20 Years On, Michael Bay’s Underrated Sci-Fi Gem Finds New Success On Streaming

In further proof that streaming services can be a lifeline for older movies that didn’t get a fair shake at the box office, an underrated Michael Bay sci-fi movie is trending in the top 10 on Netflix. Bay hasn’t released an action movie in three years and has only directed two action movies since his last Transformers film in 2017. After his 2019 Netflix original 6 Underground was a critical disappointment, his only other action film was the 2022 theatrical release Ambulance. Impressively, Bay has two movies trending on Netflix this weekend, including Ambulance, which was recently added to the service. However, even more impressive is the addition of a 20-year-old sci-fi movie that remains underrated.

According to Flix Patrol, Michael Bay has movies sitting in the eighth and ninth spots on the Netflix most-watched movies list right now. Ambulance ranks eighth, and Bay’s 20-year-old sci-fi movie The Island is in ninth. The Island has an IMDb score of 6.8 and received mostly negative reviews, sitting at 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, its 63% audience score shows that regular viewers might have appreciated it more than film critics. The movie entered the Netflix top 10 on November 25 and has alternated between the seventh and ninth spots since it was added to the streaming service.

Part of the reason for its ranking might be that The Island is getting recommended after people watch Ambulance, which has trended high on Netflix since it dropped onto the streamer. The Island stars Ewan McGregor as Lincoln Six Echo, while Scarlett Johansson is Jordan Two Delta. They live in a society that claims the outside world has become too contaminated to live in. However, they soon learn they are clones and are part of an illegal cloning movement used for organ harvesting.

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The Island Proves That Streaming Can Help Older Movies Get Second Lives

Michael Bay has slowed down his action movie career, and much of it is thanks to the drop in box office totals from his last releases. Even when he made a Netflix original, it ended up getting poor reviews, and Bay went back to theatrical releases, with his lowest budgeted movie in years, Ambulance. Even when making an action movie with a smaller budget, he still didn’t see it succeed. Since then, Bay has directed one film, a documentary about a parkour team called We Are Storror.

That said, Netflix has brought attention back to Ambulance, and fans are starting to see why it was actually a solid action thriller by the director. Making it with a lower budget helped him pull back from some of his over-the-top sensibilities and create something more personal. Its 87% audience score showed that fans appreciated it, they just didn’t show it when it was in theaters. Now, fans are getting a chance to show that same love to The Island.

Michael Bay released The Island after Bad Boys II and right before he started his long road with the Transformers franchise. It was very different for Bay, who was trying to make his first sci-fi movie since Armageddon, and he wanted to add some high concepts to go along with his big-budget action sequences. However, with a $126 million budget, it didn’t make enough to be a success, and Bay turned to a more recognizable franchise to move on in his career.

While negative reviews call it a lesser version of Logan’s Run and THX-1138, people who watch it with fresh eyes see that it is just a more action-based version of those more cerebral movies. The film does tend to go over the top with Bay’s action sequences, but it also has a real story to tell about the dangers of cloning and what it means to be human. While it isn’t Blade Runner, The Island is a fun sci-fi action movie and deserves this revival on Netflix now that people can rediscover it once again.

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