• Though it’s always nice to see Steve Buscemi again, the real surprise is the reappearance, in the film’s best and biggest joke, of an indie character actor (verging on leading man) who’s not been seen for some time now. My respect for the fellow involved has gone up considerably.
  • Scarlet Johansen basically plays the point of view of someone who’s picked up the film at random in a video store in five years time, while Ewan is the stand-in for someone who’s seen the trailer. Theres a good half-hour where most of the dialogue between them is “C’mon!” as he drags her on towards another cool thing that he knows is coming.
  • All the complaints about murder porn that were thrown at Michael Bay’s last film, Bad Boys 2 are appropriate here as well. In fact, the main culprit is another highspeed chase along a motorway with stuff been thrown off cars.
  • If the Chief Scientist in charge of Science (as opposed to in charge of being Eeeevil) looks familiar, then you’ve probably seen Constantine. Max Baker hasn’t been in much else, he’s just got one of those instantly noticable character actor faces. Which is why he’s in Pirates of the Caribbean 2, hooray!
  • In fact, it was only when the Chief Scientist in charge of being Eeeevil went down to face our hero, by himself, with a gun, that I realised the film which had been flickering in and out of memory: Paycheck. This is a better film in nearly every way, but probably not enough to make it a really good one.
  • More uncredited work for Mary Castro, a living testament to the viability of niche work in big screen cinema.
  • Despite what certain other reviews on this site say, there is indeed an Island in the Island. It just doesn’t matter at all.
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