Neither Scorese's worst nor his best

Rating: 6/10 (19 September 2016)

Shutter Island is a movie that I had fairly large expectations of. Based off the rating I've given it, it's needless to say they weren't entirely fulfilled. Let's start with the positives. The opening is intriguing and effectively introduces the audience to the characters and the general plot line. It's a suspenseful opening, and gives the audience a good basic idea of the characters. The principle four characters are played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and John Carroll Lynch. DiCaprio is reliable as always, and gives what it obviously the best performance of the entire movie. He effectively mixes torment, determination and grief all into one high quality performance. Ruffalo and Kingsley both give good work as well, even if they are slightly overshadowed by both DiCpario's performance and character. John Carroll Lynch was also as good as always, although his character is not developed enough to justify his large portion of screen time. The characters are, for the most part, good and well written. However as the movie unravels, and they unravel with it as we learn more about them and who they truly, the characters become much less appetising. The simple way to put it is plot development at the expense of the characters. As the plot thickens, the characters become far less appealing.
The problem is that it all feels like its been done before. The movie builds suspense up to the final act, and when we finally get to the climax - which is more than two hours into the movie - the only feeling I was left with was disappointment. And even the building to the climax is too long; at times it feels it would benefit from a faster pace and a smaller run time. At a grand total of 138 minutes, it's only natural that the audience would question whether that is strictly necessary; and in this case, sadly, it is not. This is a movie that would greatly benefit from some more original ideas, for it all feels a little too cliché. There is twist after twist to the point where it all overloads. Too often Scorsese doesn't take the time to develop one plot point, but instead tosses aspects of the movie away every ten minutes or so, and then moves onto the next. The movie is bloated with ideas, none of which are particularly new, all of which are let down by a disappointing end.
Still, this isn't necessarily a bad movie. There are faults, yes, but the aching sense of mystery that simultaneously accompanies the characters and the story helps to keep the audience invested, and some great cinematography doesn't go amiss either. In the end this is not a movie I will be watching again, but neither is it a movie I would warn people against watching. I'm sure it's not Scorsese's best work, but it's probably not his worst either.