Movies.ie

• Critic rating
• Currently 4/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

In this 1950s-set mystery thriller, DiCaprio plays tormented detective Teddy Daniels, trying to uncover the whereabouts of a missing inmate at a remote island asylum. With his new partner, Chuck (Ruffalo), by his side, Teddy quickly becomes convinced of a conspiracy, his slowly escalating paranoia not helped by flashbacks, both to his time as a US Marine walking through corpses as they liberated Dachau, and of his late wife (Williams), mother to their three tragically deceased young children. The biblical storm unfolding outside only adds to the confusion, ensuring the duo's confinement on the island.

THE VERDICT: Scorsese has a huge amount of fun sending his audience down dark alleys and spooky dead ends here, but the real game for this noted film buff is playing hide and seek with cinema history.

For anyone who cares to look, there are nods to classic thrillers and chillers all the way through Shutter Island, from the opening nod to RKO's 1943 classic The Ghost Ship to the sly casting of Robert De Niro lookalike Elias Koteas as a grinning loon that could so easily be Travis Bickle thirty five years later. In the nuthouse. Where he belongs.

The abstract jabs of ominous orchestral works (sourced by the director's old roommate, The Band's Robbie Robertson), the sharp camera angles and jolt edits all add up to a masterclass in filmmaking the old-fashioned way.

Ultimately, it might just be a little bit too much style, and loaded content, for the average Joe, but the cheap thrills are there too.

Review by Paul Byrne

• Avg User rating
• Currently 4/5 Stars.

User Reviews

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  TrustMeImAnArchitect

  

  the gala screening last tuesday was utterly amazing. the film is such a trill to watch, be that with the twists and turns which keep you grasped or the excellent film making and scenes which and definitly Scorsese

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  Out_Of_Step

  

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  tetsujin1979

  

  claustraphobic thriller that keeps you guessing right until the end about the truth. Possibly needs a second viewing to fully appreciate the twists of the plot

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  darkmandy

  

  really enjoyed this ,Great to see Scoresese making different films. And Dicaprio was amzing

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  seamyfox

  

  Great film. Another great from scorseze. Only faults are that the ending should have stuck to the plan and 20 mins too long.

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  Swagga Whaa

  

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  Jamesito

  

  Brilliantly shot and great performance by DiCaprio. From the trailer this looked like a scary horror movie, I think all of the movie's scary scenes were packed into the trailer which meant you were expecting a different kind of movie. Nonetheless the movie was good, if a bit drawn out at times, about half way through you're thinking is anything scary going to happen, and just then you begin to realise what's going on. Without giving too much away, there seemed to be a few too many scenarios that left me wondering would they really have gone to all that trouble for just one patient? All that aside, great psycho-dramatic thriller from a master at his art, Scorsese. Thanks for the tix movies.ie!

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  neonmonkey

  

  Extremely faithful adaptation of the book by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River/Gone,Baby,Gone). Scorsese brilliantly transfers the twisted, phsycological and complex characters and story to the screen. DiCaprio provides a steller performance and is backed by a superb cast. Oscar-worthy and definitely a film that will be hard to beat this year

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  mart

  

  thought this movie was going to be a horror but it was actually an enjoyable movie. well set and well acted

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  TheSpecs

  

  Dramatic music much?! I thought the film was better in hindsight.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  steven seagull

  

  Hmmm...its a good film overall but during the middle part of this film I was losing interest at times. There are a fair few dream sequences (maybe a bit too arty at times)and scenes were Leo is having conversations that I didnt care much for with nutjobs. That said it's worth sticking with as the final part of film wraps the story up nicely (it's a bit obvious though). There are some great actors in this film and they all put in good performances although I was getting a bit fed up with Leo saying "I am Federal Marshall!". Those who are expecting a lot from this film may end up a bit disappointed and while it doesn't go down as a classic in my book it's still a decent enough flick that does a good job of portraying how fragile the mind can be.

Page 5 of 5  « 1 2 3 4 5