The Island: A Big-budget Take on a Volatile Debate

People these days will go to great and ridiculous lengths in order to look good, stay young and cheat the inevitable: death and old age. Some will have the fat from their rear end sucked out and injected into their cheeks and lips to create the perfect face. Some claim that fasting, and dare I even think it, celibacy, will keep them living long past the age of 100. And those that are brave enough or perhaps ignorant enough, will try out new, experimental drugs that scientists have conjured up in a lab, just to prolong their time here on earth. Although the human body has its flaws and limitations, there are "pioneers" out there who will do whatever it takes to avoid a visit from the grim reaper.

In 2050, The Island's wealthy and affluent have another strategy. They purchase clones, otherwise known as insurance policies, in order to bypass the eventual symptoms of aging and disease. These DNA replicates are promised to be exact duplicates of their sponsors, which at any given moment can offer up a few spare parts. So, when a heavy drinker's liver gives out or when a smoker needs a new lung, these clones are assuredly ready for the carving board.

But what happens when these carbon copies become aware of their fatal purpose?

According to this 2005 flick, they surpass all expectations and narrowly escape the utopian stronghold that has deceived their idea of reality since conception. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) and Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) obviously aren't too thrilled with their roles as organ donors and despite the fact that they have been suppressed to the educational levels of teenage baboons; they take it upon themselves to reveal the inhumanity that they are being subjected to. 

The Island movie poster

Credit: Wikipedia