yes, it was a dark and stormy night...

Rating: 8/10 (13 November 2010)

SHUTTER ISLAND is visually one of the most fascinating and compelling films I have ever seen. The eerie Gothic visuals and sodden hospital prison discomfort, lashing rain, wet rocks, cruel sea etc are ingredients that have the viewer really descending into the movie with great interest. Scene after scene is just visually great. However, I have come away with a very dissatisfied feeling about the story denouement and the graphic violence and distressing scenes involving children. With such a rich palette of visuals to celebrate, again Scorscese overdoes the mass murder. For me it was revolting, it yanked me from my enjoyment of the story and the film so greatly that it was actually irritating. One mass murder scene in a concentration camp is just a spandau ballet death gimmick and is really disgusting Tarantino level visual atrocity. The graphic deaths of some children are so meticulously displayed at great length that it is so upsetting that I really mostly felt anger towards the film maker instead of being more immersed in the storyline. Overall it is a fascinating topic and the subplots of WW2 liberation and the trauma from the frontline of day one liberation are excellent plot lines with disturbing results. SHUTTER ISLAND might be a better watch the second and third time around and I hope I can plunge more into it's Gothic hospital cyclone of fear and hallucination more. I want so to really embrace this film. I am just so sick of Scorcese's irritating desire to whack us with atrocity visuals when it need not be so explicit. Anyone who loves THE WICKER MAN (1973 version) and LA CONFIDENTIAL and THE INNOCENTS and THE SIXTH SENSE will get a terrific charge from the art direction and set design and Val Lewton style RKO noir imagery. Again Leonardo displays his remarkable talent for really being the character. He is absolutely perfect. SHUTTER ISLAND like CASINO before is flawed by the Scorcese atrocity excess but redeemed by the fantastic tech qualities and acting.