First the beach, now `The Island'

The plot summary for The Island basically follows the line of most dystopian fantasies and involves Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor), who lives in a seemingly utopian but contained facility in the mid 21st century.

Like all of the inhabitants in this carefully controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to the The Island -- supposedly the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that all he has been told is a lie. He and all of the other inhabitants of the facility are 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 (Scarlett 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, according to IMDB's reading of the plotline.

According to Dennis Lim in Village Voice, "Anyone who has ever endured the brute skull crunch of a Michael Bay movie will find that The Island, the director's stab at icy, dystopian sci-fi, is virtually an art film by comparison. For almost a full hour, the narrative endeavors to withhold information and even smuggles in high-toned references to Stanley Kubrick and Shirley Jackson. There are no undermotivated explosions; shots last for seconds at a time. By the frat-metal standards of Bad Boys, The Rock, and Armageddon, the pace is downright Tarkovskian. The perhaps deliberate effect of this unusual temperance is that you can't wait for Bay to start blowing shit up.

"In the post-apocalyptic year 2019, Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson are the hottest inhabitants of a regimented colony that, with its retro-future hyperdesign and newfangled smart drinks, has the oppressive vibe not of a supermax facility but of a boutique hotel in the meatpacking district. Residents wear fetching white bodysuits reminiscent of '60s? '70s sci-fi and the house rules are derived from early-21st-century reality TV."

In ReelViews, James Berardinelli says, "The Island is reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall, which used science fiction ideas as a backdrop for lots of fights, chases, and other assorted excitement. Overall, Recall did a better job, at least in the story department. The action is superior in The Island, but that's probably to be expected, since the bar has been raised considerably since 1989. Others may be reminded of The Matrix and Minority Report, but The Island isn't in the same league. Those two movies were the complete package -- not only did they follow through on their tantalizing ideas, but they offered a near-perfect mix of adrenaline and testosterone. They leave The Island bobbing far in their wake.

"As disposable entertainment, The Island does what it is supposed to do. There are two remarkable car chases (one featuring oversized barbells), flawless interaction between two identical McGregors (one with an American accent, the other with his proper one), some really big explosions, and enough sequences to make a video game designer smile. Don't expect filet mignon with The Island; this is hamburger. If Martin Scorsese is a fine steak house, then Michael Bay is MacDonald's. And watching the movie is akin to eating in that place. It's fast, greasy, and fills an immediate need, but you'd better have the Rolaids handy for the indigestion that follows."