The Island (2005)

In the year 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo lives in a Utopian, but contained facility. Like all the inhabitants, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to "the Island", apparently, the last uncontaminated spot on the planet. However, he soon discovers that his whole life has been a lie. He and his friend, Jordan Two-Delta escape the facility while being persued by the forces of the institute that housed them. The head of the facility hires mercenaries to tack them down before they have the chance to reveal his secret to the world.



Did you know?...

• The phone used by Tom Lincoln is the Nokia 8800/8801 model. At the time of the movie filming this was a concept phone; it was subsequently mass released.
• During the filming of the scene when Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor are running from the censors out of the atrium the camera operator was running with them for a tracking shot. He tripped on the dolly track, onto the camera, and was badly injured.
• Michael Bay drove behind a flatbed truck carrying train wheels on the highway leaving Palmdale, and, noticing how dangerous it looked, was inspired to create a destructive chase scene involving one.
• Robert S. Fiveson, director of “The Clonus Horror”, brought a copyright infringement suit against the makers of this film.
• Scarlett Johansson wanted to show her breasts in the love scene with Ewan McGregor but director Michael Bay declined.

True or false?

The movie is based on the idea that, sometime in the near future, the wealthy citizens of the world might pay a private corporation to grow replacement body parts. A private corporation is selling this organ-replacement service, and telling them the organs are grown in a laboratory. But in reality, the corporation is cloning these wealthy clients and growing entire adult organisms, and then "harvesting" those humans when the replacement organs are needed.

There's talk today of not only growing human organs for precisely this purpose, there is also talk about using animals as hosts for human organs. There are plans to genetically modify pigs so that they can grow human hearts that could then be surgically taken out of the pig and implanted into customers.

The script of "The Island" is insightful, as it explores the issue of corporate and medical ethics.