This bitter earth

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2010)

I like, with some special affinity, scripts about decomposing minds, about disintegrating human beings, scripts like SHUTTER ISLAND has. And SHUTTER  is a good movie, less good than many do claim, but engrossing, suspenseful, strong as; the defects are obvious—the characters are abstractions, the directing has that Scorsese feel of slapdash. The emotions it elicits are obtained by quite rudimentary means. But then again, you could also maintain that, had this movie been discovered as an unknown diamond, its qualities would of appeared strongly.
The movie has assets:--Scorsese's effective though crassly unsubtle sense of the uncanny, of the strange, of the menacing, that almost strident artificialness, deliberate and grim;--the pacing;--the score;--some wrenching atmosphere;--a sense of the space. I liked the sense of the epoch as well, the '50s; Scorsese shows an able and light hand at creating the effects he wishes. SHUTTER  certainly shows a lot of directorial talent; it's an awesome comeback for Scorsese. Di Caprio doesn't surpass himself, how could he, how could in fact anyone; his partner looked better and was perhaps the better actor.
Sensations—wise, I liked SHUTTER  very much, and it has a lot of fun to offer; no arguing about that. The pace, as I said, is flawless and breathtaking. So, SHUTTER  is a likable, even delightful movie.
There are Scorsese movies I detest; there are others I rather enjoy, SHUTTER  belongs to this 2nd class.
There is, though, an aspect I feel like objecting to. To me, it felt like mimicking the making of a good thriller, and it also felt like the work of an incredibly rudimentary director; because everything aimed at creating some appearances. But I also confess having nothing but disrespect for Scorsese. I also mean nothing but disrespect to him. I acknowledge that his slapdash can be interesting; even exciting. In his long career, it rather seldom was. As a matter of fact, Scorsese isn't Bergman, I'm not Ebert, so I guess we might as well shake hands.
What stricken me, though, in SHUTTER , was the unbelievable lack of depth; like some glorified HALLMARK production, or like a blown video, the lengthy trailer, the consummate teaser for a flick HALLMARK didn't yet make—the pedantic and unsubtle HALLMARK slapdash as known, perhaps, to you. The consternating air of make—believe, of mimicry, of slapdash mimicking.
The dream sequences were especially unconvincing and cold.
Now if you consider Cruise a good actor, then you might as well claim that Di Caprio is another good actor; he didn't' look that tough to me, but still baby-faced.