Too Much Going On For One Sitting

Rating: 2/10 (30 March 2010)

Shutter Island is a Gothic thriller about Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck (Mark Ruffalo), two police officers investigating a disappearance at an insane asylum run by Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley). The film's first 15 minutes are fantastic, setting the mood just right, but it gets too weird from then on. This is directed by Martin Scorsese, a usually wonderful director. Scorsese's best films investigate the main character and peeling back his or hers layers. That's just where the problem starts with Shutter Island. The film has too much going on and never gets to fully peel back the layers of any of the characters. There are Teddy having nightmares about the war & his wife, the disappearance plot, and a bunch of twists & turns. It plays mind games with its audiences for 2 hours before making sense with its final 20 minute twist. That brings me to my next point, the film is too long. It's 2 hours & 20 minutes, which is far too long for such a weird & uneven film. I've always thought Mark Ruffalo was underrated & a good actor, but he's given nothing to do with his character. His character is extremely dull. Scorsese's use of sound is also torturing. Overall, Shutter Island spends too much time stalling and ends up being unsatisfactory in the end. I can't recommend it to anyone, because life is too short to spend 2 hours & 20 minutes watching this.