AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

SimonJack Who needs aliens or space monsters for a horror flick? "The Island" is a horror film. It's billed as an action and adventure drama. It's not sci-fi but it would more accurately be described as a suspense and horror movie. It fits in that sub-genre of human horrors that include "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." The movie is based on a 1979 novel of the same title by Peter Benchley. Benchley worked on the screenplay as well. Movie fans, if not readers, will know him from his 1975 blockbuster film (and 1974 book), "Jaws." Benchley's works were mostly set around the ocean. Sea monsters were usually his subjects, but in this case, he conjured up human monsters in the form of a colony of savage pirates. This group is descended from 17th century pirates and has lived undetected since then in the Caribbean Sea. The story suggests that this band of bloody brigands may be responsible for the many disappearances of boats and ships over the decades in the Bermuda Triangle. It was a novel idea. The cast for this film is very good and the acting is probably very good. But this is the type of film in which one can't appreciate the arts of movie making because the plot is so heinous. The movie, "Jaws" set an all-time box office record through 1975. But it pitted people against a sea monster. "The Island" pits humanity against barbarism. It isn't in the same class of films and failed at the box office. I'm not a fan of horror films about the human race on rampage. This is the most gruesome film I've ever watched. I had to watch to the end to see if Michael Caine's Blair Maynard and his son, Justin (played by Jeffrey Frank) survived. They do, so there's no need for anyone else to have to struggle through this film. It's definitely not a film for children, or even the vast majority of adults for that matter. I can't think of who might enjoy this film. The box office is good evidence, in this case. I can't imagine why Michael Caine or David Warner (the character John David Nau) would want to appear in this film, even if it offered lavish salaries. This is a hard movie to stomach – the kind that otherwise belies being able to be rated for its quality.

inspectors71 That's what I was thinking when I saw The Island on HBO 35 years ago. I have almost no memory of this thing except for a bunch of Coasties or pirates getting mowed down by a .30 caliber machine gun. My clearest memory is wondering how Michael Ritchie and Caine and Peter Benchley could produce something this bad. Well, that's easy enough. Benchley was an awful novelist. Michael Ritchie did some great work--The Candidate and The Bad News Bears come to mind. Prime Cut is a disgusting piece of dreck that I love to watch for its very yuckiness. He did a number of fairly good movies, too, but my impression of Ritchie is one of journeyman skill.Why he did this thing makes no sense. Why Michael Caine, a force of nature, has done so many crappy movies along with the good ones makes dollar sense only.If you happen upon The Island on TV--or on the bottom left of the movie section of the library--my suggestion is to watch it if your time is of absolutely no value.

Neil Welch Blair Maynard, seeking to reconnect with his young son Justin, takes him on a Caribbean cruise to research Bermuda Triangle disappearances. Unfortunately, they discover an explanation - a lost band of descendants of 17th century pirates who take Blair into slavery as a breeding source of fresh genes, while Justin is brainwashed into becoming the "son" of the pirate leader.After Jaws became a massive-selling book and then a box office movie smash, Peter Benchley was flavour of the month for a while. The Deep followed, less successfully, and then The Island, which more or less put paid to Benchley's career as a source of movie ideas.It's not entirely clear why. The idea is not a bad one and, in Michael Caine as Blair and David Warner as the pirate leader, it has two potentially good leads (albeit Caine was going through his phase of taking any part as long as there was a decent pay cheque attached to it).Although the film is a fairly good adaptation of the book, it is no fun at all. It is very violent and purports to be adult (as was the book) but doesn't feel credible. Had it been played as a family-oriented adventure rather than almost-horror, it might have worked better.

lpersons-2 I watched this movie many, many years ago, and like all good movies it left an impression on me. I think about this movie from time to time and remember it bringing out many emotions in me, mostly fear. I would love to watch it again if I can ever find it available. I don't remember to much about it, but loved Michael Caine and felt he did an excellent job in his role. This is a modern day pirate story, that seems to be probably fairly close to reality. I did not read the book so I can't compare the two. I figure that the fact that the movie has left such an impact on me all these years later, gives the movie a positive rating. I wonder if I watched it now if I would still enjoy it?