The Island is one of the few true big concept sci-fi movies of this last decade. It's about an entirely unique world that we as an audience cannot make assumptions about because we've never seen anything like it. The movie spends a lot of time covering the logistics of the world, like when Ewan McGregors pee gets analyzed and how that translates to what he gets served for breakfast. Everything on The Island is different and needs to be explained. The movie is more than just an adventure story laid over a recognizable environment (Star Trek, War of the Worlds, etc). That's just part of what I find so satisfying about it. It doesn't matter that some of the ideas are batshit crazy, or don't add up. It throws it out there and it's interesting to think about a world where things like this could exists.
(You found Star Trek recognisable? Really?)
Thinking about what you said and what this movie was doing, I kinda have to agree with Froham about how much I think this world is derivative, but he didn't mention what I think is the obvious choice. This film, whether intentionally or not, takes sooo much from Minority Report. The feel Bay tries to recreate is almost indentical, but I love what Minority Report is dealing with so well, the way murders are a sum of the events, and how emotions have to be a part of lawmaking, not just the act itself. However, I feel as though Bay really undermines the issue at hand, Cloning, by forgetting the emotional and philosophical reality (you don't need both in a movie, but one would be nice) of this issue, and instead portraying all of his characters as black and white figures.
Also the characters are easy to care about. They're hapless, wide-eyed, and good natured people who are being treated unfairly. Watching them stir shit up on and off The Island is entertaining. And the twist is fun. IIRC we don't find out until McGregor does (though we suspect something like it all along). And it kind of keeps the whole movie from becoming tiresome because now it's a whole new environment again.
For me, I did not sympathise with them. I didn't hate them, but Bay, once again, forgets to find the humanity of these people, and they become nothing more then the sum of their situation. They are simply mindless people with certain quircks, which annoyed the hell out of me. But this means that, if the people aren't human, or sympathetic, then they have to be compelling, which these characters aren't in my opinion.
So on top of having sympathetic characters, humorous situations, and very enjoyable action sequences, it really covers a lot of details and fascinating ideas. Yes it's a Bay movie, yes it's big and 'splody, but it's also science-fiction on a level we very rarely get to see these days.
i didn't really find it funny, found those bits distracting, and I hated the action scenes. And i'd say it;s not at any interesting level whatsoever.
The Island is Michael Bay's best film. The Rock and Armageddon are also satisfying (in different ways).
I can only say it's worse then Transformers. I haven't seen the rest.
(PS, Keith? Bolded poriton? Get on that.)