The Island

I've just discovered another entry for my list of Fictional Characters I Have Lusted After.

Do not mistake this as a ringing endorsement for The Island as a piece of cinematic history. It's a hybrid sci-fi/action flick, and if you don't like to mix your sci-fi with your action or vice versa, you're very likely going to get a bit ticked off. If you're not a purist, though, you might just be entertained. Because just when the sci-fi looks as if it might get heavy, just at that place where it started becoming painful to sit through A.I., The Island shifts gears. And if you like your action heroes to be ruthless and don't mind their impossibly-good luck, then you'll have a damn good time. I did, even when I was not gawking at Ewan McGregor.

I won't spoil the big mystery of The Island, but I think it wouldn't be a spoiler if I conceded that, yes, in fact, the movie is what the trailer makes it out to be: a metaphor for treating humans with dignity. For not living lives of quiet desperation. Et cetera. I think everyone gets that off the trailer, right?

(Some trailers are just way too transparent. Let me take you back a few years. My friend Tim and I are watching the preview of The Sixth Sense.

Jill: So...um...the Bruce Willis character is...
Jill & Tim: Dead.
Jill: Right.
Tim: Yeah.
Jill: Ok, no need to see that one.
Tim: Pass the Milk Duds.)

Well then. Back to The Island. So if the film is a metaphor for not living lives of quiet desperation, the hero will of course be the utterly-charming-and-resourceful-non-conformist. I'm a sucker for this type. I know this. All the better when played by a cute scruffy guy with a great voice. Who isn't afraid to violently wield crowbars, wrenches, and futuristic motorized vehicles of all kinds.

I won't divulge any more except this, my favorite moment. The moment when McGregor's character, Lincoln, joins my list. He had never previously encountered any motorized vehicles. He's been asleep out by a deserted stretch of highway with Jordan, Scarlett Johansson's character. A motorcycle flies by. They both wake up. He runs out onto the road. "What was that?" Jordan asks. Lincoln gets this look of pure mischief on his face. "I don't know," he replies. "But I want one."

Yeah, me too. I want one. Can I get one of him?