Review: Shutter Island

As I sat down to watch Shutter Island, I found myself shaking with excitement over the idea of a new Martin Scorsese film. Although Shutter Island is a departure from the average Scorsese film, it has elements of the Oscar winning director's style scattered throughout the entire adventure. The premise of Shutter Island is fairly interesting: A woman goes missing from the women's block at the prison for the criminally insane on Shutter Island. Leo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo are dispatched to the island to find her, only to discover a secret behind the mask of the director played by Sir Ben Kingsley.

Although there are no bad performances by any of the actors, there are only two that stand out, and they are minor characters. The first is Jackie Earl Haley (Rorschach from Watchmen) who plays DiCaprio's inside man. The second is Ted Levine who plays the Warden of the island, and honestly delivered some of my favorite dialogue in the whole film. In a film with this many big name actors it really upsets me that I walked away feeling like I had watched a bunch of no name amateurs as lead characters. DiCaprio especially feels out of character, and Mark Ruffalo seems more like a main character than DiCaprio until around the half way mark.

{Why the hell am I in this movie?}

The plot is well written and easy to follow, and it has some twists that will throw people, but some viewers may feel forced to except the incredibly loose ideas behind the twist. Seriously, the last half hour seems like Scorsese threw this thing together at lunch and had it filmed by dinner. The sets take center stage over the plot, it's a shame, but the sets look really damn good. Each area is laid out like a work of art, and some of the images are so graphic my hands started to shake. Warning, there is some seriously fucked up stuff in Shutter Island. If you are at all sensitive to gore or violent imagery, stay far far away from this movie.

Final words, I had fun with Shutter Island, but that's all. I wasn't moved or twisted by this movie, and after one time seeing it, you will never need to watch it again.

Pros:

-amazing set pieces

-interesting plot

-okay twist ending

Cons:

-wasted acting talent

-so... slow...

-not for everyone

Verdict:

5 Shot Glasses