The Islandis a 2005 American science fiction / thriller film directed by Michael Bay and starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson . It was released on July 22, 2005 in the United States, and was nominated for three awards including the Teen Choice Award .

It is described as a pastiche of "escape-from- dystopia " science fiction films of the 1960s and 1970s such asFahrenheit 451,THX 1138,Parts: The Clonus Horror, andLogan's Run. The film's plot revolves around the struggle of Ewan McGregor's character to fit into the highly structured world he lives in, and the series of events that unfolds when he questions how truthful that world really is.

The film, which cost $126 million to produce, earned only $36 million at the United States box office , but earned $127 million overseas, for a $162 million worldwide total. The original score for the film was composed by Steve Jablonsky . It was also the first film directed by Michael Bay that was not produced by Jerry Bruckheimer .

Lincoln Six Echo ( Ewan McGregor ) lives in an isolated compound which strictly regulates its inhabitants' lives. The inhabitants hope to win a lottery, the reward of which is a relocation to "The Island", the only place on Earth not contaminated by a deadly pathogen . Lincoln tells Dr. Merrick ( Sean Bean ) of his discontent with the plain white clothes everyone is given and the strict social controls. Concerned about strange dreams Lincoln experiences that involve a speedboat and other unfamiliar items, Merrick inserts probes into Lincoln's body to monitor his cerebral activities.

While illicitly visiting a power-plant basement where his friend, the technician James McCord ( Steve Buscemi ), works, Lincoln discovers a live moth in a ventilation shaft, leading him to deduce that the outside world is not contaminated. Lincoln captures and releases the moth and follows it to another section, where he witnesses two recent lottery winners being killed: one immediately after childbirth (for her baby), and the other ( Michael Clarke Duncan ) in the process of having his liver harvested . Security discovers that Lincoln has wandered into unauthorized areas, and start searching for him. As Lincoln rescues Jordan Two Delta ( Scarlett Johansson ), a friend who has just won the lottery, Dr. Merrick realizes that Lincoln is beginning to learn the truth.

While eluding security and escaping from the facility, Lincoln and Jordan learn that both the contamination of the outside world and the Island are myths, and that the residents are clones of wealthy sponsors, who intend to use them for organ harvesting or surrogate motherhood . Merrick's technology allows clones to incubate directly into adulthood. He tells sponsors and the government that the clones do not gain consciousness , but when Merrick hires French mercenary Albert Laurent ( Djimon Hounsou ) to kill or capture the escapees, he admits that the organs of unconscious clones inevitably fail, making them useless. Thus, he needs the clones conscious in the compound.

Lincoln and Jordan escape the compound and find themselves in the Arizona desert. They find McCord, who gives them the name of Lincoln's sponsor in Los Angeles , and helps them to the Yucca railway station. After Laurent's mercenaries find and kill McCord, Lincoln and Jordan ride the train in hopes of finding help in Los Angeles. (Jordan Two's sponsor, model Sarah Jordan, cannot help as she is in a coma following a car accident.) Lincoln Six's sponsor, Tom Lincoln—the owner of the speedboat in Lincoln's dreams—agrees to help expose the truth about the organ harvesting, but secretly turns against his clone by informing Merrick about the situation. Merrick sends the mercenaries to the location, but Lincoln Six tricks Laurent into killing Tom, allowing him to assume Tom's identity.

The cerebral probes reveal that Lincoln Six Echo inherited some memories from his sponsor Tom Lincoln (which had been thought impossible). Merrick becomes afraid that the same will happen with the other clones and decides to kill them all. Lincoln and Jordan plan to liberate their fellow clones. Now posing as Tom Lincoln, Lincoln Six returns to the compound in order to destroy the holographic projectors that hide the outside world from the clones. With help from Laurent—who has moral qualms with treating the clones as if they are not human—Merrick is killed and the clones are freed. The film ends with the clones seeing the outside world for the first time.