Cloning: The Island; Can two Scarlett Johannson’s be a bad thing?

“Welcome to the Island” is the first sentence you hear in the trailer. Of course like many others, even after watching the trailer I had no idea what this film was about or what to expect from it. The title as such does not really give away much information, but since it was advertised as an action, sci-fi thriller, I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised by the interesting plot and suspense moments.

The story takes place in a futuristic setting, a seemingly utopian environment where everything is carefully controlled from contamination, where all residents are dressed alike and where men and women are even prohibited from touching the opposite sex. The only anticipation of all the residents is the lucky draw which allows them to go to a place called “The Island”- reportedly the last contaminated place in the planet and a supposed-to-be paradise.

Enter Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewen McGregor). Overwhelmed by recently unexplained nightmares, he begins to question the restrictions on his life and existence. His doubts are further deepened when his questions are never answered by the authorities and when no news ever came from the ‘lucky’ people who got to go to ‘the Island’.

The fateful day comes in the form was his witnessing the winner of ‘the Island’ being dragged off to be killed. It does not take long for him to realise that all of them, including friend Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson), are disposable and are more valuable dead than alive. In other words, they are mere clones-designed to provide spare parts to their human counterparts outside this area. When Jordan becomes the next winner, Lincoln has no choice but to escape with her before both of them become the next harvested item.

The movie provides a daring outlook at the future where cloning might become increasingly important in order to facilitate man’s desire to live longer. It also hints the dangers of cloning, as seen from the movie where Lincoln and Jordan, although extremely naïve from their lack of knowledge of the outside world, have probably more intelligence than their human counterparts. This would of course endanger the original person’s life. On the other hand, this can be viewed as a punishment for going against nature’s cycle of life and death.

The cruelty is projected from the sense that clones are just like a normal person, yet they are still raised to be slaughtered, like pigs in a sty. This inhumane act raises the question of why do they have to be created in the first place if killing them means going against all morals and ethics? Even though this movie does have some plot holes, the basic idea is still possible with the rate of advancement of science and technology.

Overall this movie satisfies in both the action and sci-fi genre. It is highly recommended if you are looking for something entertaining with a believable plot, great visuals and solid acting.

by Zhi Jun Lim

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