U.S. Marshall Edward Daniels investigates a sinister criminal asylum on a forlorn island.
Finally Martin Scorsese directs a film that I actually enjoy. I know that he is supposed to be the best living director but I think the majority of his recent output has been insufferable and preposterous. He is certainly very good; I can’t deny that, the problem is that he got no restraints. His movies go and go and go, they are never ending and so even when he got a good one he outstays his welcome and leave me physically fatigued.
Shutter Island is no short either running slightly more than tow hour but he left me a general impression of stuff that was happening and time well spent.
Probably a lot of this is thanks to the genre. Here Scorsese pays homage to Hitchcock and all of Hitchcock production was plot driven, he even invented the concept of the Macguffin!
Is not immune to his moment of fatigue, all his so ominous and dour with an ever growing tension that I wished at times for him to get to the point, but the scene are all very strong and engaging. Above everything the dream sequences are little masterpieces with deliberate continuity errors and their saturated colors. There is something about his deliberate, almost self conscious, style as a director that makes him particularly good for genre pictures.
The cast is serviceable if not good with strong performances from every major player.
The plot is somewhat meandering and can be divided in three parts. The first one is very interesting with a series of disjointed elements that had us debating all kind of theories about was going on and wanting for more. The second one, among a lot of plot twists, steers the movie in a much unexpected direction but then more shocking plot twists give the whole story an extremely different meaning.
In the end I must say that, even with a plot that complicated, everything fits and works perfectly and I appreciated it a lot. Lately we got a lot of movies with more plot holes than holes so seeing one where everything flows so nicely in the end is very refreshing and is a sign of respect from the filmmakers to the audience.
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