Can Scorsese Make You Shutter with Shutter Island?

Ok, so it has been a full week since I actually got to see Shutter Island in the great state of Minnesota and I think it has been long enough for it to sink in. Yeah. Shutter Island was no doubt an amazingly polished looking film, which is to be expected for a Scorsese film, but it would have been a shame if it had not been after the drifting release date. They must have had months and months for post editing. That is likely why the film just looks so good. Shutter Island compared to many films is like watching a Blu-ray next to a DVD; it just looks that much more vibrant and crisp. However, that does not really answer the question at hand; does this thriller live up to its name. In short, yes, but that is not the whole story.

To say that people are torn between calling DiCaprio a good actor and just an annoying pretty boy would be an understatement. There are truly two sides; those that love him and those that hate him. I started out hating him, but after he died with the Titanic I have found that his acting talent is truly excellent and I have also appreciated a lot of the characters that he has played in recent years. Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t go backwards one bit with his portrayal of this character and only adds to his list of great accomplishments. His range of emotion is staggering and feels quite honest throughout the film. There are a few times in the film when you wonder what must be going through his head, but that comes with the character. Mark Ruffalo honestly does not have that large of a part. It sort of seems like he does, but then he just drifts away from the camera and does not seem to be a very influential character. He did well though; don’t get me wrong. Ben Kingsley is his odd eerie self; always great at playing the guy you don’t know whether or not to trust. In this one it turns out he is definitely the guy… you didn’t actually think I was just going to give away did you? Michelle Williams is definitely an interesting character and the little screen time that she has is plenty to impact the film greatly. There are so many others really that were good and I would like to mention, but lets just leave them in the tags.

Scorsese, as I mentioned earlier, provides a breathtaking visual presentation to this film. The island looks great and all of the scenes are set in perfectly to heighten the intensity of the films emotion at that specific point. Although we cannot give Martin Scorsese the credit for actually coming up with the story since it is based off of the Dennis Lehane novel, we can say that Scorsese put his masterful touch on it. The directing was great and really brought out the emotion and tension between the characters really well. The only real problem is the fact that I pretty much knew what was going to happen about a third of the way through the film. I am not one of those people that say “I knew from the beginning that Bruce Willis was dead” or things of that sort. I don’t usually know what is going to happen because I try as hard as I can to suspend my belief in what the film is trying to convey so that the “twist” is that much better. Worrying about how a movie is going to end just makes me think about the film in all of the wrong ways. I just ride the ride to the end and hope for the best. With that said, I really got a sinking feeling when I had pretty much figured this one out. I wanted to believe that we were going to get something that felt really original, but it really feels like something a I have seen a lot in the past decade. Hopefully that doesn’t ruin it for anyone, but it was something that bothered me about the film. However, almost every other aspect of the film was great so it more than made up for it in the other respects.

Those that are scared to see this one because the previews make it feel too intense should probably give it a shot since really the scariest or most intense parts are all in the previews. Sure, they have a lot of eerie scenes and characters leading up to those jump moments, but I would say the preview was about as jump inducing as the film was. Or maybe it is the fact that I saw the preview about 30 times. The most amazing thing about this film is probably the fact that I saw the preview so many times and it did not really give the film away and I still really liked the film. Those two facts are what made Shutter Island such a refreshing movie experience and I highly recommend it for anyone at all interested in seeing it.

The Skinny Version

Raw Score: 881,211
Sharon Movie? No

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay) and Dennis Lehane (novel)
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller

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