Ever watch a movie that felt like it was from the future, only to realize it basically predicted the weirdest parts of our actual present? That’s the vibe you get rewatching The Island. When it hit theaters in 2005, critics weren't exactly kind. They called it loud. They called it "Bayhem." Some even called it a rip-off. But honestly, looking back at Scarlett Johansson movies, The Island stands out as a bizarre, high-octane pivot point in her career that deserves a second look.
Before she was a household name as Black Widow or winning accolades for Marriage Story, Scarlett was Jordan Two Delta. She was twenty. Just twenty! It’s wild to think about now, but she was still transitioning from indie darling—fresh off Lost in Translation—to a full-blown action star. And she did it in a Michael Bay movie involving organ harvesting, flying motorbikes, and a whole lot of white jumpsuits.
The Plot Most People Forget
Basically, the movie starts in this sterile, underground bunker. Everyone is dressed like they’re headed to a high-end Pilates class in the year 2019. The hook? The world has been "contaminated." The only way out is winning a lottery to go to "The Island," the last 100% pure paradise on Earth.
Except, there is no island.
Jordan Two Delta (Johansson) and Lincoln Six Echo (played by a very confused-looking Ewan McGregor) are actually "agnates." That’s just a fancy word for clones. They aren't people; they're insurance policies for the rich. If a billionaire needs a new liver or wants to have a baby without the "hassle" of pregnancy, they just harvest the clone.
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Why the Production Was a Mess
The movie cost a staggering $126 million to make. For 2005, that was "buy a small country" money. It was DreamWorks' big bet, and it... kinda flopped. It only made about $36 million domestically. Why? Some say the marketing was trash. The trailers didn't really explain the clone twist, so people thought it was just a generic desert chase movie.
Then there was the lawsuit. The creators of a 1979 cult film called Parts: The Clonus Horror sued DreamWorks, claiming The Island was a total lift of their idea. They eventually settled for a seven-figure sum, but the "plagiarism" tag stuck to the film like glue.
Scarlett vs. Michael Bay
There’s a famous story from the set that perfectly captures the tension of this era in Scarlett’s career. During a "physical intimacy" scene with McGregor, Bay allegedly insisted she wear a specific bra. Scarlett thought it looked cheap and fake. She wanted to do the scene topless to keep it "authentic" to the characters' innocence. Bay, aiming for that PG-13 rating to maximize box office, said no.
It’s a small detail, but it shows Scarlett was already pushing for character depth in a movie that was mostly interested in blowing up trains.
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The Science That Got Weirdly Real
In the film, the clones are told they are survivors. In reality, they are grown in bags. It sounds like pure sci-fi, but back in the mid-2000s, the debate over stem cell research and therapeutic cloning was peaking.
- The Ethics: The movie asks if a "copy" has a soul.
- The Reality: We aren't growing full humans in bunkers, but lab-grown organs are a real thing now.
- The Product Placement: My god, the product placement. MSN Search, Cisco, Calvin Klein, and Aquafina. It’s like a 2-hour commercial that occasionally gets interrupted by a car crash.
Interestingly, the black-and-white commercial you see of "Sarah Jordan" (the real person Jordan Two Delta was cloned from) is actual footage from Scarlett’s real-life Calvin Klein Eternity Moment ad. Talk about meta.
Where Does It Sit in the Scarlett Pantheon?
Most people ranking Scarlett Johansson movies put this somewhere near the bottom, right above Ghost in the Shell. But that’s a mistake. The Island is where she learned the "action face." You can see the seeds of Natasha Romanoff in the way she handles the high-speed chases through a CGI Los Angeles.
She plays the "innocent" version of Jordan with this wide-eyed sincerity that makes the horror of the organ harvesting actually land. When she discovers that "The Island" is just a room where clones are killed, her reaction isn't "action hero scream"—it’s genuine, gut-wrenching terror.
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What to Do If You’re Revisiting the Film
If you’re going to give this one a rewatch, don't go in expecting a philosophical masterpiece like Blade Runner. It’s a Michael Bay movie. It’s meant to be watched loud.
- Watch the Freeway Chase: It’s still one of the best-shot action sequences in modern cinema. Bay used real trucks and dropped real train wheels onto a highway. The physics feel heavy and dangerous in a way modern Marvel movies sometimes miss.
- Look for the Cameos: Steve Buscemi plays a guy named McCord who explains the whole conspiracy. He’s the only one who treats the clones like people, and he’s great.
- Check the Score: Steve Jablonsky’s music for this is incredible. The track "My Name is Lincoln" is used in almost every "inspirational" YouTube video and movie trailer even 20 years later.
The movie isn't perfect. The second half turns into a generic shoot-em-up that ignores the cool moral questions raised in the first hour. But as a snapshot of Scarlett Johansson right before she became the most powerful woman in Hollywood? It’s fascinating.
Actionable Insight: If you're a fan of dystopian sci-fi, watch the first 45 minutes of The Island for the world-building, then skip to the final 20 minutes for the payoff. You’ll save yourself a lot of repetitive explosion fatigue while still catching the best parts of the performance that helped launch a superstar.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Compare this to Never Let Me Go (2010) for a much darker, more "prestige" take on the cloning-for-organs trope.
- Look up the "Parts: The Clonus Horror" comparison on YouTube to see just how similar the two films actually are.
- Check out Scarlett's 2013 film Under the Skin to see how she eventually mastered the "alien/non-human" character archetype she started here.