I saw the movie The Island this past weekend, and Christian Hamaker’s review is certainly accurate.

The film offers a provocative, timely scenario that raises important questions about human identity and bio-ethics, but it stops short of exploring the full implications of the moral problems raised.

The first 1/3 of the movie set up and interesting scenario that the rest of film never really explores. The Island instead to devolves into the typical running and chasing and explosions for which director Michael Bay’s movies are famous. Read Christian’s review above for a synopsis of the film. (More reviews and insight on Christianity Today.)

The premise of The Island is intriguing to me. With the biotech age now upon us, and the issues surrounding cloning becoming more and more real every day, we will be seeing an increasing number of movies dealing with the topic. Yet despite our culture’s largely pragmatic approach to science and life issues, The Island is based on a sound premise. Growing people for their body parts is wrong. This premise is really never questioned in the movie. The creator of the facility holding the clones is portrayed as a devious liar, who will stop at nothing (murder included) to protect his immoral enterprise. The issue of whether or not the clones are truly human is not debated. They are human, and how they are treated is wrong.

Those who hold to a Christian worldview approach to the sanctity of life would do well to note such manifestations of popular culture. Sure the movie could have been better, much better. But it’s good to see a biotech film where the ends clearly don’t justify the means.