The Island.

[Yi Fong Yu]

Has anyone seen this?

[Matthew Wauhkonen]

Yeah, I saw it two weeks ago.

[Matt Champagne]

I saw it a few days ago...quite possibly the worst film I've seen this summer. With the exception of Djimon Hounsou, the acting is absolutely horrid. About the only redeeming quality of the film is the amazing cinematography and special effects...but as with your typical Michael Bay film don't go looking for any kind of amazing story...its more or less tripe.

Not to mention a myriad of rediculous plot flaws:

***********SPOILER ALERT*******************

One...there is a giant hollogram surrounding this compound in which the clones are being hatched..and that hollogram is there...uhh....for some reason. I mean honestly if your building a compound with the intention of telling people that a giant apocolypse destroyed the earth...is it even necessary to have windows...not really so is it even necessary to have a giant hologram (not to mention the fact that you could do just as well with a well designed painted set). That part is important because it follows to our next rediculous plot point...the destruction of said hologram.

So he's going to destroy the hologram thingie...so he runs into this room in which there is a switch and a sign that says "Don't throw switch when fan is operating". Of course he throws the switch...and the big fan overheats causing a really cool looking explosion. Now...I can't imagine what possible bizzare monstrosity of engineering that you could possibly create, in which the COOLING FAN, overheats and explodes. Maybe the hologram was cooling the fan???!???!?!??

Now...even getting to that point we've totally disregarded the fact that prior to killing his real world equivolent...Lincon six echo's plan was to go to NBC and tell everyone the truth behind the clone thingie. Of course after killing his "sponser"...he apparently decides that that was a stupid plan and the better plan is to go and break into this huge underground government facility and blow up the hologram.

Then throw in the fact that the facility hires an elite special forces ex marine mercenary group to find the two escapees. This team is so elite that they refuse to shoot their 50 caliber helicopter mounted machine guns...unless of course they have absolutely no shot and 50 stories above a major city. Also, when taking this rediculous shot...they circle the building with the helicopter...because making your helicopter hover so you can take a shot I guess is too easy. So its better to spin around until your helicopter gets destroyed by a falling sign.

Of course once your special forces team manages to more or less fumble there way into accidently catching the girl...make sure not to search her for weapons, tranquilize her, or especially don't tie her down to the operating table. I mean...the skill of these elite mercenaries practically deserves slide whistles and *bonk* sound effects.

Needless to say I really really hated that movie. If I wasn't with friends I would have got up and left.

[Kyle Ringin]

Heheh!

That's funny stuff Matt!

It did have pretty cool explosions, although I agree - there's not much that won't benefit from a good slidewhistle sound effect followed by that springy boi-oing noise.

The only dissappointment I had was that I couldn't talk through it, MST3K style.

I did think the cinematography was good though.

[Dan Vance]

(possible spoilers)

There are more plot holes than a cargo net, and physics and plausibility are cast to the winds. Someday, some filmmaker with an IQ above 80 (Michael Bay: 79) will realize that it really is possible to have a fantastic story that is also logical and scientifically sound. Someday. Not today.
All that aside, it was fun in spots.
The worst parts were the chase scenes, which were the popular but incompetent hand-held-swish-pan-moron-zoom-shakey-cam-unwatchable crap. I just looked at the ceiling during these and they were much more enjoyable.
Also, one scene was a blatant ripoff of the speeder bike sequence in Return of the Jedi. And why is it that, 16 years in the future, all the cars are like 2005, 2006, maybe 2007 models? Do you think we don't recognize that Avalanche with a couple of extra body panels? No imagination. And why, when we are shown that trains no longer use rails but are levitated, is there a truck loaded with brand new train wheel/axle assemblies (that come in so handy)?
Aside from the ridiculous cooling fan sequence already mentioned (the writer of that sequence should burn in movie-hell), the next most ludicrous idea was that you could have hundreds of support employees, all of whom go along 100% with the idea of ritualized murder. As Ben Franklin said, "three can keep a secret...if two of them are dead."

[Matt Champagne]

And why, when we are shown that trains no longer use rails but are levitated, is there a truck loaded with brand new train wheel/axle assemblies (that come in so handy)?

Haha yeah, I had forgotten about that part...but I don't think you can blame me since the part involving the train wheels burns itself so much more deeply into your brain. That armored car must have been going Mach 7 to flip like that.

[Matthew Wauhkonen]

I know people like to hate on Bay (perhaps fairly), but the chase sequences were still really good and the movie was still really beautiful.

I swear Bay's problem isn't that he's so bad with characters (The Rock was a lot of fun and had good acting), it's that action sequences seem to take on lives of their own completely removed from the movie. Pearl Harbor and Bad Boys II were both really bad, but the bombing scene and chase sequences were masterfully directed. Instead of making the movie as a whole better, though, these sequences merely made the rest of the movie seem worse and further disjointed.

I bet if he wasn't so good with action, people wouldn't hate the attempts at being intelligent because they wouldn't seem so out of place.

Also, this movie is a financial disaster. Interesting...

Anyhow, next up for him is Transformers and if there are any attempts to make that movie "intelligent" I will boycott it. Otherwise, I'll be first in line. I'll admit it: I like to watch stuff explode.

[Yi Fong Yu]

i think bay needs to go through plot/story/acting training if such a camp exists =). he's got great technical skills... but it's almost like he's making an amatuer film with a huge amount of $.

[Matthew Wauhkonen]

I hate to say it, but I disagree. His skills on a purely visual level are nearly unsurpassed. Maybe they make the rest of the film look amateurish, but that chase scene was incredibly beautiful and very exciting.

[Dan Vance]

Originally Posted by Matthew Wauhkonen

...but that chase scene was incredibly beautiful and very exciting.

Flim is undoubtedly one of the most subjective media. I didn't find any of the action scenes "beautiful" or "exciting." Just haphazard and unwatchable.
But it's nice to know his "technique" works for some people. If I have any chase scenes in my next film, to get that effect, I can just hire trained chimpanzees to run the cameras, and blindfold my editor. Cool.

[Matt Champagne]

If I have any chase scenes in my next film, to get that effect, I can just hire trained chimpanzees to run the cameras, and blindfold my editor

Michael Bay would have probably done that but I think there are union rules against hiring the writers to run the camera and do the editing.

[Matthew Wauhkonen]

Spielberg himself admits to stealing shots from Bay. It is a subjective medium, but I'll trust Spielberg's views before yours.

Then again, I like action movies. I thought Jaws, Die Hard, and The Rock were all 31/2 or 4 star entertainment while art films typically bore me.

[Dan Vance]

Originally Posted by Matthew Wauhkonen

I'll trust Spielberg's views before yours.

You opinion is as valid is mine (and Spielberg's), and mine is as valid as yours (and Spielberg's). Don't get personal. It's rude and against forum rules. You don't know me any better than you know Spielberg. My comments were directed at Bay, not you.

Originally Posted by Matthew Wauhkonen

Then again, I like action movies. I thought Jaws, Die Hard, and The Rock were all 31/2 or 4 star entertainment while art films typically bore me.

I'm with you 100% on Die Hard.

[Joe Carney]

So.....Scarlett Johanson didn't do a partial nude scene? Not worth seeing then.

[Dan Vance]

Well, there's the scene where she's on an operating table covered by a sheet and the translucent tabletop is backlit. Can't really see anything but it does get one's imagination going...