Shutter Island Movie Reviews

What happens when you realize whatever you know and believe in, is nothing but a figment of your imagination? What happens when the difference between surreal and real starts diminishing? What happens when you find yourself stuck in a mental asylum located on a deserted island with no where to go and no one to trust, not even your own instincts!

"Shutter Island" isn't Scorsese's most assured film, but it's commendable he's stepping out of his comfort zone instead of continuing to retread old genres he's already mastered. Despite its indulgences and lapses, it's an exciting, intriguing film that demands a second viewing to fully grasp its ambition. I'm going with three-and-a-half out of five for Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island". The last line of dialogue alone will leave you scratching your head, wondering if you figured out anything at all in the end.

This one's a gritty drama, with Scorsese creating some marvellous set pieces where the past intervenes with the present and Leonardo creates a compelling picture of brooding disarray. The film however does get bogged down a bit by its gloomy overtones and its meandering flashbacks which tend to distract. But the sledgehammer climax more than makes up for these minor flaws.

Shutter Island is a disappointment on many levels. Other directors have made far better versions of this tale. That this is a Martin Scorsese film starring Leonardo DiCaprio makes it worse. Tales like this do not benefit from a big budget approach and from the glaring commissions and omissions that exist throughout the film it is clear that the storytellers chose to gloss over any discrepancies by blaming it on the nature of the story itself.

The first half of the film is intense and has you rambling down a rabbit hole of plot twists and  surprising turns. You are never quite sure where the story is going and that sort of keeps you interested. Mark Ruffalo outshines a DiCaprio who looks like he's stepped staight off the sets of The Aviator (the part of the film where Hughes loses it), with an understated performance.