The Islands

Interesting story of how Christianity came to the Hawaiian islands and great to see the beauty of the islands, but story was a little slow going.

Very moving picture. Incredible true story, dramatic backdrop of The Islands and great lead in the role of the Hawaiian queen makes for a movie worth watching again.

We decided to watch this film because we love Hawaii and the beautiful landscape it offers, having recently travelled across several of the islands. We put it on and couldn't stop staring as we were so stunned at how ridiculously average the movie was. We have nothing against the subject matter, but we truly believe that the story they were trying to tell deserved better treatment, and respect for production values so as not to embarrass the religion, the people, the place and the industry. We've seen student films with better acting and production standards compared to this movie. It seems like it was full of first takes, with no real care given to the quality of the final production. There are shots where people literally fall over accidentally in the shot, and the director figured that there was no reason for another take, or to even just cut it out. I'm sure the actors were all lovely people and had a wonderful time working on this. Unfortunately from the get-go, the dialogue is stagnant and badly delivered. It was so wooden, unbelievable and distractingly average. So much so that we couldn't stop critiquing the performances and were constantly drawn out of an already unabsorbed viewing experience. Any scenes that were meant to be emotional just weren't, as it was hard to become engaged in any way with anything happening in this film. We were almost surprised that Oscar winning across Mira Sorvino was in this, but honestly, if someone offered either of us a paid trip to Hawaii, regardless of what the project was, we'd likely be up for it with no questions asked. The best potential of this movie would have been to see the beautiful scenery. But the cinematographer seems to struggle with using that in his favour and showing it off. Beautiful cinematic wide shots were rare. When they were shown via drone, the drone operator struggled to keep a nice steady shot, giving us some sharp movement which reminded us that the director didn't care if the shots were crap or not and was happy to keep the first and only shot in the final print regardless of quality. The cinematographer really loved his locked-off tripod shots with awkward cropping. I can't remember the last time I saw someone crop actor's heads off in a wide shot without being artistic about it. Why are you dissecting actors faces like that? The camera was also often angled downwards, so rather than any beautiful landscape in the shot we had a great view of the grass and the ground. Why not shoot this in a studio if you aren't going to utilise your surroundings? And the colour grading and changing lighting conditions between each shot made them disjointed as if they were shot on completely different days. Some of the shots were clearly overexposed and attempted to be graded down. Why leave these in the final movie? Or why not just hire someone who knows how to correctly expose a shot for film production? The soundtrack sounds like the same song played on an organ was on loop throughout the entire movie. And what's with the lack of location sound and foley? Again, what's the point of filming on location if you're just making it sound like it was shot in a studio? Give us some location sound and better sound design to at least do something to help immerse us in some resemblance of a viewing experience. This is meant to be a period piece. Are we surprised that the arts and costume department dropped the ball? The sailors in white costumes looked like they were about to bust out in a musical until they opened their mouth and we discovered how horrible their acting voices were. And the tribal tattoos look obviously painted on, as they kept bleeding and smearing in the rain. The tattoos that were genuine on some of the actors again reflected the lack of care put into this production, as they showcased modern designs and not that of which would have been present during the 1800s. The VFX were actually okay and somewhat convincing. It may have been where too much of the budget went, rather than spent on improving the rest of the production. We can't recommend more for people to avoid this film like the Corona Virus.

Amazing true story, worth watching whether your a Christian or not! I watched it on vimeo.com

Just saw this on VUDU - by the way VUDU forgot to add subtitles (!!!!!). But still loved the movie. My New Top Films of Last Year are (in order of best): 1) THE ISLANDS 2) CURRENT WAR 3) THE MULE 4) THE UPSIDE 5) OVERCOMER 6) CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? 7) BRIAN BANKS 8) UNPLANNED 9) LAST CHRISTMAS 10) DOWNTON ABBEY

With its faults it's still well worth your time. The power of this film is undeniable...I saw grown men weeping. My friends say they found Christ. The only people who would bash this film are simply Christ-haters or anti-Christs. They always attack the acting or something. It's their opinion. My friends and I thought the acting was incredible. I just didn't like the middle part as it was too slow. I agree with everyone - this is at least a 8-9

Now let me start by balancing my review :P This film isn't perfect, the story is slow in parts, not so much the first time you watch it but after that there's bits that take a long time to add little value to the film. Also let me say I'm not some art student, fan of art-house films or anything other than a normal movie goer so I don't really understand people using big words to review a film. But what an ending! Can't reveal it or SPOILER ALERT I am happy to say that this is one the best films of 2019. Period. I've watched a lot of films to the point where I've almost run out, I've worked my way through other peoples lists of 'best films of all time ever' and gave them a fair chance. But this film is fantastic! The reason why I like it is very soft I'm afraid, it's such a raw depiction of how telling others about CHRIST JESUS happens. You become completely immersed in the unspoken desires of the core characters, you will the relationship to unfold and if something goes wrong you're screaming "NNNNOAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH". You can imagine times that the same thing has happened to you but your life did/did not pan out like that. Just remember John 3:16. This is the SALVATION prayer. If you believe in Christ, you will eternal life. If you reject Christ or mock Believers, you will burn for eternity. The Hawaiian queen chose rightly...... :)

It was an incredible, tear-jerking film that my entire family LOVED. If you're in doubt about people loving the film, go to the official Facebook page for 'The Islands' and you'll see 33,000 likes and almost 5,000 comments from people who saw the film. This is the best indicator the film is FANTASTIC.

1/2-Star for being in color. Otherwise, everything about this train-wreck is as embarrassingly amateur as all of the "fake" glowing reviews posted here on Rotten Tomatoes by the director (using multiple accounts in violation of the site's Terms of Service policies). Mira Sorvino: you deserve better projects.

I agree with the others that it's a shame this film hasn't got more acclaim that it deserves. It really deserves 12 Oscars like another person said. Why? Because it is a film that it has to do with the Christian religion and generally in today's society these kind of films aren't politically correct, if you know what i mean. In the meanwhile violent movies get honored and adored. We live in a sick world. The Islands is a well done action movie with strong writing of an old story in a fresh new way. Please don't waste your time picking apart the history. All direct quotes were historically accurate and powerfully depicted. I highly recommend you go see it while it is still in theaters. It's going on its 8TH WEEKEND - that's astounding. The scenery was beautiful and astounding. All of the case is excellent and they should be very proud of their performances. That is an Oscar winning performance in any other film, but as i have said because it is a religious film it hasn't got him the praise that he should got. Overall an excellent film, that for those who have read and know the facts, will in my opinion be a classic.