The Island

One of the best sci-fi flicks since the last movie in the Matrix series, The Island is a treat on many different levels, from the supersaturated colors of the excellent cinematography to the incredible production design to the perfect casting.

Lincoln 6 Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan 2 Delta (Scarlett Johansson) are citizens of a subterranean hive of refugees from a contaminated outside world. Only one uncontaminated place exists, referred to simply as "The Island," and hive members who win a lottery get to go to this heaven on Earth.

Hive members are kept at a rather low level of education (we see adult men reciting text from a book of the "See Spot Run" variety), but one member of the hive, played by McGregor, has a livelier intellect than most and is beginning to ask questions.

Then he stumbles on proof that the hive is really a nightmare and that there really is no Island at all, but that the Island is a fantasy designed to keep hive members docile until it's their turn to give their lives. But why?

One thing is certain, his beloved friend, Johansson, who has just won the so-called lottery will die if they don't escape, which they do.

The rest of the movie is about the two escapees, who find themselves in a world they've never seen before and really don't understand, piecing together what the hive is about and who they really are and deciding what they must do about it.

Constructed in the same form as a classical concerto: three movements with the last movement reprising the first, only much faster, I doubt if you'll be bored for one second. And if you are into chases, I think more cars were trashed in this movie's chase scene than in any film since the second Matrix movie.

If you're into sci-fi, one thing you might do while watching the movie is to try to catalog all the ancestors and references embodied and contained in this film. I would list The Matrix, Logan's Run, 1984, Vanilla Sky, Running Man, and Blade Runner (one of the all-time classics), and even The Time Machine among others.

Ms. Johansson seems to get more beautiful by the year to the point where at times her beauty is almost distracting, and I'm sure many of the ladies who fell in love with Ewan McGregor when they saw Moulin Rouge would say much the same about him as well.

As I said at the start, this is certainly one of the best sci-fi movies of recent times and I have a feeling it'll become a classic. You should see it.