Movie: The Island

Last night, my brother suggested that we should blow off any productive activities that we might have planned in favor of mind-dulling summer movie entertainment. After a few minutes of debate standing in front of the ticket counter at Providence Place, Wedding Crashers was narrowly edged out by The Island. (Hustle & Flow was debated for about 16 seconds, until I remembered that it played at Sundance, which disqualified it for the evening. Not mind-numbing enough. Maybe next time.) We had both been dying to see it, for a bunch of reasons. Sci-fi action movies are cool. (True, but not the real reason.) Michael Bay is a great director. (Lie.) Scarlett Johanssen is HOT. (Ding ding ding! Jackpot!) OK, so only one reason, but a perfectly valid one. Similar to my reason for seeing King Arthur (I heart you, Keira) and The Girl Next Door (Ditto, Ms. Cuthbert).

Before we hit my opinions on the film in question, let's do a brief trailer review.
Flightplan - Eh. Not 35 yet, so I'm not the target audience.
V For Vendetta - Just shy of awesome. Natalie Portman could get beaten about the head with a club, and still be gorgeous.
Red Eye - Pretty cool, although I remain convinced that this movie will rank high on the Awes-o-meter when I finally get to see it.
Just Like Heaven - One chuckle, otherwise shlock. You better be GORGEOUS if you want me to go to this movie with you.

Now, as for The Island: totally OK. I don't have very strong opinions on anything contained in it, but I can tell you that I had a great time watching it. Scarlett has never been this glamorous hot before, although she seemed a hair more obtainable in Lost in Translation and Ghost World. Plenty of funny moments scattered through the more serious sci-fi dystopia stuff, some great car explosions, and a great supporting cast. In fact, the only really remarkable thing to me was the wonderful work done by Djimon Hounsou as a mercenary bounty hunter who decides to become more involved than was necessary in his original contract. Perfectly fun movie, with very little to annoy you, which is more than can be said for most summer popcorn movies.

Categories: Movies