A dystopian sci-fi thriller about a facility in which members live to avoid outside contamination and hope to win the coveted lottery, The Island is a story that gets better the longer you watch.
There are some really entertaining movies about a dystopian future. The Hunger Games series, The Matrix series, The Long Walk, Snowpiercer – even The Running Man had a few fun things. But when it comes to dystopian films, we are used to the idea that they are set in the future – in another world or lifetime. So it’s interesting that this one is set in 2019.
The Island centers around Lincoln Six Echo, a man living in an indoor colony. All of the residents are clad in white tracksuit-like outfits, have their health monitored, and share a dream of winning the lottery, which would allow them to leave the facility, risk the contamination outside, and go to The Island. While most of the colony’s inhabitants follow their protocol like clockwork, Lincoln is curious and begins asking questions. When he begins seeing things that don’t quite make sense, and that his best friend, Jordan Two Delta, may be in trouble, he decides to save her at any cost.
The craziest thing about this film is reconciling that it’s set in 2019. It was made in 2005, so projecting only 14 years into the future says something about what they thought the very near future might look like. And after watching the film, it makes you wonder, how much science fiction is actually science fiction, and what could actually be happening that we don’t even know about? But for now, that’s as far as I’ll take this conspiracy theory.
The beginning of the film feels very conventional. The visuals, the ideas, the groups of men on one side and women on the other – we’ve seen these sci-fi storylines before. You wonder what is going on, but you’re not overly curious because you think you’ve already got it figured out pretty quickly.
Around the middle of the film, it really picks up. It gets much more exciting, more nuanced, more clever, has more action, and I laughed out loud a few times. I’m not sure why this wasn’t spread across the entire film, but I appreciated it when it finally happened.
Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star, with supporting roles by Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, and stand-out Steve Buscemi. When Buscemi is on screen in this film, he livens up the entire scene. I mean, he does that in all of his films, but particularly this one.
There are a few heavily eye-rolling misogynistic moments and MANY unbelievably obvious product placements that make The Island feel like Michael Bay and the studio sold out, but the film itself keeps a nice pace and actually gets increasingly more interesting the longer you stick with it. But if they were going to show off Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, I do wish they’d have found a way to share it with the audience.
Runtime: 136 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: PG-13
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? Yes, it’s pretty fun
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 2.75/5 Stars
Available: Free on Netflix or for Amazon Prime members, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
There are some really entertaining movies about a dystopian future. The Hunger Games series, The Matrix series, The Long Walk, Snowpiercer – even The Running Man had a few fun things. But when it comes to dystopian films, we are used to the idea that they are set in the future – in another world or lifetime. So it’s interesting that this one is set in 2019.
