Good, but not quite great...

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2010)

I missed the opportunity to see Shutter Island during its cinema release, and it has been on my list of movies to catch up with ever since.
Last night, finally, I managed to settle back and immerse myself in the sinister world of the remote asylum for the criminally insane that dominates Shutter Island.
Let me begin by saying that there is brilliance in this film -- Martin Scorsese's visualisation of the island, of the asylum, and of the period pieces that compromise the main story and the flashbacks in the film, are nothing short of stunning. Equally, DiCaprio spins an impressively immersive character, one you can't help engaging with on a number of different levels; and this is made even more impressive, for me, as DiCaprio is not an actor I generally like.
But where this movie slightly let me down was in the storytelling.
Shutter Island attempts to tell a fairly large story. Not only do we have the mysterious events on the island, but we have contextual flashbacks to several points in the main character's life, all of which build toward the shocking realisation of what is truly taking place in and around the asylum.
Because of the scope of the story, the movie felt a little 'staged'. Certain key elements of the plot were revealed, presumably due to economy of time of a movie experience, in ways that felt forced, as when in movies you find yourself thinking, "Oh, you just happened to go down that corridor and have that conversation with that person, isn't that convenient?" To give Scorsese credit -- and probably even more so to Dennis Lehane, author of the novel -- even these "convenient" episodes are not necessarily building you towards a better understanding of what is really happening on the island.
I can honestly say that at very few points during Shutter Island did I feel dragged into the storyline. I kept waiting to feel the menace of the story on a personal level -- instead, for the majority of the movie, I felt like I was... watching a movie. A brilliantly executed one, but still just a movie.
Even so, I'd still happily recommend this movie to fans of the thriller genre. There is every chance that the fault with not being captivated by the storyline lies with me. If nothing else, you will be rewarded by an exceptional vision and performance.