The Island

[Brian in Mesa]

The Island

Release Date: July 22, 2005
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures
Director: Michael Bay
Screenwriter: Caspian Tredwell-Owen, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Website: The Island

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Clarke Duncan, Steve Buscemi, Sean Bean, Shawnee Smith, Noa Tishby

Plot Summary: Michael Bay ("Armageddon," "Pearl Harbor") directs the futuristic action thriller "The Island," starring Ewan McGregor ("Star Wars: Episodes I and II," "Moulin Rouge!") and Scarlett Johansson ("Lost in Translation," "Girl With a Pearl Earring").

Lincoln Six-Echo (McGregor) is a resident of a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid-21st century. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the "The Island"—reportedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie. He and all of the other inhabitants of the facility are actually human clones whose only purpose is to provide "spare parts" for their original human counterparts. Realizing it is only a matter of time before he is "harvested," Lincoln makes a daring escape with a beautiful fellow resident named Jordan Two-Delta (Johansson). Relentlessly pursued by the forces of the sinister institute that once housed them, Lincoln and Jordan engage in a race for their lives to literally meet their makers.

 

[MadCardDisease]

At least it's not a remake.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Saw it today, enjoyable movie...some cheesy moments, but overall, an interesting premise and story.

I think they give too much away in the previews, you kind of know what's coming...

Best thing about it was Scarlett Johannsen...oh my goodness she is a beauty...gets better looking with each movie she does.

Mike

 

[Chaplin]

Best thing about it was Scarlett Johannsen...oh my goodness she is a beauty...gets better looking with each movie she does.

Mike

Yeah, I couldn't believe those trailers--I was like, "That's the same girl from Lost in Translation???"

 

[JPlay]

Looks uninteresting, won't be surprised if it tanks.

 

[Renz]

Looks uninteresting, won't be surprised if it tanks.

Good call by JPlay.

'Island' Could Sink DreamWorks Sale
Monday, August 01, 2005
By Roger Friedman

Few people visited "The Island" this weekend, and that's not good.

Many in the movie industry were also asking this weekend: what exactly is DreamWorks, the studio that released it, worth? And why exactly would Universal aka General Electric buy it?

Those are pretty interesting questions, considering David Geffen's statements last February at a panel discussion at the 92nd Street Y in New York City that people are still talking about.

That was the talk at which Geffen admitted that DreamWorks had come close to bankruptcy twice, thanks to a $125 million loss on "Sinbad." He also said: "Live-action film is not a great business. Especially if you don't have an HBO or TNT, it is hard to succeed."

What is DreamWorks really worth? Considering the situation at hand this morning, everyone involved with the mini-studio must be shuddering to know the answer.

"The Island," directed by Michael Bay, who is usually successful at making diverting junk, is now an unbelievable financial disaster.

The cost of the movie was about $150 million. As of yesterday, it's taken in only $24 million. "The Island" has also dropped to No. 7 on the box-office list, and will be out of the top 10 shortly.

By next week, DreamWorks will have to cut the number of theaters it's in, too. "The Island" will be lucky to draw in another $10 million before it heads to oblivion.

DreamWorks has otherwise had an iffy summer. They've had a nice-sized success with "Madagascar," but that's an animated film, and those have been spun off to their now-troubled public company DreamWorks Animation.

"War of the Worlds" is a split between DreamWorks and Paramount, with the latter first in line to reap any benefits, if they exist. "War of the Worlds," the way things look right now, will be lucky to break even.

One problem with DreamWorks is that they don't have much in their home video library.

True, the library contains some prestige titles like "American Beauty," "Gladiator," "Shrek," "Catch Me If You Can," "Saving Private Ryan," "Collateral," "Galaxy Quest," and "Amistad."

They also have "Old School," one of the company's true financial bonanzas and a film that probably has a life on DVD as an out-and-out cult comedy.

But DreamWorks Home Entertainment also contains two pretty bad Woody Allen movies ("Small Time Crooks," "Hollywood Ending") and their original awful film, "The Peacemaker," plus the flops "The Last Castle" and "The Mexican."

That's not enough to merit a bonanza by any means. And the problems go on from there. As has been pointed out in other places, DreamWorks depends largely on Steven Spielberg to make hits for them. But each of those hits is a joint venture with other studios.

Often the partner is an entity other than Universal simply because someone else owns the material Spielberg is interested in. "War of the Worlds" is Paramount, for example. "Indiana Jones 4," the movie everyone's waiting for Spielberg to make, is also completely Paramount. So Universal is not exclusively guaranteed Spielberg's services.

Geffen's comments at that 92nd Street Y panel may yet come to haunt him in negotiations with GE.

