Okay, I'll do it...

Okay, okay, I give. A certain person (cough) has been bugging me to write a movie review, and let's face it, there's not a whole lot else to do around here. The night-life isn't what one would call stellar, right boys? Ref last night; why did we bother again? right, the booze..... anyway, another time.

First I'm going to review the movie my way, then afterwards using Chris' cool guy-oriented rating system. So you can skip to the bottom if you can't be botherd to think about the cast, plot, or writing...

So today I watched The Island (2005), which I thought was an entertaining movie (read: don't think too hard...) That and Scarlett Johansson is not only a good actress, but she's...a good actress! Oh, and so is Ewan McGregor, yeah he did a good job too. Sean Bean plays a great bad guy, as usual - a far cry from his role as Sharpe, but let's be honest here he does that evil man thing really well. I kind of feel bad for Steve Buscemi - dude has good acting skills but he's been type-cast pretty hard core over the years. I guess if you have the money maybe it isn't such a big deal, and besides he does look mighty creepy, wouldn't you say? Loved him in Reservoir Dogs, great movie. Last cast mention goes to Michael Clarke Duncan: if I ever need a gigantic scary lookin black dude I know who I'm calling. He's got a pretty small part though - I guess they wanted the wiry black dude in stead (Djimon Hounsou, looking very serious the whole time >:-| hehe). I thought the cast did a great job, which is pretty standard really but should be said anyway.

Plot Outline: A man (Ewan McGregor) goes on the run after he discovers that he is actually a "harvested being", and is being kept along with others in a utopian facility.

Plot and writing wise it was nothing spectacular. The dialogue was pretty good, and the writing did a decent job of working in the important plot issues at appropriate moments. There was an effort to explore some deeper humanity type stuff, like the inherent evil and selfishness of humans blah blah blah. It was semi-engaging and it at least gives you something deeper to think about if you feel so inclined while cars, helicopters, and other random things are blowing up.

And now for the good stuff. The Island (2005)
1. Car Chases: 1/1 Now there's a couple here, and I think the first (also longer of the two) is way better. Why you ask? Well what's important in a car chase?! Destruction on a fairly large scale usually helps make a chase scene worth watching from a dude's point of view. They trash three or four Magnums, an H3, and then they endo an armoured car, use crazy hover-bikes (total star wars rip-off), blow up helicopters....you get the point.
2. Attractive Naked Women: 0.5/1 Scarlett Johansson is smokin hot, and even though you don't see her naked she's smokin hot so a solid half point there.
3. Explosions/Pyrotechnics: 1/1 See above comment about car chase.
4. Cool Technology/Gadgets: 0.5/1 Nothing crazy new here, and like I say they totally ripped off Star Wars for those neato hover-bike contraptions. I want me one of those harpoon handguns though - ain't nobody getting away from you without losing some flesh if you have one of those babies! It's got a laser sight, it must be cool!
5. Aliens/Ninjas/Monkeys/Pirates: 0/1 Yeah, not much doin here I'm afraid. They could have used ninjas at least. That would have been cool.

This one gets a solid 3/5 stars. Hot actress, but could use some nakedness, less ripping-off of other movies, and ninjas. Good for Saturday afternoon entertainment in small town Alberta though. :)

cheers,
Dave