Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Scorsese & Lehane, A Great Combination
MovieMike - wrote on 01/25/2017
As the closing credits rolled for ‘Shutter Island’, I purposely stood back and carefully listened to the comments of the departing audience. I was curious if anyone was going to echo my own sentiments about the murky way the film wrapped up. I heard enough to feel that my own minor misgivings were at least somewhat justified. I don’t want to say that this film isn’t good – because it really is. But it could have been perfect, if only for just a bit of tweaking.
‘Shutter Island’ is taken almost verbatim from a book written by Dennis Lehane (‘Mystic River’ and ‘Gone, Baby Gone’) and brought to the screen completely intact by Hollywood legend, Martin Scorsese. Typically we expect movie versions of books to be mutations (at a minimum) or total miscarriages of the …
Rating of
4/4
A brilliant psychological thriller
ikkegoemikke - wrote on 02/16/2015
A cuckoo's nest on an island
A brilliant psychological thriller where nothing seems like it should be. You'll be mislead the whole movie. The denouement is extremely surprising and plausible, but then turns right back to an open end which raises the same question : Is Ted still living in his unreal delusional world or is he really aware of his ultimate identity and thus voluntarily commits suicide to get rid of the agonizing trauma that chases him for years? Indeed, a true "mind fuck " in this movie.
Scorsese placed the whole story on a remote island. Superbly portrayed as an isolated, desolate, rough rock where escaping is impossible. Using the ferry is a possibility but it's in the hands of the institute. The movie begins as the ferry arrives on the island with Ted (Leonardo …
Rating of
4/4
Hidden brilliance.
memento_mori - wrote on 07/26/2013
I could go on about the hidden brilliance of this masterpiece for hours.
Scorsese is so unpredictable. I respect him for his risky changes of style and exploration of various genres. With Shutter Island he has delivered (in my humble opinion) a smart, delicate, philosophical and dramatic feature, which I consider one of his greatest films.
The Academy must have something against Leonardo DiCaprio, because he is snubbed every frigging performance he brings to the screen. This is by far the most fragile, haunting and dramatic performance of his career and he makes the entire movie for me. His character would be nothing without him.
From the moment that ship appeared through the gentile mist, I was hooked. I loved its use of lighting, its ominous location, its creepy characters and its …
Rating of
3/4
"Shutter Island" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/22/2012
A federal marshal enters a maximum security asylum for the criminally insane but when he begins to suspect that illegal experiments are being performed on the patients he starts to fear for both his safety and his sanity. Martin Scorsese hasn't had much luck when straying from his forte but this pulpy psychological thriller is pitched just right. Having DiCaprio as his leading man certainly does not hurt and he delivers yet another irritatingly fine performance. Add a quality supporting cast and a nicely ominous and oppressive score together with Scorsese's perfectly paced direction and some nice otherworldly visuals and you have a recipe for a great offbeat thriller with more than a hint of Hitchcockian flavour. The biggest problem with the film is that anyone who has seen more than …
Rating of
2.5/4
Shutter Island review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 08/07/2011
The films main star is US Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio). It also involves is Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) and Dr. John Cawley(Ben Kinsley). Both Chuck and Teddy have been assigned to Shutter Island, where the Ashecliffe Hospital is located to resolve a mystery of the disappearance of a patient named Rachel Solando. The criminally insane institution has “secrets” discovered by Edward. He also experiences severe migraines and delusional images. Dr. Cawley exposes to Teddy that he is not Edward Daniels, but ex-Marshal Andrew Laeddis. From the middle of the film I feel the end is predictably. After completing the movie, I was essentially correct. For me, only the main protagonist was given character build-up. I felt the character of Michelle Williams (Dolores …
Rating of
2.5/4
Decent
Nerva - wrote on 12/30/2010
I thoroughly enjoyed this movies throw back appeal. From the music to the scenery I thought it was very well done and invoked a style of movie making from the early days. Ones that would be considered cliche by todays standards but one that they somehow pulled off in this. I think this was a testament to the great acting involved in this movie. The actors really sold their roles so what one could consider cliche and unreal they made you believe. Well done on that front.
The movie can be a bit bland at times. Slow moving. Could be because of the above mentioned throw back style and the director trying to add that extra layer of suspense but to people who have been around the block one too many times when it comes to thrillers it just falls flat. It was entertaining to watch but at the …
Rating of
3.5/4
Best Film of 2010 so far
The Film Rebel - wrote on 04/17/2010
When I saw the trailer for Martin Scorcese's "Shutter Island" last year, I had pretty neutral expectations. I thought to myself "Well, this could be one of the 10 films that'll have a chance at nabbing best picture, or it could epicly fail." After a couple months of waiting, I learned around September that the release for "Shutter Island" had been pushed back from October of 2009 to Febuary of 2010. I thought "Oh, Jesus, this is what happens to just about EVERY bad movie. They push it back to do reshoots and the movie turns out to be shit." Well, I finally saw "Shutter Island" about a week after its release. WOW! While this is definitly not among Martin Scorcese's best work ("Goodfellas", "Casino", "The Departed"), it is easily one of the best films of the year so far.
The plot …
Rating of
3.5/4
Phixias - - - Shutter Island Full Review
Phixas - wrote on 04/12/2010
"Shutter Island" succesfully continues the collaboration between Martin Scorcese and Leonardo Dicaprio when Us Marshall Teddy Daniels ( Dicaprio) and his partner come to shutter island to investigate the mysterious breakout of a patient, Rachel Solando. The initial investigation quickly leads to a much more elaborate plot which also slowly reveals the troubled past of Daniels and his true, disturbed motives for taking on the investigation. This complex storyline can be confusing at times and make the movie seem rather lengthy at certain points, but the great acting of Dicaprio and Ben Kingsley, as the head doctor of the facility, make you race right through these duller moments right up to the unexpected, twisted ending of the film.
Despite the fact that this is an absolute …
Rating of
2/4
Not Your Best Mr Scorsese
nyp09 - wrote on 03/06/2010
The much anticipated latest Martin Scorsese film “Shutter Island” is to put it simply, a disappointment. The biggest disappointment about it being that it is one of those films, that there seems to be quite a few of these days, where the ending can easily be guessed at the beginning. “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane may be clever and surprising on paper, but as a screenplay, it is highly predictable. Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a US Marshall who has been assigned to a case on Shutter Island at Ashcliffe, a hospital for the clinically and criminally insane. He and his partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to investigate a mysterious disappearance of a woman from Ashcliffe. Even though Daniels did his research before he arrived on the island, he discovers more about …
Rating of
3.5/4
Predictable but Great
Alex - wrote on 02/21/2010
So yes this movie was very predictable. For me it didn't really matter. After I finished watching this movie for the first time, my immediate reaction was that it was simply a good movie. After thinking about it for over a day now I have realized it is a great movie.
Acting: Outstanding. Leonard DiCaprio does an outstanding job in probably one his top 3 or 4 performances (The Aviator maybe being better than this one). He shows once again that he is a top tier actor. Ruffalo, Kingsly, Max Von Sydow and cast also are superb (Kingsley is truly great).
Direction: With Scorsese as my (now) favorite director, I can't say enough. The story was fairly average and rather un new. With the script he was dealt he made the absolute best of it with every shot, every edit...he did all he could …
