"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe... keep breathing."
It's only been a year since Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu delivered the award winning Birdman and somehow he managed to deliver another visual masterpiece in record time. To follow up such a groundbreaking film like Birdman, with an epic adventure film like The Revenant is mesmerizing. But Gonzalez doesn't deserve all the credit, his films have stood out because of Emmanuel Lubezki's groundbreaking cinematography. The best thing about The Revenant is without a doubt its visual style. And the same could be said about Lubezki's previous efforts: Gravity and Birdman. In three years Lubezki has delivered some of the most beautiful looking films of our decade (and I'm not even including The Tree of Life which he worked on in 2011). This man is pure genius and will without a doubt win his third Oscar in a row. I hope the two continue to work together and deliver more visually inspiring films.
Leonardo DiCaprio deserves all the accolades he's received for his physically demanding performance here. From the very first scene we see him face one obstacle after another as the opening sequence takes place while he is being attacked by a group of indians during a fur trading expedition. It's not much later when the much commented bear mauling scene takes place, but that is only the beginning of his struggles. DiCaprio gives it his all and even though this isn't the best performance of his career, it will finally be the one that gives him the Oscar. Tom Hardy also delivers a fantastic supporting performance as John Fitzgerald, the man who wants to leave him behind. The film ends up feeling like one long chase in a similar way as Mad Max Fury Road, although at a much slower pace. A survival/revenge film like this has never looked so beautiful. The film is a bit too long and it eventually begins to wear down, but it's a constant feast to the eyes despite the exhaustion.
“I want Momma to take aerobics classes. I want Ellen to grow up. I want a new brain for Arnie. I want…”
Looking back at Leonardo DiCaprio’s filmography I’m constantly reminded what a great actor he is. In What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, he plays a seventeen year old mentally ill kid in such a natural way that if I didn’t know this was Leo I would’ve believed the actor playing Arnie was really mentally ill. This is probably one of his standout performances and is one of the highlights of this emotionally gripping family drama. However he is just a supporting character in this film as the title character is played by Johnny Depp, Arnie’s older brother who is always taking care of him and the rest of the family. Gilbert’s father has abandoned them and ever since he has been the male role model for the family in the small community where they live. He not only takes care of Arnie, he also has to provide for the family by working in a small local supermarket. He is ashamed of his obese mother (Darlene Cates), who simply stopped caring about her beautiful body after her husband abandoned her. Gilbert also has two sisters who help out with the family chores, Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt). The responsibility Gilbert feels towards his family has taken its toll on him and explains why he seems to be half asleep all the time. He has no time for accomplishing any personal goals or dreams and spends his few free minutes with his local friends, Tucker (John C. Reilly) and Bobby (Crispin Glover). Things take an unexpected turn when Becky (Juliette Lewis) arrives in town and the two form a special bond together. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is an emotionally gripping family drama that works thanks to the strong performances from the cast and a fantastically well written script by Peter Hedges. The film avoids feeling cliche or melodramatic and I found it to be an honest story. Lasse Hallstrom has been accused of being overly melodramatic at times, but I think that the director avoided much of those moments here thanks in most part to a well written script.
Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance of the film, but Johnny Depp also delivers in a very subtle way. His character doesn’t seem to say much, but the way he simply moves and speaks says a lot about him. He knows he isn’t getting anywhere in life and feels stuck in this small town, but at the same time he has responsibilities and knows that his family relies on him to survive. He is trapped in a prison he can’t get out of. He cares deeply for his family, but at the same time he resents them and it seems they have become a burden for him. The way he approaches the character is fascinating because he doesn’t have to say or do anything for us to understand how he feels. We can easily identify and sympathize for his character. The chemistry he shares with Lewis is also strong. She is in some ways the opposite of him. She is free spirited and has travelled across several states. She doesn’t have many responsibilities, and the two end up complementing each other quite well. Their relationship might not be the central theme of the movie, but it does lighten up the mood a bit. Reilly is always funny on screen and despite playing a more serious character he still delivers his usual quirky silliness to the role. All these small relationships are the central theme of the movie and the brotherhood between Depp and DiCaprio stands out above them all. I enjoyed this family drama and I’m glad I finally got a chance to watch it.
"My name is Jordan Belfort. The year I turned 26, I made 49 million dollars, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week."
