The Island

Director Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) has become the poster boy for everything that's wrong with blockbuster summer movies. As long as his outsized action fare has expensive explosions, quick-cut chase scenes with spectacular crashes, a few commercial-quotable one-liners, one very hot chick, and several low-angle, slow-motion dolly shots that endlessly circle his heroes, he apparently couldn't care about much else. In The Island, the chase scene is on a hovering rocket-cycle, the hot chick is heart-stopping Scarlett Johansson (hopefully just taking a break from brainier fare like Lost in Translation), the dizzying hero shots are of Ewan McGregor, and the plot—what there is of it—is about the two stars discovering they are clones bred as spare parts for rich people. For all the money thrown at the screen, The Island is surprisingly dull, often nonsensical, and blatantly derivative. The best that can be said for the film is that several talented cast members do what they can with thin characters trapped in a hundred million dollars worth of shallow Hollywood spectacle. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Michael Bay, a 16-minute behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the film's action sequences and stunts, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a so-so thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—June 21, 2011—Paramount, 136 min., PG-13, $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2005's The Island sports a good transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Michael Bay, “The Future in Action” featurette on the action sequences (16 min.), a “making-of” featurette (13 min.), and a segment on “Pre-Visualization: Forward Thinking” (8 min.). Bottom line: this muddled sci-fi thriller looks sharp on Blu-ray.]