Shutter Island: Review By Fallenlords

A woman goes missing on 'Shutter Island' an asylum for the criminally insane. Federal marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule are assigned to the case. But things are not quite as they seem. Thwarted at every turn by the refusal of the Doctors to provide the requested information, the fate of the woman is uncertain. Is she dead or part of some mind altering experiment gone wrong? Is she hiding somewhere fearful for her life? Things just spin into a turmoil of confusion and Teddy starts to question everything he is seeing and hearing.

Shutter Island is a difficult film to comment on without giving away the plot. Even if you compare it to other films of the same ilk, you possibly give away the plot. It is well acted, well directed and well written. It has a nice atmosphere and keeps you wondering.

Unfortunately I look for things outside of the norm and guessed early on what was happening. Which sort of spoilt the film from me a little, the only time I started to question was after the scene in the cave. This got me wondering and to be fair made the film more enjoyable, brought it back to life. A significant point in the picture I thought the scene in the cave. Which sort of has me wondering, was that done for people like me who think they know it all? If so it was very clever, because it did have me doubting when I thought I had already made up my mind.

I can't fault this film in any way, it tells a story and tells it well. The ending for some people may not be agreeable, but to my mind (even though I had sort of guessed) it makes the film. The very end sitting on the steps I thought was very poignant, and asked an interesting question. Again I can't go into detail without spoiling the film.

Leonardo DiCaprio as US Marshall Teddy Daniels comes across as highly intelligent and interesting character. Though Dicaprio to my mind is starting to become Dicaprio. In other words I am not seeing much of a difference between his performances, as say I do between one Johnny Depp film and another. Don't get me wrong he is a great actor and I enjoy most of his films, but I think he needs to do something to just break the mould a little. Not that this was a bad performance, he plays the character well and on times I was completely engrossed. It's just I prefer my actors to 'look' different in every role or at least act different, one or the other. But again in this case it's a very minor criticism in the scheme of things and I just hope in future roles we see something a little different.

Mark Ruffallo as Teddy's partner Chuck seemed to be a good choice and made a nice balance, less serious than Teddy. I understand Robert Downey Jr. and Josh Brolin were both considered for the part. But to be honest I think there is something 'likeable' about Ruffallo that fits this part extremely well. He also didn't try to overshadow the lead character, I think others may have been inclined to try, a good performance for him.

Ben Kingsley as Dr. Cawley I thought was excellent, which is high praise as I am not a Ben Kingsley fan at all. One of the best performances from him in a long time I thought, he didn't over-do this by any means. Who kept him in check I don't know, but I always feel he has a tendency on times to over-act. But this part he played it right on the money to be fair.

It was great to see Max Von Sydow, Dr. Naehring , he is one of my favourite actors of all time. I just think he brings a presence to the screen. A pity his part in this was only supporting, I would liked to have seen him have more screen time.

Directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese, this guy is one superb director who knows how to spin a tale on the screen. Even if I don't always like what he delivers, he always delivers it well. With this film he just works his magic again and I have no doubt a lesser director could of bungled this one quite easily. Superb vision, great casting, well told story ... what more can you ask for overall.

Great film but I do realise the ending for some can make or break this film. You either think it's a great ending or you think you have just wasted a few hours of your life. Or you might be middle of the road, it's impossible to say which way you will go until you watch the film. One thing I am sure of though is by the end of this film you will have an opinion on it, good, bad or indifferent you will have an opinion. Which in a way to me is great film making ..