I was pretty wishy-washy with regards to seeing this movie but alas I decided to beat the 105F heat and humidity and head over to the local multiplex. We're lucky to have big stadium style theaters with great A/V. I had a gift card too so the cost was zero to me.
My intitial expectations of it were of it being an action movie with little plot and lots of special fx. Needless to say based on previous Bay films, I didn't expect much. Say what you want about Bay, he does put butts in the seats and makes the studios a ton of money. Entertainment is his game.
In 2019, a society lives in their own self contained world. They believe that the world had been infected and that there was only one place to escape to which is "The Island". It was the last known place not to be infected. Within this world, people work and live in total harmony and are excited to see new people come in that have escaped the outside world which was infected. To get to the island, they have a lottery which selects people to go.
Within this society we meet 2 inhabitants of which one was played by Ewan McGregor(aka Lincoln Six Echo) and the other is played by Scarlett Johannsen(Jordan Two Delta). They are identified by wearing white suits while the protectors are wearing black.
As they go about their lives, Ewan begins questioning his boring existence and finds out some truths with regards to his life and takes Scarlett's character who is extremely naive with him.
In truth the movie is based around 2 hot topics which include Stem Cell research). Bay never fully explores these topics and to be honest i'm sorta relieved he didn't. All too often the directors nowadays like to cram their political agendas down our throat. Whether Bay did this intentionally or not is another story and anyones guess. Sure someone will take a popshot at Bay for his talents on this particular topic but I think by not going that deep with it was the best move. Any deeper and it would drag the film out more and likely would have made it ALOT more boring.
The movie itself runs just shy of 2.5 hours and is not a typical Bay film in regards to non-stop action. There are 5 action sequences I can think of and even though they are spectacular(one was reused from a previous Bay film), I wouldn't call this an action film. The Special FX are great and the plot really moves right along. It is a case of 2 films woven into one though. They first half is more story oriented and will confuse quite a few people who are expecting a mindless action film and the later half is more action oriented.
The film ends with a nice tidy all knots tied up sequence that is as equally predictable as some of the film is depending on how good you are at picking stuff up.
Acting wise you get a quality job from the folks involved which include:
Johannsen - Inhabitant
McGregor - Inhabitant
Steve Buchemi - maintenance man
Sean Bean(of Patriot Games notoriety) - The "bad guy"
Michael Clarke Duncan - inhabitant though he plays a central role(though very short).
Djimon Hounsou(Amistad fame).
The negatives to the film are few:
Lack of a back story - this can be ok though depending on your take.
Fails to answer the tough questions - again see back story
Unbelievability of the actions of some of the characters and stunts - legitimate gripe.
Breakneck pace of the action sequences creating some sensory overload
All and all I was entertained. It could have been much worse. It could have been much deeper but I argue if we really want to see that. I think most audiences would be bored to tears with it.
Bay audiences whom are expecting a brainless action film need to be careful of a blind buy here.
A modest 7 out of 10. Should be a neat dvd.
For the parents: it is rated pg-13 with one sexual sequence(nothing shown), 1 F-Bomb, a few S-words and some violence. Knowing Bay, I would expect a directors cut on Dvd.
My intitial expectations of it were of it being an action movie with little plot and lots of special fx. Needless to say based on previous Bay films, I didn't expect much. Say what you want about Bay, he does put butts in the seats and makes the studios a ton of money. Entertainment is his game.
In 2019, a society lives in their own self contained world. They believe that the world had been infected and that there was only one place to escape to which is "The Island". It was the last known place not to be infected. Within this world, people work and live in total harmony and are excited to see new people come in that have escaped the outside world which was infected. To get to the island, they have a lottery which selects people to go.
Within this society we meet 2 inhabitants of which one was played by Ewan McGregor(aka Lincoln Six Echo) and the other is played by Scarlett Johannsen(Jordan Two Delta). They are identified by wearing white suits while the protectors are wearing black.
As they go about their lives, Ewan begins questioning his boring existence and finds out some truths with regards to his life and takes Scarlett's character who is extremely naive with him.
In truth the movie is based around 2 hot topics which include Stem Cell research). Bay never fully explores these topics and to be honest i'm sorta relieved he didn't. All too often the directors nowadays like to cram their political agendas down our throat. Whether Bay did this intentionally or not is another story and anyones guess. Sure someone will take a popshot at Bay for his talents on this particular topic but I think by not going that deep with it was the best move. Any deeper and it would drag the film out more and likely would have made it ALOT more boring.
The movie itself runs just shy of 2.5 hours and is not a typical Bay film in regards to non-stop action. There are 5 action sequences I can think of and even though they are spectacular(one was reused from a previous Bay film), I wouldn't call this an action film. The Special FX are great and the plot really moves right along. It is a case of 2 films woven into one though. They first half is more story oriented and will confuse quite a few people who are expecting a mindless action film and the later half is more action oriented.
The film ends with a nice tidy all knots tied up sequence that is as equally predictable as some of the film is depending on how good you are at picking stuff up.
Acting wise you get a quality job from the folks involved which include:
Johannsen - Inhabitant
McGregor - Inhabitant
Steve Buchemi - maintenance man
Sean Bean(of Patriot Games notoriety) - The "bad guy"
Michael Clarke Duncan - inhabitant though he plays a central role(though very short).
Djimon Hounsou(Amistad fame).
The negatives to the film are few:
Lack of a back story - this can be ok though depending on your take.
Fails to answer the tough questions - again see back story
Unbelievability of the actions of some of the characters and stunts - legitimate gripe.
Breakneck pace of the action sequences creating some sensory overload
All and all I was entertained. It could have been much worse. It could have been much deeper but I argue if we really want to see that. I think most audiences would be bored to tears with it.
Bay audiences whom are expecting a brainless action film need to be careful of a blind buy here.
A modest 7 out of 10. Should be a neat dvd.
For the parents: it is rated pg-13 with one sexual sequence(nothing shown), 1 F-Bomb, a few S-words and some violence. Knowing Bay, I would expect a directors cut on Dvd.
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