stem cells. Scientists want to harvest stem cells from aborted fetuses, and there are even some who want to fertilize eggs without letting the fetuses grow to full term for the purpose of harvesting stem cells. The next step once a human has been cloned will be to clone humans for harvest. Would you be willing to clone human beings to supply stem cells or supply organs for transplant? If not, then why is it right to use aborted fetuses? Get ready--it's coming.
And there's a horror to cloning that the average person never sees. To create the cloned dog announced in Korea a few days ago, scientists had over 1,000 failed attempts. That's 1,000 dogs (at some level of development) that had to be destroyed. Are you ready to start doing that with human beings? The Island is a movie that people need to see and then afterwards use as a springboard to discuss the ethical issues. The fact that a lot of people want to ignore these issues is part of why this movie hasn't done that well--at least that's my hunch.
McGregor and Johansson both prove strong leads. McGregor has the task of playing two roles in this movie: the original Tom Lincoln and his clone, Lincoln 6 Echo. He does a very nice job of distinguishing between the two, even down to different accents for the characters. For Johansson, this is her first opportunity to play a lead adult female role. She's no longer the little girl or someone's daughter. But, the movie is not perfect. As I already mentioned, it's a clone (pun intended) of Logan's Run. And it's a bit long to be honest. After some point, you just want the story to get resolved. And finally, if I can put myself into the shoes of the bad guys again, as I did in my Batman Begins review , I would like to make a suggestion for evil megalomaniacs everywhere. Rather than kill the clones who were questioning their existence, why couldn't Merrick simply put them in jail cells in solitary confinement? Why do they have to be content and happy and have purpose to be good organ donors?
I'm telling you, I would be a really successful bad guy because I would just be so much more practical in my schemes for power...