How do you begin to write a review about a film that has so much things to comment on? The Wolf of Wall Street is an overblown energetic and hilarious film about these egocentric, greedy, immoral stockbrokers that we are supposed to hate, but ultimately end up rooting for because we have spent so much time laughing with them. These guys make Gordon Gekko from Wall Street look like a saint. Martin Scorsese is a genius; he can basically direct any movie he wants to and make it appealing. This is his follow up to Hugo (which was a brilliant family film) and he takes a 180 degree turn here with The Wolf of Wall Street and makes a comedy about these egocentric rich characters who have no moral boundaries, who spend their time getting high, objectifying women, and which should have been rated NC-17 because their excesses are constantly repeated over and over again on screen. Many people criticize the fact that it's so long and overblown, but I think that's exactly the point Scorsese is trying to get across by repeating their excesses and debauchery. If there is one word I'd have to use to describe this film it'd be energetic. The film is so energetic and you get it through each one of the brilliant performances in the movie. This is a filthy dark comedy, but one that will stick with you and have you question yourself for having rooted for these characters. I understand the comparisons with Scorsese's Goodfellas in that the characters wrongful behavior is what we become attracted to and makes the film so edgy. I'm not supposed to root for these guys, they are the villains, they do terrible things, we are all their victims, but then why do we want them to get away with what they're doing? These are all questions that only begin to come up long after the credits have rolled and eventually you realize that these guys deserved far worse punishment and got away too easy (but wait that is what really happened with all these Wall Street stockbrokers that almost ruined the country), and that is why Scorsese is such a brilliant director because he is so subtle in getting his message across and does so in such an energetic and funny way.
The screenplay was adapted by Terence Winter from Jordan Belfort's autobiographical book about his rise to becoming a millionaire as a Long Island penny stockbroker. At age 22, Jordan (Leonardo DiCaprio) received early training from his boss Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) and eventually gets a stockbroker license, but the company melts down on his first day and he's left in the streets again. His wife, Teresa (Cristin Milioti), recommends him a job at Investor Center, which happens to be a very unprofessional small establishment that only deals with penny stocks, but has incredibly high commissions. Jordan is a natural and pitches sales so well that he rises to the top easily again. One day a neighbor named Donnie (Jonah Hill) comes up to him and asks him how he makes so much money, which leads him to decide to get into stocks and work for him. The two find a garage and set up their own business bringing along some of their friends: Robbie (Brian Sacca), Alden (Henry Zebrowski), Chester (Kenneth Choi), Nicky (PJ Byrne), Toby (Ethan Suplee), and Brad (Jon Bernthal). Jordan teaches them how to pith the sales and over the years the company grows at a very high rate and even gets marketing from Forbes Magazine where Jordan is nicknamed as the Wolf of Wall Street. These guys don't care about their clients and will tell them anything just to make a sale, and do a bunch of illegal things along the way which eventually gets them into trouble with the law, specifically FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) who begins to follow their every move. Along the way in the midst of all the parties, sex, and drugs, Jordan falls for the beautiful Naomi (Margot Robbie) and eventually divorces his wife and marries her. The film continues to follow Jordan's excesses as he becomes more and more addicted to drugs, the most powerful of all being money.
Scorsese makes several great statements in this film about the world of Wall Street, similar to what he did with the gangster world in Goodfellas. He doesn't shy away from their egocentric world portraying numerous scenes where the characters are getting high, having sex, and getting rich at expense of the rest of the world. He also makes it clear that money is the most dangerous and addictive drug of all, and these men don't know where to draw the line. There are several scenes that truly stood out for me like the scene where Mark teaches Jordan what the business is really about, or when Jordan and Donnie meet for the first time, or when Jordan meets with Agent Dunham in his yacht. In the midst of all the crazy debauchery, these small conversation scenes work so well giving the characters more depth. There are also hilarious scenes like the one where Jordan and Donnie suffer from a delayed drug side effect, mixed with some very dark scenes as well like when Jordan has a huge fight with Naomi portraying him at his lowest point. The performances in this film are also incredible, Leonardo DiCaprio gives his best and funniest performance to date, the scenes where he gives his employees pep talks are mesmerizing, Jonah Hill is also at his best and has some extremely funny and insane scenes, they both truly deserve Oscar nominations for their work here. Matthew McConaughey is no longer a surprise, he has been exceptional in his latest films, but he has a very small role here, Margot Robbie gives an outstanding performance in a world where females are completely objectified, Rob Reiner is funny as Jordan's father, and finally Kyle Chandler also stood out for me as the only character who seemed to be morally incorruptible. They all bring so much energy to this film making the three hours go by fast despite being overblown and repetitive.
"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness."
