Another great film by Scorsese and his team, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2010)

For starters, I'll say that "Shutter Island" is not a horror flick that the trailers have painted it as. Rather, it is a psychological thriller. I won't delve too deeply into the film's plot but I will say that it is unique, and from what I've heard, is pretty accurate to the novel by Dennis Lehane, (whom I was blown away by his novel "Mystic River").
What makes the movie so unique is that you don't know what's coming (unless you've read the novel), very much like "The Usual Suspects", but without Keiser Soze. Needless to say, it makes the movie interesting, but you know, I just have to get this off my chest, about half way into the film, I guessed the ending, and sure enough, I was correct. This isn't a bad thing, but when you have feeling on how the story is going to end, you want it to get from point A to point B without dragging it out. Other than this personal feeling, I enjoyed the movie.
Once again, Leo Dicaprio has proved himself a talented and awesome actor that illuminates the screen. It was also nice to see other, coming of age actors such as Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley dazzle on the screen. Even Mark Ruffalo, whom I'm not a huge fan of, did a great job.
And the technical aspects, such as the beautiful, low-key lighting, cinematography, haunting score, visual effects, and a dim set design adds more to the flavor of the dark, disturbing, and intense atmosphere of the film's plot. I could also tell that this was definitely a Scorsese film, even without his name plastered on all the television previews by the sharp quick pans and edit cuts, the attractive static shots of buildings, and the sudden low and high levels of sound effects and music pitches. That is Scorsese's style, and I love it, though the musical score could have been turned down a notchit does not need to be blaring. We know it's a suspenseful movie, don't remind us.
"Shutter Island" is another great film by Scorsese and his team, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece like "Goodfellas", "Taxi Driver" or even "The Departed". And be forewarned, this is not a movie for everyone. Though it's not a horror flick, there's a lot of disturbing content throughout the film that is not for the faint of heart. Then again, every other film by Scorsese isn't for the faint heart, but it's much more shocking to see in this movie, because it's not a typical mafia shoot em up bang em up that Scorsese is prone to making.
***1/2/****