A Hazzard warning! DVDs THE ISLAND.

Byline: By Graham Young MAIL FILM EDITOR

VERDICT: *****

THE Island (12, also to buy DVD pounds 17.99/UMD pounds 19.99) is a cloning thriller in need of an injection of pace given its 130-minute running time.

And that's despite a level of violence which really deserves a 15 certificate to try to prevent young children from seeing it. It's the first action blockbuster made by Ewan McGregor and his highflying co-star Scarlett Johansson, who's back in cinemas this weekend with Woody Allen's Match Point.

There are various flavours of Schwarzenegger's Total Recall, T2, and The Sixth Day, all crossed with Michael York's Logan's Run and George Lucas's THX 1138.

Sean Bean stars as Merrick, a James Bond-style bad guy who's created the means whereby rich people can be cloned to create their own life-extending 'insurance policy'.

The $5 million clones are said to be vegetative, but when McGregor and Johansson start to run around in their white pyj amas, The Island turns into a fullblown thriller.

Directed by Michael Bay now working without gloss-king producer Jerry Bruckheimer for the first time, the only surprise about The Island is that it's a lot more watchable than some scathing US reviews would have suggested.

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SCI-FI... Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson in The Island.