If there was ever a film that could benefit from director Baz Luhrmann's excesses in art direction and visuals then The Great Gatsby is that film. They weren't called the "Roaring 20's" for nothing and boy does Baz really go all the way with the visual spectacle during the first 40 minutes of the film. Many people think Baz's films are a bit pretentious, but I disagree because he is just an ambitious director who knows how important art direction can be in a film. I was one of the few who enjoyed Baz's epic film, Australia, but he is better known for his Academy Award nominated film Moulin Rouge. In The Great Gatsby he takes F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel and adapts the familiar story to his highly artistic vision. Fans of the novel might not enjoy the liberties that Baz takes in his adaptation, but since I had never read the story before I had a fun time watching this visually splendid film. The novel has been adapted many times on film before, but this is the first time I got to know about The Great Gatsby and perhaps I was more enamored by the tragic love story because I didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't enjoy the 40 minute build up as much as I did getting to see the narration play out once Gatsby appears on film. The performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan were way above the rest of the cast. I wasn't a big fan of Tobey Maguire here, but he wasn't bad either. The best thing about The Great Gatsby, beside the fabulous characters and narrative that Fitzgerald created, is the artistic direction and costume design that transports us to the Roaring 20's. Some critics believe that the spectacle replaces the heart of the story here, but I actually thought there was a lot of heart to it.
Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) narrates the events that took place during the summer of 1922 shortly after he had moved to New York City from the Midwest. It was a time of wealth so he decided to abandon his dreams of becoming a writer in order to work in Wall Street and chase the American dream. He moves into a small house right across the lake from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who is married to one of the richest men in the south, Tom Buchanon (Joel Edgerton). The talk of the city however has to do with the presence of Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a new millionaire who throws gigantic parties for everyone. No one happens to know much about him, but Nick's house is right next door to his mansion. Nick befriends Gatsby and thinks very highly of him for the class of person he is; very different from anyone he's met. Gatsby asks Nick to invite his cousin Daisy for tea and soon Nick discovers something interesting about Gatsby's past and his relationship with Daisy.
I know that novels are usually way better than films so I really want to read Fitzgerald's classic novel now because I was captivated by the story here. It is tragic, but has a lot of heart and I felt that Baz did get to show that in his film despite all the visual spectacles. Leonardo DiCaprio is always really captivating on film and here once again he proves his unique talents as the Great Gatsby. DiCaprio played Romeo in Baz's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet several years ago, but he has really matured now as an actor. Baz incorporated modern music to the 20's era and that may come as a shock to some viewers (seeing everyone dance swing to modern hip hop) but I thought the effect worked well in this movie. Baz really captured the spirit of the era and I think he is a bit underrated as a director. I don't know if I would've enjoyed this film as much if I had read the novel before, but as someone coming into this film without any prior knowledge of Gatsby I was blown away by the story and the characters.
¨Gentlemen,
you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.¨
I am a huge
Quentin Tarantino fan and enjoy his movies very much so I had huge expectations
for this film and I wasn’t disappointed. Django Unchained is one of the top
five best films of the year and deserves all the awards it has been receiving.
Is this Tarantino’s best work? No it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a
fun film to watch. It has several flaws; the movie feels messy and a little
overlong at times with some editing issues, but the story is just so fun that
it’s worth it. Inspired by the Spaghetti westerns that Tarantino grew up
watching, he pays homage to those films with Django Unchained. Just like those
spaghetti westerns ended up reinventing a genre that was dying, in a way
Tarantino has reinvented a genre now that had been long forgotten. We’ve seen
very few westerns come out in the last decade (my favorites being 3:10 to Yuma
and True Grit), but none as gritty and dark like this one. It is a western
mixed with Tarantino’s classic dark and violent trademarks. Tarantino actually
defines this film more a southern than a western considering it takes place in
the South pre Civil War era, and it truly is worth the watch. Django Unchained
has some great performances as well; it was a surprise to see Leonardo DiCaprio
playing such a vicious and ruthless role, Samuel Jackson also nails his role as
DiCaprio’s adviser, Foxx takes a while to settle in the lead role but he does
deliver halfway through the film, and then there was Christoph Waltz who was
the highlight of the film for me. Waltz had already surprised film lovers with
his Oscar winning performance in Inglorious Basterds, and here he surprises us
once again although this time playing the hero instead of the villain. In my
opinion his character carries this movie and shouldn’t even be considered as
the supporting character, but rather the leading one. He is a delight to watch
on screen and is truly magnificent. Who would have thought that he could play
such a likeable character after seeing him in the despicable and vicious role
in Tarantino’s previous movie?
