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Shutter Island (2010) - Martin Scorsese


Leonardo DiCaprio is like Scorsese's pet, he seems to be featured in his last couple movies and he does an amazing job acting in those films. In Shutter Island, I have read about some people criticizing his acting and the acting in general in this movie. I think those are all false, I was on the fence the entire movie until the end when I realized just how well he acted in this. Also I heard that the editing was not up to Scorsese standards. Well here I would have to agree... Goodfella's and Casino are the two shining stars with the use of Scorsese's editing chops. A close friend of mine told me that Scorsese always shows you as much as he can in one shot rather than a multitude of different shots, this is true but not in this movie. I am going to agree here and say that the editing is sub-par.\

The film focuses on Teddy Daniels, a US Marshall who is investigating an escaped inmate at Shutter Island, a island dedicated to helping the criminally insane in Boston harbor. Some really creepy, crazy stuff happens and really keeps you attached to your seat. There are some really good jump out of your seat scenes, but overall this is just a really good creepy thriller. Also we get a really awesome acting job thrown at us by Jackie Earle Haley, it was actually a really freaky performance.

Of course the movie throws some twists at us, but the thing that really drags this down is that it doesn't feel like Martin Scorsese was behind the camera at all. Also I hear that the movie is a far stretch from the book, but I have no intention of reading the book so I guess it doesn't matter for me. The cinematography is phenomenal and really grabs you, it really sets up a lot of the scenes. The transfer from film to DVD or Blu-Ray really wont do this any justice.

There are some weird things thrown in to really make us wonder what the hell is actually going on and some times during this movie it really throws you off. All in all at the end of the movie it will leave you smiling and satisfied. Some parts of this movie really scared the crap out of me and I have to commend that. 

Who is 67?

  • This is the fourth time that director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have worked on a film together. They previously collaborated in Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed. 
  • Filmed in four months during 2008. 
  • David Fincher was considered as a director. 

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