A Disappointment From A Master Director

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2011)

Martin Scorsese is in my opinion the greatest living movie maker . He started off during the New Hollywood era in the late 1960s and is described as a " movie brat " , a film maker who was brought up on a fine diet of cinema during his formative years and it shows . He is very much an aficionado of cinema and this in depth knowledge shows in SHUTTER ISLAND
The story itself is somewhat similar to the works of Val Lewton and Scorsese shows his influences and he builds upon the tension . He's on record as saying he's been a big fan of British cinema and anyone who remembers the opening shot of ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE will have noticed a similarity to the great British director Michael Powell . Throughout the running time the cinematography emulates the glorious rich and lurid look of a Powell film whilst Scorsese adds grotesque imagery of his own . Even if you're not overwhelmed by the story there';s still much to admire about the movie
!!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!!
Alas the problem with the movie is that it's constructed around a plot involving a twist ending . Scorsese has never been a director who makes plot driven movies , he makes character driven ones but the faults of the film are down to either screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis or even the original source novel by Dennis Lehane . There's two ways the film will end . One that is similar to SHOCK CORRIDOR - the One I was hoping for - or the one we did get which was the one I hoped we wouldn't get . Scorsese deliberately uses unrealistic mis-en-scene on occasions that shows where the movie is heading but even if he didn't you'll still manage to work things out for yourself There is a telling question the film poses at the end if it's better to live as a monster or to die as a good man ? but this isn't enough to rescue the pay off . Worse still the screenplay has an overlong sequence where the plot is spoon-fed to the audience as if they've been in a coma for two hours . INCEPTION is another film that felt the need to explain its plot mechanics . One worries that in the future we'll be seeing a film directed by Michael Bay where characters have to explain what explosions and loud noises are
All in all SHUTTER ISLAND is something of a disappointment as has much of the director's work in the 21st Century . Movies like THE AVIATOR do improve on second viewing since they're character driven . The problem with having a high concept plot is that once the cat is let out of the bag it stays out of the bag . That said it is remains a highly impressive film on a visual level and posing the question of " Is it better to die as a good man than live as a monster ? " is consistent in keeping with Scorsese's running theme of existentialist angst in most of his work .