This is one
of Tarantino’s most straightforward films with hardly any flashbacks, and it isn’t
divided into chapters either like his other movies. The story opens somewhere in
Texas during the pre-civil war era where we see Django (Jamie Foxx) being
carried off in chains towards a slave market along with some other folks. They
are interrupted by a former dentist, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who
has come to free Django. He is very much against slavery and racial segregation,
so he buys Django his freedom with the condition that he help him find three
brothers who are wanted men, and only Django has seen their faces. Schultz isn’t
working as a dentist; he has found a much more profitable living as a bounty
hunter so he teams up with Django who is more than willing to help find these
men who abused his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) and sold her to a
ruthless plantation owner down in Mississippi known as Candie (Leonardo
DiCaprio). Django and Schultz become such good friends that they become
partners in the bounty business and later the Dr. agrees to help Django on his
quest to free his wife from Candie. It won’t be an easy task so they have to
come up with a plan first, but Schultz is so inspired by Django’s love for his
wife that he agrees to help him. In Candie’s gigantic residence we are
introduced to some new characters such as his loyal adviser, Stephen (Samuel L.
Jackson) who is in charge of all the slaves and household duties, and several
other employees of Candie. One thing is for sure, freeing Broomhilda from all
these men won’t be an easy task.
My major
complain (although it really is a minor one because I did love this film) is
that it runs a bit too long. I thought the climax was reaching its highest
point at least 30 minutes before the ending, and it did hurt the movie a bit
that it extended itself. Tarantino is a master at creating tension and
suspense, and he does it once again here, but he could have ended the film
there instead of including another act where he has a small role as an
Australian that just doesn’t work. The film is very violent, but Tarantino
always finds a way to make you laugh (a task that isn’t easy) with a smart and
inventive script. Racial abuse is pointed out here in a very strong way similar
to when Tarantino showed the Nazi’s abusing the Jews in Inglorious Basterds. The
excess in racial abuse is very clear and can be hard to watch for some, but it
has a powerful effect, especially thanks to DiCaprio’s portrayal as the vicious
and abusive slave owner. The real star of the film however is Christoph Waltz
who really makes this film a lot more fun. It was one of my favorite
performances of the year. Django Unchained may have just reinvented the western
genre altogether with this inventive Tarantino script. The ending might be
pretty predictable for a Tarantino fan, but the entire ride was just so
exciting and such a fun experience. I agree with what A.O. Scott said about the
film: ¨It is digressive,
jokey, giddily brutal and ferociously profane. But it is also a troubling and
important movie about slavery and racism.¨ This is one
of the most entertaining movies of the year, but it could be divisive for some.
J. Edgar is Clint Eastwood`s latest biopic that tells the story of Edgar Hoover`s life and how he created the FBI during a span of over fifty years. Hoover was a very controversial character, some people hated him and others loved him, but Eastwood doesn’t take any sides; he simply allows us to judge his work for ourselves showing us the good and the bad. Hoover didn’t have an idealistic life either; Eastwood also focuses on his personal life and exposes some of his secrets. The film was written by Dustin Lance Black, who also wrote the Oscar nominated biopic: Milk, but unlike in that movie, this time the story suffers from a very slow pace. The weakest thing about J. Edgar is truly its pacing. The subject matter is just so wide that the movie fails to focus on just one particular detail and tries to mash everything together with a series of numerous flashbacks. There were some very interesting moments during the story, but they were just too far spread out and most of the film was really a bore to sit through. I wish the film would have focused more on just one or two aspects instead of trying to include such a broad range. By trying to show everything that went on in Edgar`s life, we truly end up not knowing much. This movie suffers from the typical case of trying to say so much that you end up not saying anything at all. The film should of focused on a much shorter time period (let’s say the Lindbergh case for example which was probably the most interesting part of the film) instead of covering all the specific details. The highlights of this film however are the performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, and the art direction which is just beautiful (like in every Eastwood film).
