The Island

Herald rating: * *

Pearl Harbor, The Rock, the Bad Boys franchise ... Michael Bay was never going to make an intimate little movie, unless you count his Lionel Richie video.

Referencing Brave New World and many other futuristic movie ever made, his tale begins in a city that has been sealed to protect its people from the pollution that has attacked Earth.

The citizens wear white uniforms, the supervisors wear black, instruction and propaganda blare from big-screen TVs, and twice a day the Lottery is broadcast. Winners go to the "pathogen-free zone". We can only guess ...

Most of the citizens are happy, smiling, childlike. Apart from Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor), who wants bacon for breakfast but gets oatmeal.

This starts him wondering why Tuesday is always tofu night, and what is tofu?

Eventually Lincoln's need to find the truth leads him to escape with Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson).

This is a smart move, because it allows the director to forget about the deep and wordy stuff and concentrate on the plane, train, car, helicopter and various other chases that he prefers. Which is pretty much a waste of supporting actors of the calibre of Michael Clarke Duncan, Sean Bean and Steve Buscemi.

The DVD adds only a 15-minute making-of, with the usual platitudes from the cast and crew about the director, plus a quick tour of the sets, so big that they were built inside a Boeing factory. The director's commentary is accessed through your computer's web link.

* DVD, video rental out now