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jeff_v [ 7.0 ]
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These days a "Martin Scorsese picture" means the best in the business are on hand. Robert Richardson is the DP. Thelma Schoonmaker edits. Production Design by Dante Ferretti. Sany Powell costumes. (Strangest thing is I don't see a credit for the score --only "music supervision" by Robbie Robertson. Was the score lifted from some other source?) And the cast of course is going to be A-list, since any actor would kill to work with Scorsese. I particularly liked seeing Ben Kingsley in a role that had me flashing back to Death and the Maiden, and seeing Ted Levine as the prison warden gave me a chill.
So why only a '7'? It takes this fantastically talented team to overcome a story that has really become quite cliched in recent years. I don't want to get into it too much because there lie spoilers, but let's just say that there's an uncredited screenwriter named Donald Kaufman who probably worked on the script. I suppose one could make the case that the elaborate fantasy that obscures truths too terrible to bear is some sort of tortured metaphor for filmmaking, but dressing it up this way doesn't make it any less silly. Nevertheless, there are some stunning dream sequences and every couple minutes there's a shot that you just want to freeze.
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chapter11 [ 8.0 ]
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I have to echo a lot of jeff_v's sentiments on this one. Unfortunately, simply hearing that a "twist ending" is in the cards can preoccupy me with trying to unravel things, which distracted me a bit during the movie. And with the Scorcese pedigree, I suppose I was hoping for something a little more lofty than - well, far be it from me to spoil. I'll say that I found the twist way too pedestrian for comfort, and that I'm a bit disappointed with it.
That aside, though, as a film, "Shutter Island" works enormously. I knew from the trailer that by the time this thing hit cinemas, the word "Hitchcockian" was going to get thrown around and abused liberally, but there certainly is more than a little of the Master in here in terms of storytelling and style. The gloomy atmosphere is the most literal personification of "it was a dark and stormy night" possible. The performances are top-notch, if a little too "high-profile character actor stops by for a scene or two" for my taste; the cinematography, heavenly; the air of foreboding stifling and exciting. As much as I think people glorify bad movies too often for elevating themselves above the pack with big twists, I think the inverse is true: "Shutter Island" is a terrific movie with a pedestrian twist, and really, what's more important? Good work, Scorsese. Good work.
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| Weighted Rating | : 6.8 |
| No. Ratings | : 4 | |
| No. Reviews | : 3 | |
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