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"The Island"

Worth seeing or see something else? Seeing Choc Factory on friday, might see this with some mates over the weekend if it's worth seeing.

Holy crap!

I remember you from waaaaaaaaaaaay back before the dawn of time.

Tis indeed. You still around here? Oh notable eh? Not bad. Well I'm trying to see if I can't get back my old membership. My name (Axl_Dickinson when I last used it) is still on various 'lists' on here, namely top posters and gameaday winners. And after all this time. Wow.

Anyway, I went to see The Island last night. Must say I've been looking forward to it for some time now. I wasn't expecting it to change my life or anything. Just thought it would entertain me gfor 2 hours with big explosions and stuff. Gotta say I like Michael Bay. Sometimes. Granted Pearl Harbour and Bad Boys 2 were tripe. But I love the Rock and, shamefully, Armageddon too. Big fan of Ewan McGregor and of Scarlett Johansson as well for obvious reasons. This film though, sucked the big one. I mean seriously I was really disappointed. This film was BAD.



I kept reading places that it was an original action film. What was original about it? I can't name one thing. OK so it said Stem Cell Research...bad. Don't play God. But the whole premise just screamed Logans's Run to me which isn't bad in itself, if the film was good. Or at least alright. Most of the moral issues over whether the clones could be classed as humans or not and if not why not were just ripped straight from Blade Runner and even implemented in the same way. Many of Steve Buscemi's lines echoed Deckard if you ask me except they were far better realised in Blade Runner. Even the pods and the way the clones were 'grown' was reminiscent of The Matrix. I know that last one is being a tad picky and I would have let it go if I liked the film but I just didn't. Even from the very beginning I didn't like it. Well the opening dream scene was OK but from there I didn't like it too much. The whole white walls, white bed, white clothes, 'my life is monotonous and boring'. I just didn't like the vision of that future I don't think. Not in the institute place or outside. I mean they've got all this massive hi-tech equippment meaning they can pick up ANYTHING - you hit an elevator wall, you two are getting too close - but McGregor was allowed to leave his room in the middle of the night and sneak past every guard? And we're only in the year 2019 here. Or was it 29? Either way are we really gonna have flying trains and Extreme G-like flying bikes? I just thought everything about it was overdone. The script was overdone in far too many places. Buscemi's 'you two aren't real. I mean you're real but you're not....real. I mean....' OK we get the idea. You can't explain why these people can't be considered real human beings. (Having said that I did think Buscemi was very good in it - it was just a shame he had to cop it so early on.) The whole we're in the future thing was overdone too. In the establishing shot for LA, there were 4 train track things and 4 trains going past. I don't think there are gonna be 4 trains passing at just the time they enter the city. They just over did it. Like they overdid the goddamned advertising. I mean come on. Puma I can take. Reebok I can take. I can even take the brief albeit obvious 'have we zoomed in close enough yet' Nokia phone. But not when it goes beyond merely obvious to the point of insane. X-BOX plastered all over their fighting arena. MSN Seach on the Info Directory. But the worst? 'Let's put a Calvin Klein' commercial in the film. I mean come on!

Djimon Honsou's character as well, was just painfully obvious from the moment he was introduced. Wonder what's gonna happen with him at the end? Wow, would never have guessed.

There were some redeeming features. As I said, I thought Buscemi was good. Bean was good but then was there ever any doubt? Michael Clarke Duncan was very good as well and I really liked the scene where he wakes up during surgery. Oh and when Ewan finally got speaking in his normal accent. He delivered two of the best lines of the film with that accent. I would share them with you but I don't think you can swear on here can you.

But then those redeeming features were just completely overshadowed by the various moments that defied my belief of how bad this film could truly be. I mean you've got old Djimon muttering at every breath 'let's do this quietly.....blow up that building!!'. You've got Stone Cold Steve Austin and Kerry King (they were really cool by the way) shooting the side of a building off, McGregor and Johannson falling hundreds of feet hanging onto a falling letter which itself is smashing against the wall, entagnling with a flaming helicopter and then just when you thought it was the end of the movie....whack. A giant net. Wasn't that handy? Particularly that the flaming chopper and giant letter didn't knock the net down before they landed on it. Phew! And why did Djimon have such a difficult time choosing between the real Lincoln and the clones version? Sorry to break it to you mate, but you've just killed about 40 policeman, god knows how many civilians and whoever else got in your way. Why not just kill them both, remove any risk of gettin the wrong one and at the same time, saving your employers 5 million dollars.

And the constant references to Ewan's motorbikes got on my nerves a bit too. Couldn't say why. I guess it's only after seeing 'The Long Way Round' as well, but something about it annoyed me a bit.

But then that's just my opinion. And it was better than Alexander. God don't get me started on that one.

So Gareth, have I changed? What you been up to in the last year or so anyway?

Votty, old boy....That you?

testing 1 2 3

*SPOILERS*









I was amused by the net that miraculously appeared out of nowhere.

I saw it yesterday and enjoyed it. It's nothing taxing, especially seeing as you figure out the whole twist about 5 minutes in if you don't know it already, and most of it is just Ewan Macgregor running away from something looking slightly confused and determined. They also forget to explain the defect properly.

My favourite bit is when a chopper crashes into Ewan and Scarlet, explodes in a ball of flames, then they fall 100 or so stories, but survive unscathed. Brilliant stuff.

I enjoyed it, yeah. Better than most Bay films. Scratch that, better than every Bay fiml. Popcorn fun.

Although I haven't seen product placement that bad since I,Robot. See Ewan run from the evil cloners in his PUMAS, but not before losing to Scarlett at XBOX LIVE, then finding his real life mate using MSN SEARCH booths and NOKIA phones, then getting involved in a CADILLAC chase.

It's the XBox Live bit that bothers me most. Oh, the world's all contaminated so that sod-all survives - except Microsoft, that continue their pioneer work into fighting simulations.

'Whats an XBox, evil Bean?'
'Silence, clone.'

I'd hardly say there's a lack of decent films this year. Lack of great films, perhaps. The only ones that really stick out in 8 months are Sin City, Batman Begins and Crash.

Just seen it. Very good film I thought.

yeah the whole cloning sci-fi conspiracy genre is looking a little worse for wear now but Bay's done a good job of producing something slightly original whilst upkeeping his usual levels of adrenaline pumping action sequences.

It reminded me in places of so many diffreenret films though and that was the only real dissapointment. Whilst containing alot of good theories and ideas everything seemed to remind me of something I had seen before. I,Robot, Equilibrium, The Truman Show, A.I, Minority report, Star Wars: Attack of the clones and of course the highway car chase was almost identicle to the Bad boys 2 scene. Bay simply replaced the show cars with giant weights and switiched the heroes and villains around.

Overall though not a bad film at all. As someone else said Buscemi and Beam play magnificent roles and my own personal opinion is that Mcgreggor pulls his character off well too. I'd give it an 8/10 and considering the current lack of decent movies on would highly reccomend it... (Thats if you havn't already seen Batman and war of the worlds)

Mozzy wrote:
> I actually feel really jealous of Ewan for getting the chance to
> kiss, those beautiful lips of her's.

Was that a haiku?