As for the story, the movie begins with an older version of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) narrating his memories to one of the agents and telling him to write his memoirs. It was during the communist hunt that J. Edgar found the opportunity to tighten his grip in the law enforcement agency and make important arrests after several communist revolutions began taking place across several major cities in the US. Hoover was completely dedicated to his job and slowly began building what today we know as the FBI. He had a very awkward social behavior, and very few friends. They called him Speedy for the way he talked, and he was very close to his mother (Judi Dench), to whom he looked up too all the time for advice. He trusted very few people, one of them was his personal secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and the other his right hand man and personal assistant, Agent Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), with whom he had a secret love affair despite the fact that he tried to deny it and hide it. After the witch hunt was over with, Hoover`s attention shifted to arresting important gangsters and mafia groups, and in doing so he slowly began to build the Bureau. He had secret personal files on every United States president he served under, whether it was Roosevelt or Kennedy. The true highlight of the film and the turning point for the Agency`s autonomy came with the Lindbergh case which received a lot of media attention after a child was kidnapped from his own home. Hoover used this case to build prestige for the Bureau and create a fingerprint database of every citizen in order to solve crimes easier. He built the Federal Bureau of Investigation and this is how he did it.
One of the most distracting things about J. Edgar is the makeup. Some of the actors really looked bad when they had to play older versions of themselves (Armie Hammer above all). They should`ve stuck with hiring older actors to play those roles because the makeup really didn’t work. It was awful. Leonardo DiCaprio does save this movie however, from being bad thanks to a great performance. He deserved an Oscar nomination, but I guess the film just wasn’t good enough. Armie Hammer also was great in his supporting role, but his makeup when playing an older version of himself distracted us from his true performance. The rest of the supporting cast just doesn’t have enough time to shine on screen, with the exception of Judi Dench who is as brilliant as usual. Naomi Watts did have plenty of screen time, but she really didn’t have a memorable performance. I`d have to say that J. Edgar is one of Eastwood`s weakest films, but I am still a huge fan of his work and wish him the best in his upcoming projects. The subject matter in this film is interesting, but the pacing is just poorly done. I recommend it only for DiCaprio or Eastwood fans although I wouldn’t be watching this film a second time.
¨Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange. ¨
Inception is one of the reasons I love movies so much. This is a really intelligent and smart film that never fails to entertain with amazing visuals, good action sequences, and an excellent cast. Christopher Nolan is without a doubt the best director in Hollywood right now. Nolan`s worse reviewed film is The Prestige and that movie was brilliant so that is saying a lot about a director who seems to turn everything he touches into gold. He revived the Batman franchise making it more realistic and believable and made an even better sequel. The Dark Knight was a character driven film that studied the psychological consequences behind each action, Inception is a very different kind of movie that focuses more on the storytelling than on the characters themselves. When Nolan was approached by the studio to try to make it in 3D, he declined saying he wanted the audience to focus on the storytelling and not be distracted. 3D serves for movies that don`t have a smart plot and only want to focus on the visuals, however Inception works so well and the visuals are so amazing that they are better than anything I have seen on 3D (yes including Avatar). Even so, the special effects aren`t the reason why this film is so engaging. The reason people want to see this over and over again is because Nolan has written a smart plot which took him more than 10 years to write. It is a movie with several layers and depths, a film that you won`t want to take your eyes off the screen for even a second, it engages you from the very beginning and draws you into it, it is like a maze you need to solve. In a summer full of remakes and sequels it was really good to see something so refreshing and original, the best film I have seen since Nolan`s The Dark Knight.
Leonardo DiCaprio is Cobbs, a fugitive who can`t return to the States to visit his kids because of an incident that isn`t explained until halfway through the film. He specializes in retrieving hidden secrets from the subconscious of people`s minds and he does this by invading their dreams. While he is extracting secrets from Saito (Ken Watanabe), a millionaire who owns an oil company, something goes wrong and he fails to get all the information he needed. Saito then convinces Cobbs to work for him and he promises him that if he does this one job he will fix his situation in the United States so that he can reunite with his kids again. This time instead of extracting a secret, Saito wants Cobbs to plant an idea on someone`s mind, in other words he wants him to perform inception. Cobb`s partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), says that inception is impossible and that it can`t be done because the victim will know that the idea never came from him, but Cobbs says that it`s possible. In order to perform inception on Saito`s corporate rival Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), heir of his deceased father`s oil empire, Cobbs needs to assemble a team. First he finds a young architect named Ariadne (Ellen Page) who is in charge of creating the world in which the dream takes place in, next he hires Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who can create the most powerful sedatives to keep his subjects asleep, and finally he hires Eames (Tom Hardy), an expert in impersonating people. Together they have to try to perform the difficult task of inception, but Cobbs has been having trouble keeping his personal issues outside of the dream world and his dead wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), keeps on invading the dream world and putting the entire mission in danger.
