he island awaits you.” Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) awakes from a nightmare in his plain, sterile room, where he dresses in a white uniform before making his way to the Tranquility Center for having an erratic sleep cycle. In this futuristic setting (2019), everything is carefully monitored, as the world has succumbed to some sort of environmental, pathogenic catastrophe, which prevents opportunities to go outside – though the scenery outdoors looks bright and cheery. All life, including plants and animals not contained within the walls of the massive compound, has gone extinct.

“I won the lottery!” Although they appear in a prison of sorts, they have seemingly unlimited access to exercising facilities (swimming, cycling, and the like) and learning opportunities; their health is meticulously watched over by teams of professionals and staff and supervisors. However, they’re not allowed to socialize too much, which becomes problematic when Lincoln fraternizes with Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson), coming in rather close proximity with the attractive woman (it would seem that sex is either strictly forbidden or not understood). Lincoln is fed up with the constant restrictions, wishing there was more to life than all the routines (like his boring job, which is to put nutrients into feeding lines) – and waiting for a lottery system in which incredibly lucky people are allowed to leave to a paradisiacal eden, which is supposedly the last place on the planet saved and preserved from the disastrous contamination. “I wish there was more than just waiting to go to the island!”

Lincoln reveals a mild existential crisis to his therapist, Dr. Bernard Merrick (Sean Bean), which prompts the audience to start wondering about this premise. What exactly has happened to the world? What actually takes place on the island? How are the winners of the lottery chosen? Are they all living in the Matrix? “What if it’s rigged?”

The conspiratorial nature of the setup is evident; it’s not long before more and more clues suggest that the denizens of this hi-tech militaristic bunker aren’t really the last survivors of a postapocalyptic hellscape, but rather unwilling participants in a far more sinister scheme. It’s not a bad sci-fi premise, recalling many of the dystopian thrillers from the ’70s and ’80s (along with modern endeavors like “The Fifth Element” and “Minority Report”), though with updated bells and whistles. It’s also a touch more hyper and stylized and overactive, thanks to director Michael Bay, who prefers to have his camera twirl around in excessive movements and cuts, twitch with effects and filters, and rush into extreme close-ups.

After some of the questions about life in the towering facility are answered, “The Island” transforms into an action film, dispensing with much of the pondering of classic speculative fiction themes (and believability, such as why Jordan would, after years of indoctrination, give up the ultimate dream to follow a raving madman). In its adventurous efforts to focus on fighting and fleeing, intellectual concepts are abandoned for sillier ones; virtual reality (and other technological advancements), mind control (and memory imprints), questioning authoritarian handlers (along with governmental corruption and overreach/surveillance), immortality, human replication, nanotechnology, the suppression of emotions, and more are sacrificed for typical conversations about financial investments, ex-SEAL mercenaries hunting down escapees (in laughably ineffective ways), and the juvenile humor (“Never give a woman your credit card!”) of childlike adults attempting to blend into an alien landscape (requiring comical levels of ignorance). A second or two are reserved for freaking out (and some very conspicuous product placements), but Lincoln and Jordan keep their cool unexpectedly well.

Some of the direction diverts to a love story, too, as the two leads, dependent almost entirely on each other to navigate their survival, begin to discover tender feelings. But the second half of the film is essentially a different picture, jumping from dark sci-fi to explosive action. Despite being total foreigners of sorts, resourceless and alone, Lincoln and Jordan manage swimmingly in thwarting hordes of elite assassins. It’s also a decidedly expensive middle act, full of impressively colossal destruction (thanks to inventive set pieces) and a handful of fantastic stunts. Calm scenes arrive at times to once again briefly ruminate on ethical conundrums of the future (or for a hilariously awkward sex scene), but it’s not long before the chases and shootouts return. In the end, there’s also an issue of a solution to the whole ordeal, which often feels like too much to accomplish in a short span (an entire world is built that must be undone) – considering the logistics, the geography, communication ease or difficulty, the specific knowledge of procedures and tech, and the security (always lax when needed), among others. Everything at the resolution is a little too simple and neat. “The possibilities are endless here!”

– Mike Massie