It was one hell of a shattering film for me.

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2016)

It was one hell of a shattering film for me.
Definitely well written and well made, above all it was supremely acted. The poise by Ben Kingsley, the vulnerability by Leonardo DiCaprio and fitting into the characters by all others. It was a job well done by all.
It dealt with a lot of psychological elements and effects without bloating or being preachy. Right from the word go, we have an action-packed film in words. Though there is no physical violence, there is a lot of psychological violence. The content of drama is terrific I felt. The film is surely 140 minutes but for me most of it is justified and I did not find anything that was out of place or was deliberately added. So editing takes a bow for keeping the content that is just as required.
The master director Martin Scorcese comes with a terrific thriller and he seems to have done away with those gangster films, he made earlier. from "Taxi Driver" to "The Departed" there were always many dark shades to characters in his films and this film is no exception. The darkest character in this film was the protagonist himself like it was in "Taxi Driver".
Some of the appreciation must go to the original novel writer Dennis Lehane for writing the novel "Shutter Island". This would have surely been an unputdownable book.
There are hallucinations, metaphors, dreams, reality and philosophy and much more embedded in this package and I loved most of it.
My favorite line is "I wonder, is it better to live like a monster, or die a good man?" from the protagonist Teddy Daniels.
I am surprised that this is the third film that was made from his novel and I have seen the other two too. So Dennis Lehane should be the one I should make time to read some day. I saw his other adaptations "Gone Baby Gone" and "Mystic River" and I liked both of them too.
This film is a 4/5 and I am afraid I may not sit through this film another time. Yet, I am going to remember this for a long time to come.