"I wouldn't go into the entertainment industry [if I started again] today," he said. "[Content] is too expensive to produce, and it's getting more and more difficult to find home runs."

With GE/Universal already smarting from losses in their most recent DreamWorks co-venture, Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man," those words should reverberate over phone lines in coming days.

 

[Pariah]

Saw it. It was okay.

I'm usually fine with a few holes in a film here and there, but this one just didn't add up. I'll bet the original script tied everything together nicer, but the finished product left too many moments disbelief.

 

[Cardinal Red]

I saw it. It was pretty good. I didnt really understand some thing till about half way through.

 

[CaptTurbo]

good movie. Man is she hot!

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[bankybruce]

I watched this one onver the weekend. Not as bad as many made it out to be. The story was a little wacky, but I enjoyed it.

 

[jenna2891]

At least it's not a remake.

sorry to break it to you... i saw this movie when it was originally an mst3k movie:

Parts: The Clonus Horror

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A young man escapes from a govenment run project called Clonus only to find out that Peter Graves (Jeff Knight) a candidate for Presidency is a conspirator to keep Clonus a secret. Top government officials are aware of it and support the super secret project, because they are cloning themselves to live longer and better lives, at the expense of their clone counter-part, who is no more than a "slave" as far as human rights are concerned. The ethical and moral values are explored as the escapee (Tim Donnelly) known as Richard returns full circle back to Clonus, only to find his girlfriend lobotimized for government security purposes.

 

[Renz]

sorry to break it to you... i saw this movie when it was originally an mst3k movie:

LOL! I was thinking the same thing throughout the film. That is one of my favorite MST3k spoofs.

I thought The Island was really good. Some stuff was a little unbelievable, like the scene when they fall off the building, but overall I really enjoyed it.

I don't know why it wasn't more successful. Maybe viewers were confused by the science parts of it or something. I don't know. A very good action picture IMO.

 

[Bada0Bing]

I just watched it. I thought it was pretty good until about 2/3 in. I was hoping it would hurry up and wrap up, but it just kept going. Interesting premise though. However, I didn’t understand why the truck on the freeway kept driving when all of it’s cargo kept getting tossed off the truckbed. If I was driving I would have pulled over and stopped.

 

[Linderbee]

I just watched it. I thought it was pretty good until about 2/3 in. I was hoping it would hurry up and wrap up, but it just kept going. Interesting premise though. However, I didn’t understand why the truck on the freeway kept driving when all of it’s cargo kept getting tossed off the truckbed. If I was driving I would have pulled over and stopped.

Exactly what I thought. He didn't stop because the director told him to keep going--which really took the movie down a few notches in my book.

 

[CQ]

Hubby and I watched this last night. It was a decent movie, IMO. It would have been a lot better had you not known the entire concept and most of the plot of the movie by watching the previews. Aside from that and some corny Hollywood type moments that just made me (such as has already been mentioned, the fact that the truck kept on driving as his entire load was lightened on the road behind him.) it was a pretty good movie. Worth borrowing from a friend. Not worth seeing in the theater (glad we didn't go see it), not worth purchasing, possibly worth renting (getting to see Ewan on screen for that long did make it worth a rental price!!!!!), or in our case, worth borrowing from a friend.

 

[Louis]

How's about falling from the 40th floor of a building and coming out uninjured?

I liked the movie too. I wish they spent a little more time building up what happens when the products get to go to "the island" and less time trying to end this thing.

 

[CQ]

How's about falling from the 40th floor of a building and coming out uninjured?

I liked the movie too. I wish they spent a little more time building up what happens when the products get to go to "the island" and less time trying to end this thing.

EXACTLY!!!! I actually laughed out loud when everything was obliterated, yet those 2 barely had scratches.

 

[arthurracoon]

good movie

interesting plot

 

[Nasser22]

I just saw it at the hotel. 8/10...I don't know why it wasn't as popular. Of course it has been over a year since I've seen the trailers so most of it was a surprise to me. It was nice to see something different than the movies I've been watching lately. Good story and acting. There was a lot f action and good effects, but I agree with everyone that some of the stuff was just unbelievable in a bad way.

 

[Chaplin]

I actually liked this movie a lot. As far as I'm concerned, this is Michael Bay's most enjoyable movie and not a total embarrassment, although box office receipts would say otherwise.

 

[arthurracoon]

why did this movie tank in the first place?

I thought it was awesome

 

[dodie53]

action-packed..

 

[Ryanwb]

Sean Bean is the eternal bad guy in America, but a good guy on English television

 

[spikecop02]

The movie gave me a heahache

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I actually liked this movie a lot. As far as I'm concerned, this is Michael Bay's most enjoyable movie and not a total embarrassment, although box office receipts would say otherwise.

over Transformers?

I liked this movie. Scarlett makes every movie a