While I’m one of the first to point out director Michael Bay’s shortcomings (Pearl Harbor), I’ll also quickly admit the guilty pleasure of his big-bang-bang type pictures. Some director’s just have a niche they should stick to, and Bay’s niche happens to be summer popcorn flicks with lots of explosions.
Bay’s next endeavor is The Island, a sci-fi adventure flick where the main characters wake up from their perfect lives to learn it was all imaginary, and that in reality people are plugged into machines dreaming of the perfect world. Sound familiar? Well, this Matrix meets THX-1138 looking flick stars two of Hollywood’s current hotlist - Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, as well as Michael Clarke Duncan, fan favorite Steve Buscemi and Djimon Hounsou. With a cast this talented, it would appear Bay is striving yet again to move beyond explosions and Nicholas Cage, and provide a thought provoking genre film.
The first trailer for The Island has hit the web (along with the extremely minimalist poster) and if looks mean anything (which in Hollywood they don’t) the film might finally be the breakaway film for Bay. Then again, Pearl Harbor had a great trailer too.
