The Island is yet another winner from the suddenly pseudo-intellectual wiz-kid Michael “I’m not a hack and this proves it” Bay. According to EW at the time, there was a great script that Spielberg gave to Bay for some reason, and he kept an idea or three and barfed on the rest of it (which Dreamworks’ approval).

OK, so it’s not as bad as a lot of Bay’s absolute crap – but when the ideas get chucked out the window for yet another chase sequence and more gunfire, I got annoyed. I think the editing of the action and chase scenes isn’t as spastic as he usually is but I couldn’t care less how it all ended since I knew it was just filler until they could get back to the plot and the ideas.

The stunt work during the chase scenes WAS spectacular though – kudos to the stunt drivers/stunt coordinators.

OK – as for the plot – it would have been about 100 times better if the marketing hadn’t given EVERYTHING AWAY! I’m pissed off at that. They COULD have cut a trailer that didn’t give everything away – shown us a sci-fi setting and given us the bare bones of the first half of the movie. If I hadn’t been looking at my watch, waiting for the inevitable to occur and hoping there would be some surprise moments that would have made me go “oh, that’s unique” or “I didn’t see that coming”, it’d have been a lot better too.

And, I suppose, if it hadn’t completely ripped its plot off from Logan’s Run, that would have helped too. And Coma. And a little theft from The Matrix while we’re at it. And Clockwork Orange too (EW pointed that out).

Score: 71