Shutter Island (Mo*** Jo***)

John says:
When Martin Scorsese won the Oscar for The Departed, he said it was the first movie he ever made with a plot. An interesting thing to say, but when you think about his plethora of gangster movies and biopics, you start to realize he may be right. Shutter Island, then, may only be his 2nd movie with a tangible plot - introduction, rising action, climax, etc - and although you can just about taste the Scorsese-ness of the film, for one reason or another it often falls flat.

That does not mean it is not a well-crafted film, on the contrary, the first 30 minutes or so are some of the most intriguing I've seen, eerily accompanied by Howard Shore's brooding score. The set pieces are all good, the plot is good, but as it progresses the constant introduction of new names and places ultimately made the story clunk along.

The cast is stellar, but it is Leonardo DiCaprio who possibly turns in his best performance yet. Scorsese seems to understand how to make stars out of his male actors (Robert DeNiro, anyone?) and DiCaprio easily joins the ranks. One scene in particular struck a chord - near the end when he discovers something floating in the water (spoiler free!), a surge of emotions pour out of him, and the result is the most genuine, disturbing, most impressive moment of Leo's acting career!

Being a Scorsese movie, you come to expect excellence - and Shutter Island is indeed well-made. Ultimately, though, it fails to live up to the incredibly high standard which makes him one of the greatest living directors. Good, but not great.

Maureen says:
Martin Scorcese usually sticks to biopics and sweeping epics... and after seeing Shutter Island, I would have to agree that would be where his strength lies. I had relatively high hopes for Shutter Island - Martin Scorcese+Leonardo DiCaprio=success (i.e., The Departed, The Aviator) - and while it is certainly watchable, it isn't by any means a great film.

The best parts of the movie are the cinematography, set design, and an especially wonderful performance by Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, who continues to pick challenging and career-building parts. This is arguably some of DiCaprio's best work to date, filled with layers of tangible emotion.

The script and story itself ultimately fail in their ultimate goal and inner-story development, with too many needless twists along the way, but it is beautifully and artistically designed throughout. Scorcese uses color and lighting to his full advantage, and it really helps save what would otherwise be a rather flat screenplay. The ending, however (again, no spoilers), has subtleties that the careful audience will appreciate, and makes the story about twice as good as it would be without it.

Scorcese has a well-made film here, as usual, but without the epic-ness of his usual style. Not one of his best by any means, and it looks as though this one may fall short during this awards season, but definitely not a waste of time.

(Awards potential: Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Art Direction)