The Island (Blu-ray)

What might happen if people were rich enough to buy a longer life? This is a well story with some really great action chases and stunts. In my opinion this film should have been a much bigger hit at the box office. It has some similarities to the 1970's B movie 'Logan's Run' in plot terms but with the aide of a better script, a much bigger budget and modern film making CGI effects that make the massive special effects within possible and believable. This is a stylish film that you can watch over and over again.

Without question, the Island is a great piece of visual movie making. Sadly, it performed poorly at the box office, and Dreamworks lost a considerable amount of money on the project.

In my opinion this is a crying shame, as Michael Bay is the main reason for watching this movie in the first place.

This Blue Ray edition looks truly stunning, and certainly evokes the fast and dynamic pace that Bay brings to his movies. You wont be disappointed with the CGI, well crafted set design, and superb action set pieces. Simply spectacular.

Ewan Mcgregor and Scarlett Johannson do a convincing job on-screen, and seem well cast. I had my doubts before watching this pairing, but was pleasantly convinced by their portrayal.

The problem with the movie is that we've seen it all before. The Matrix was about robots harvesting humans, whereas The Island is about humans harvesting humans. Add to this, rehashed elements of the classic 70's science fiction show Logans Run, and there you have 'The Island'. Had The Matrix not been released, this movie would have been much more successful.

I've only awarded four stars, as the bonus features on this disc are very poor. All you get is one short 'making of' featurette and nothing more. Blu Ray has so much more potential than this, and so much more could have been added. Also the featurette is not 180p, but 480p.

Worth seeing in true HD. You wont regret it.

Great action film with some massive exciting chases and explosions, just what you expect from action master Michael Bay. Good cast, the story is pretty cool and quite original. A good sci-fi action blockbuster movie. Buy it and be 100% entertained.

This is a fantastic movie - OK the plot isn't exactly original but it is beautifully portrayed in almost clinical fashion and superbly acted. The picture quality at 1080p is incredible and is helped along by a cracking soundtrack and some stunning cinematography.

Mixing ultra-high technology with human ethics and emotion, this film is a great watch.

Some people hate this film, just watch it as a no brainer american blockbuster and you wont feel cheated.

And the one with probably the most potential behind it that, even when the second half falls victim to his usual destruct-a-thon excesses, remains the most interesting film that Micheal Bay has so far ever attempted.

Set in 2019, Lincoln (Ewen McGregor) and Jordan (Scarlet Johansson) live with a huge number of others in a vast city complex that houses the last of humanity after Earth has been scarred by a pathogen. The only place left above the surface is The Island, a place where inhabitants of the complex can 'win' a permanent relocation to. But Lincoln finds the controlling aspects of the city too much, and his ultimate investigations into the environment he knows will shatter everything he and the dwellers of the city think they know................

While the sci-fi premise the film is based around itself isn't one that could be called original it is one that is perennially relevant and intriguing and with the right execution can do what the best sci-fi always does - shine a light on the present from the safe distance of a fictional future. Anf for the first half of the film it's doing not too badly at it. The problem here is that once the central idea of the film is revealed, Bay descends the film into what is essentially a chase film with cars, explosions and the usual CGI effects work.

Bay can do that in his sleep of course, and it all looks great, but it then means the sci-fi part of the film suffers. So, all in, this is actually a pretty decent Blockbuster that I think has quite possibly aged a little more smoothly than I would have expected it to.