Having read the very controversial reviews on The Isle I pretty much had to give it a go for myself, and I have to say that the feeling you get while scrolling past of those 1-star and 10-star ratings is itself the best review for this film.
The Isle has a good story and it would have such big potential, but it falls short for clearly too small budget. Either it's that, or lazyness that makes about the half of the film looking like a student film.
So I did have several issues with this film:
- Acting is all over the place, and some of the actors don't have a clue how they should carry their character. Many awkward moments.
- Directing is sometimes okay, sometimes it isn't quite sure of itself and how to continue from certain points of the story.
- The film stretches the running time needlessly. There are quite a few moments where the story simply does not need to take a moment to reflect or react, but nevertheless it's there and this accumulates to at least 15-20 minutes of pure nothing. It would be different if this time would be used cleverly and building the tension, but The Isle just can't manage it.
But, as I said earlier and as it reads in the title, the story has potential. If this story would be picked up by a more talented director and gathered a bit more seasoned actors and actresses, it might come out a brilliant movie. Sadly, that's not how it is now.
5/10, "meh, would not want to watch it again".
