The Island (2023)

Right, let's get this out of the way early: The Island is about as close to proper cinema as a karate kick to the face. And I mean that in the least flattering way possible. This is a direct-to-TV action flick through and through, the kind of thing that turns up on a streaming platform you've never heard of at two in the afternoon on a Tuesday, and honestly, it knows exactly what it is. Whether that's a comfort or a condemnation probably depends on your mood and how many beers you've had.

Michael Jai White plays a man returning to his Caribbean home, only to get dragged into some nonsense involving gangsters and hidden secrets. I'm being vague there, but don't worry, the film is equally vague about its own plot. You'll have forgotten the whole thing about five minutes after the credits roll. It's paper-thin stuff, the kind of story scrawled on the back of a napkin and then left out in the rain.

The dialogue is genuinely laughable in places. Characters deliver lines with the kind of stiffness that makes you wonder if the script arrived on set that same morning. Every emotional beat lands with a thud, and you can practically hear someone off camera muttering "good enough, we're moving on." The production has that tell-tale quality of a shoot where the budget and the schedule are both running out simultaneously, cheap sets, flat lighting indoors, and a general sense that everyone is doing their best with very little.

Which makes it all the more frustrating when you remember who's in the middle of all this. White is a genuinely gifted physical performer, and when the film lets him actually move, there are brief flickers of what he's capable of. Fans of proper action cinema, the kind of choreography-first approach you get in something like The Raid 2, will find those moments bittersweet at best. The fight scenes here are shot too close and cut too quickly to let anything breathe. It's all very much there, but it never gets the blood pumping the way it should.

Here's the thing though. I'd be lying if I said I had an absolutely miserable time. There's a particular kind of terrible that loops back around to being almost fun, and The Island occasionally brushes up against it. The Caribbean locations give the whole thing a bit of colour and life that the script certainly isn't providing, and the cinematography is actually one of the better elements here, genuinely decent work that feels somewhat wasted on the surrounding material. Put this on with a group of mates, arm everyone with something cold to drink, and you'll probably find enough to laugh at and enjoy. It's the sort of film Black Dynamite was cheerfully skewering, except Black Dynamite was in on the joke. I'm not entirely sure The Island is.

It's not awful awful, and I want to be fair about that. It's just completely, almost aggressively forgettable. The kind of film that exists, fills its runtime, and then dissolves. As the St Kitts and Nevis entry on my A-Z World Movie Tour, I respect the hustle of a small island nation getting some screen time. I just wish the film surrounding that location had more going for it.

Two stars. Watch it with low expectations and good company, and you might just about get away with it.

Rating: ★★  | Year: 2023  | Watched: 2025-08-28

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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More with Michael Jai White: Black Dynamite (2009)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)