another movie review: shutter island

For those who swear by Martin Scorsese and have had the chance to watch some of his defining works like Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, Shutter Island will be a huge let-down. However, if you don’t have the baggage of expectations and are going to watch it like any other movie, it might just be interesting enough. Probably the weakest of all Scorcese movies till date, Shutter Island fails on multiple counts. The oft-repeated premise of mentally unsound characters offers the film-maker the liberty to introduce outrageous and absurd twists to the narrative. The whole movie builds up towards that final ‘revelation’ and the more implausible it is, the better (an instance of this was the recent ‘Karthik calling Karthik). Such films rely more on ‘shock-value’ than anything else. Shutter Island also falls into the same category, except that it is more adeptly handled and has some superior production values. Leonardo Di Caprio plays the familiar role of the shrewd and calculating cop yet again and is adequate. However, like most of his other roles, he does not add any extra dimensions to the character he plays, and it doesn’t stay with you beyond the two hours of watching him act. Ben Kingsley is wasted in an ill-defined role, which is probably because the script intends it to be so. There is nothing remarkable about any of the other performances, the actors just come and go, again, serving as bits and pieces of a mysterious puzzle. There are many other flaws in the script but revealing them here would take away the surprise element, hence I’ll desist from doing so. Despite all these drawbacks, the film does keep you hooked, the pace doesn’t slacken and you will be curious to know ‘what’s going on’. The cinematography is excellent and the ambience does give a sense of foreboding throughout the movie. And while the concept may be outlandish, it is definitely fresh. To conclude, Shutter Island can be viewed once, but it isn’t the sort of movie you’d remember one year down the line. For Scorcese fans, don’t watch it expecting a Taxi Driver, ‘Raging Bull’ or ‘After Hours’ or even a ‘Gangs of New York’, and you may not be so disappointed.