The Island (2005)

Even though it was so obviously using the basic idea of "Logan's Run" with the added twist of cloning, I still enjoyed most of what "The Island" had to offer. Not to be confused with the 1980 Michael Caine film of the same name with pirates in it, this movie had lots of exciting action scenes and quite a few in-jokes about Ewan McGregor's love of motorcycles... actually far too many as it wears pretty thin after the first time and there were about half a dozen references to it. Sean Bean played a nasty guy for once and did it well though I found his character very reminiscent of the evil boss in "Equilibrium" (which, strangely enough, also featured Sean Bean!). He wasn't quite up to his 006 standard but it was a good role for him. Steve Buscemi also had a nice little role in it too but is slightly too comic to be credible. Ewan McGregor of course used all his boyish charm to good effect and even Scarlett Johannson had some nicely done comic moments. The only real problem for me was that it was so obviously "Logan's Run" (also mixed with a bit of "Brave New World" and "Gattaca"). Let's have a bit of a breakdown of the two:

Comparisons	The Island	Logan's Run
Names:	Lincoln Six Echo, Jordan Two Delta, Lime One Alpha etc. (in Brave New World they are also Greek letters)	Logan Five, Jessica Six, Francis Seven etc.
Place:	An underground "city" without any sunlight populated by people who all dress the same	A domed city without any sunlight populated by people who all dress the same
Deaths:	Nobody lives past 30 because they take part in Carousel in the hope of being reborn which no-one survives	They take part in "The Lottery" to go and live on "The Island" which no-one survives
Storyline:	The hero and heroine escape into the real world	The hero and heroine escape into the real world
Denouement:	The hero and heroine return to save the others by showing them that what they have been told is a lie	The hero and heroine return to save the others by showing them that what they have been told is a lie

In spite of this obvious "borrowing" it was all very enjoyable to watch and I do, in fact, recommend it as "The Island" is actually better than "Logan's Run" in many ways, not only for the great set designs but also for the moral angle. But even that idea was also "borrowed" from a badly made 1979 film called "Clonus" (in case anyone is interested).

It's still a very good film though but not a great one. And nothing will ever beat Jenny Agutter in her skimpy dress...