Shutter Island (2010) - Scorsese's heavy-handed, long, second huge thriller attempt

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Wanna go to the mystery island with Leonardo DiCaprio? This poster for Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island seems to ask us

 

Two US marshals arrive to an insane asylum on a small island outside Boston. An imprisoned woman has gone missing. Later the one marshal also vanishes, and one question becomes ever more pressing: - Are terrible experiments carried out on the island? 

 

A bit as with Cape Fear, New-Yorker master filmmaker Martin Scorsese (The Aviator (2004)) here finds himself in the wrong genre for him; the thriller. Before Shutter Island was halfway over, - and it is a long movie! - I had it figured out. - Which makes a mystery thriller sort of boring. The plot of Shutter Island, an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's (Mystic River (2001)) same-titled 2003 novel by Laeta Kalogridis (Terminator Genisys (2015)), is too unoriginal and contrived.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road (2008)), frankly, looks like shit in the lead, whom he plays well. (And the looking like shit part is part of the characterization, I reckon.) The film has some unpleasant scenes; a lot of the psychological things in it are rather icky. But more than one of the inmates are not really credible.

Near the ending my last remaining interest in Shutter Island was killed off in a nearly endless scene with Ben Kingsley (The Triumph of Love (2001)). Aesthetically, this is no grand work by Scorsese; it looks like an early dance with the new digital opportunities. Shutter Island has atmosphere, popcorn-quality and a very ominous soundtrack, but it rests assuredly among Scorsese's lesser films.

 

Related reviews:


 
Martin Scorsese: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - One helluva movie!  

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
Hugo (2011) - Scorsese's critically acclaimed, magical 3D family adventure/financial disaster 
Boardwalk Empire - 1st season (2010) - Luxurious 1920's ensemble gangster treats  

The Departed (2006) - Scorsese's Boston-set wildcat of a capital letter Movie
The Aviator (2004) - The grand American biopic 

Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Casino (1995) - Scorsese's sumptuous Vegas gangster tale has the wingspan of a Greek tragedy   
The Age of Innocence (1993) or, Stayin' IN the Pants
Cape Fear (1991) - Scorsese adds lots of stuff to remake but loses the balance    

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: 80 mil. $

Box office: 294.8 mil. $

= Big hit

[Shutter Island was released February 19 (North America) and runs 138 minutes. Filming took place in Massachusetts, Maine and California from March - June 2008. The release was pushed back from October 2009 for various reasons. The film opened #1 to a 41 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for a second week, fell out of the top 5 after 4 weeks and grossed 128 mil. $ (43.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 26.4 mil. $ (9 %) and Japan with 16.9 mil. $ (5.7 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3½ stars, equal to two notches better than this review. The film is #186 on IMDb's user-generated top 250. Shutter Island is fresh at 68 % with a 6.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Shutter Island?