The Island
Reviewed by Sarah Downing

Lincoln Six–Echo (Ewan McGregor) is a resident of a controlled centre of purity in the not too distant future. He and all of the other inhabitants believe that there is no life outside of their isolated unit after a deathly contamination wiped out all of planet Earth.

As the only survivors, the one hope they have for the future is the chance of release to The Island, the only contamination free area outside of the centre. This is an opportunity for complete utopia and a chance to boost the human population once again.

However, the only way to The Island is by winning a lottery. Everyone will eventually be a winner but must wait for the day that their name is called.

Although everyone is content with their existence at the centre, the continual discovery of survivors years after the contamination begins to make Lincoln suspicious.

Soon he discovers that things are much more sinister than they appear when he accidentally sees some residents being killed. He decides to make an escape to the outside world with his friend Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlet Johannson) and quickly learns that their existence is merely as clones who are being preserved as replacement parts for their human owners.

This movie, directed by Michael Bay (Pearl Harbour, Armageddon,) is a really enjoyable sci-fi thriller. The whole idea behind the story is incredibly intriguing and provides us with a frightening look at how science can go wrong and the way in which humans can be a threat to themselves.

Although ultimately The Island is most likely to be categorised as a standard summer blockbuster, it seems to have more depth than the majority of movies that fall into this bracket. Yes, it has some fantastic action scenes which provide real edge of the seat entertainment but it also includes a good storyline that will leave you gripped from beginning to end.

This really is one of the few releases from this summer that I would recommend seeing for an enjoyable night out.