The cast is excellent, but the film really isn`t character driven, we are drawn more by the story and the many layers we have to uncover. Nolan has created a maze and we are the one`s who have to pay close attention in order to understand the plot. While Cobb teaches Ariadne how the dream world works, Nolan is actually using Page`s character to explain to us the complexities of this world he created. It is like in The Matrix where Fishburne`s character explained everything to Neo. This is the most original sci-fi film I have seen since The Matrix and I loved every second of this movie. The two and a half hours fly by and the ending leaves you wanting to watch the film a second time. In a time in which Hollywood is running out of fresh ideas, Nolan comes in to bring a refreshing film. When Cobbs tells Ariadne to ¨never recreate places from your memory. Always imagine new places!,¨ it is like Nolan is trying to tell screenwriters to come up with fresh ideas and recreate new things. The story isn`t the only refreshing thing about this film. The visuals are also extraordinary and the action sequences are breathtaking. It is exciting to see how Ariadne begins creating the dream world, and the action scene where Arthur fights off the guards in a gravity free hotel is amazing. This is a movie you must see. The best of the year and as good as The Dark Knight was.
¨Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man? ¨
(8/10) Shutter Island has all the right ingredients for everyone to enjoy this movie. First of all, it is directed by Martin Scorsese, the guy who brought us such masterpieces as Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Gangs of New York, and The Departed. Martin Scorsese is one of the best directors and he is always trying different genres, being original, standing out, but with his classic trademark direction in every film. This time he brings us this dark suspense thriller that traps us from the very beginning and hooks our attention up to the very end. Shutter Island is based on Dennis Lehanes`s novel of the same name. His previous two novels, Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have also been made into feature films, and are among my favorite movies, especially the first one. If those two names alone are not enough for you to want to go see this film, then perhaps this might convince you: Leonardo Di Caprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley star in this thriller and give great performances. I did not have to see the trailer to know that I wanted to watch this film because I really admire each of the people involved in making Shutter Island. The weakest link perhaps is the screenplay writer Laeta Kalogridis who wrote Alexander and Pathfinder, two movies that bombed in the box office. The script does have its flaws, but the performances and the direction are what stand out in this dark thriller. The atmosphere and the mystery that Scorsese masterfully creates are worth the ticket price plus some really good performances from the lead characters make this a very enjoyable movie experience. This is not one of Scorsese`s best films, but that does not mean it is a bad movie either. Scorsese knows how to make movies and he does not fail with Shutter Island although he did take a huge risk with this film.
The movie is set in 1954 and like in all Lehane`s previous novels it takes place in Boston. U.S Marshall, Teddy Daniels (played brilliantly by Leonardo Di Caprio who seems to shine every time he works with Martin), has to investigate a mysterious disappearance that takes place in Shutter Island where an asylum for the criminally insane is located. Teddy is teamed up with Chuck (Mark Ruffalo), a Marshall from Seattle and together they have to solve the case in which a patient from the asylum named Rachel has gone missing. There they meet the psychiatrist in charge of the patients, Dr. Cawley (played by Ben Kingsley who absolutely nails his role once again) who seems to be hiding some crucial information in the case, as do most every other employees in the hospital. Dr. Cawley works alongside Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow) who also seems very calm during the investigation. Teddy and Chuck begin to question nurses and patients but they can`t seem to figure out how Rachel has disappeared. During the investigation, Teddy has to battle with constant headaches and migraines as well with hurricane like weather, and he keeps on having visions of his dead wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams), telling him what he has to do. Torments of his troubled past begin to affect Teddy`s role in the investigation and as the plot thickens we discover that he wanted to be assigned to Shutter Island for other personal reasons because he believes some unethical treatments are taking place with the patients. This is where the puzzle begins to get more complicated for Teddy as he has to fight his own personal demons while trying to solve the case.
Emily Mortimer and Jackie Earle Haley also have small roles in this movie as patients from the asylum and do a great job. Much of the success of this film relies on the good performances from the entire cast. Leonardo Di Caprio and Ben Kingsley prove once again why they are such great actors as they make most out of a not too strong script. The story is interesting, but the script wasn`t able to fit all the pieces together as smoothly as I would have liked. Scorsese however is a master at his craft and really creates a mysterious and dark atmosphere so there are plenty of thrills and suspense spread out throughout Shutter Island. The twist at the end was kind of predictable, but it didn`t affect the outcome of the movie as it hooked my attention from the very beginning. Perhaps with a stronger ending I would have given it a higher grade, but it is a good film nonetheless. It is worth a watch because Scorsese and Di Caprio are back together again doing what they do best, even though this is not their best effort it is still better than most other thrillers that have come out recently.
