Shutter Island does not rank up there with Raging Bull and Goodfellas, but Martin Scorsese did a wonderful job with this book adaptation. Four days after seeing this film, I still couldn’t decide if I liked it, but it definitely was intriguing. The ending was the best part of the film because it was completely unexpected, not because the film was finished.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels, who, in 1954, is investigating an escaped-patient case on Shutter Island off the coast of Massachusetts. Shutter Island is the only mental health facility of its type in the United States - it only houses the most mentally-perturbed-turned-violent people of that time. His partner is Seattle transfer Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). The film follows DiCaprio as he tries to uncover what happened to patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson) after her alleged escape from Shutter Island, the mental institute around which the whole film centers. Ben Kingsey’s Dr. Crawley and Max von Sydow’s Dr. Naehring are the two doctors “helping” Marshalls Daniel and Aule.
This is DiCaprio’s best work, ever. I’m seriously convinced this actor can play any role, period. DiCaprio’s Teddy Daniels seems incredibly straightforward with a bit of a past, like everybody, but I couldn’t really tie his tragedy and the plot together.
Ruffalo’s ”reveal” is more interesting than DiCaprio’s. This is what I really enjoyed about his performance – I didn’t even know it was him until the credits rolled.
Drs. Crawley and Naehring are equally eery, which only builds upon the already genius of their acting.
I suppose I actually liked this film. I really don’t have anything bad to say. Go see it; maybe you can tell why I feel it was a bit off.
Something is definitely wrong with Esther, and it’s not just her, it’s the whole movie. The movie starts with an extremely laughable montage of an extremely unfortunate event, which is funnier than scary. Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) is adopted by this wonderful, all-American family, the Colemans. Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) Coleman are recovering from a still birth, so they add Esther to their family to share their love. There are many other issues this family encounters in addition to all the havoc Esther supposedly causes. In addition to the melodramatic script and unintentionally hilarious moments, this movie is a screwed up tale of knowing who people are before you bring them into your family.
Vera Farmiga plays a poorly written yet surprisingly deep mother. Her issues are never delved into deeply enough to satisfy the audience’s interest and she really overplays aa character that’s already too melodramatically inadequate. Peter Sarsgaard plays her husband, John, who is an underwritten character and he plays the role quite well for having such a disappointing script.
Isabelle Fuhrman is actually the best thing about this whole movie. She’s maliciously maniacal and fabulously evil. I don’t know where director Jaume Collet-Serra found this girl, but she hits the ball out of the park as possibly one of the most screwed up horror movie characters in recent history. The kids in this movie, Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) and Maxine (Aryana Engineer) Coleman are wonderfully portrayed by these young actors. One has a very correct first impression of Esther and the other is a little less inclined to see the bad. Also, the way Engineer plays a deaf child is wonderful. I don’t know if she actually is deaf, but she’s definitely the next Dakota Fanning, regardless.
You won’t believe the twist, but even the twist is not enough to save this film, despite the young actors playing their characters so well. Yes, characters die. Yes, characters mistakenly place blame. If you want to see a scary movie, just wait for another one to come out because abandoning this Orphan is definitely a good decision.
