The greatest thriller of the past 5 years.

Rating: 9/10 (22 March 2010)

This one is definitely a great work, Scorsese never seizes to amaze us, he's simply a genius and this film has greatness written all over, the direction is really accurate and the treatment for the little details is just flawless, it is certainly not the best we've seen from Martin, but is definitely, from my very critical P.O.V., the greatest thriller from the past 5 years.
The acting is superb, led by the usual Scorsese's formula partner, Leonardo DiCaprio, who I believe gave an impressive performance, award worthy and really memorable, he's never acted better, followed by a passive aggressive Mark Ruffalo, who's sometimes overshadowed by his own flat character, a very mysterious Ben Kingsley, who softly takes the lead in his scenes, and again Oscar worthy, a very complex von Sidow, who gave just another memorable role, and the always creepy Jackie Earle Haley, that stood so little in the screen and still captivates as a very complex and grounded criminally insane. The ladies in this film didn't have much to work with, Michelle Williams did well as a very depressed death lady and Patricia Clarkson was impressive enough for the 5 minutes she was on, well achieved, if you ask me.
Technically perfect; the cinematography was beautiful, the editing was really fine, the one thing I could complain is that at times the score was over-dramatic, however, I can't say it wasn't good, the production design nailed it in all its levels, the sound was really mesmerizing and the little visual effects were good as well, the scenes were Teddy was with his wife really reminded me the graphic ensemble of "American Beauty", I find similarities in the visual composition of both.
Overall a great story that holds it in suspense from the very first minute and never loses charm throughout itself, you must take it really seriously because there are many details that you won't get until the very end, so it's a very enjoyable flick that award fans must keep an eye, despite 2010 in cinema is still in diapers, this seem like a very hard one the miss for the 83rd Academy Awards, hopefully it won't lose its momentum, being released so early in the year and far from award season.