Up against a summer of remakes, sequels and television show retreads, "The Island," opening Friday, has neither big-name stars nor for that matter an actual island. Theoretically that could play to its advantage — the film is being sold to moviegoers as an original story in a summer of imitation.
HA!
That makes me laugh...
Check out the following premise for The Island:
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.
OH WAIT, I'm sorry, that's the plot to Parts: The Clonus Horror a movie so bad it was featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Here's what that CalendarLive.com article says The Island is about (SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!):
The movie begins in a hermetic enclave filled with hundreds of mild-mannered adults, whose daily rituals are monitored by cameras and governed by overseers. The outside world, these people are told, is contaminated, so they must never wander. Thanks to a periodic lottery, a few residents will win a trip to the island, "nature's last pathogen-free zone," where they can finally run around and breathe fresh air.
Actually being chosen for the getaway is scarcely all it's cracked up to be. Unbeknownst to the "winners," it's the date your liver might be harvested for an ailing doppelgänger somewhere in the real world. The film's residents, it turns out, are clones of living people; their bodies merely carry spare parts the way Pep Boys stocks spark plugs. It's "the holy grail of science," boasts the geneticist Merrick (Sean Bean), whose Merrick Biotech owns the highly profitable cloning operation.
Johansson plays a young woman named Jordan whose "owner" falls into a coma after an accident. When she is summoned to the nonexistent island, her friend Lincoln (McGregor) helps her escape. With two clones on the loose, Merrick Biotech's sales pitch — that its clones are not sentient — will be debunked. Jordan and Lincoln must be killed.
Sure, there are some differences, but calling this movie "original" is hardly accurate. It's the exact same premise as Parts with a slightly different plot structure. In Parts, they get chosen to go to America, in this remake, they go to TheIsland. The lead guy falls for a blond, when he escapes he is hunted down. The only substantial difference in the two films with be the following:
1) Better (looking) actors
2) Bigger budget
3) Louder explosions in the more violent chase scenes
It's still going to be just as crappy--I mean, hey, it's Michael Bay. The man can only make crap--sure, loud, explosive, crap that sells tickets to people who don't care about plot, originality or good storytelling.
Well, I guess I can't complain that there are at least two movies this summer that haven't insulted me--and one of them is that Fantastic Four movie. What a sad state Hollywood is in...
Heh... someone on the IMDB.com forums says The Island is a rip off of Logan's Run. The structure is identical, but LR was about a culture that hates old people so everyone kills themselves at age 30. Still, good looking guy, good looking girl escapes from utopia-like society and are hunted down.
Sounds a little similar. ;)
From someone who has read the script, I'd say you're right on the money with this. You can read my review of the script over at my blog, if you like.
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