Review of The Island

The Island (2009)
3/10
Well-conceived, sloppily done.
9 July 2020
This movie's ambition is to cauterize the life of a small island community, full of petty backbiting and rampant hypocrisy, in a comical way. It starts rather dynamically, but it runs out of steam very soon. In fact, once the basic setting is revealed, the movie dispenses endlessly one cliche after another.

If not imaginary, the humour is dull and corny. There is not a single line of witty dialogue throughout the entire movie. All we see is hysterical chases, unnecessarily loud conversations, out-of-place swearing and gags that have already been performed a zillion times better in other (and, needless to say, far greater) comedies in the past. Even the naughty scenes are lazily written.

I admit that the story is based on a very clever idea, but that's as far as it goes. After the first twenty minutes it becomes pretty obvious that the creators haven't really figured out what to do with the plot. The movie's finale is a ridiculous circus, which hardly comes as a surprise, as almost every Greek comedy in the last decades can't be considered a real comedy, unless it ends in a more or less absurd fashion. And, by the way, the constant breaking of the fourth wall shows lazy writing, not sophistication.

It's a shame, because the actors that appear in this movie are all very able and talented, but in this case they are given absolutely nothing to work with. I, for one, wouldn't judge them (or their performances in this project) too harshly.

In any case, this movie sold so well that it was (un)lucky enough to get a sequel, the utterly boring and not even remotely funny "Nisos 2".

Personally, I am greatly disheartened to see how contemporary Greek comedies continue to rely, rather obsessively, on raw humour and vulgar jokes, especially at a time when there are so many other interesting paths to be explored.

Let's hope that things will improve someday!
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