Robert Guerra

I love this movie! The book went into a lot of description along the way - but seemed to drag for me. The movie summed up the struggle that each character faces, while making you ache for them to be together. This is my favorite role for Renee Zellweger.

Some movies beg for repeat viewings, Shutter Island practically demands it. That is not to say it was hard to follow or the plot baffling in some way. There is so much more than meets the eye here, this is no simply detective story, so many small details and touches that a return viewing would bring already deep characters and scenes into an entirely different light. So profound is the mystery of Shutter Island that a second viewing many be as if watching a new film. Leonardo DiCaprio once again teams with Martin Scorsese, playing U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. Sent to the fog shrouded tilter island to investigate a disappearance and the local insane asylum. Scorsese once again propels his actors to great heights. DiCaprio?s Marshal Daniels is a severely troubled man, the denizens of the asylum only serving to reminding him of his own labored mind, his past coming back to haunt him. An extraordinarily tight thriller, from the very first frame, as a boat emerges from the fog, Shutter Island is a masterwork of suspense, the plot thickens and the disappearance fades away to the greater mystery of the asylum, truly genuinely creepy. Scorsese has another masterpiece on his hands; the deeper picture slowly builds, each sliver forming a remarkable tense downright eerie account. Music was of particular note, a very quiet film at times, with a sudden, perhaps scary and startling, score. Not from jump scares but slow haunting images, the island itself comes alive, sinking its fangs into the viewer, entangling. Stunning visual and very well acted across the board. Scorsese continues to prove the he is in fact the greatest living director. I genuinely had absolutely no idea how the film would end, I could not imagine a way in which it could wrap up this enigmatic plot. Yet somehow it comes together, an ending so shocking and utterly spine-chilling, it changes this entire pervious events. I must see it again; I need to watch it with new eyes, watching for the small clues, seeing the minute word and actions, hinting at deeper events. A meticulously crafted film, the fog dissolves, reveling something remarkably heart wrenching.

http://braidedthreads.blogspot.com/2008/10/sheepish-shepherd.html It struck me how little the main character (played by Matt Damon) actually does in this movie. He never makes any active choices - when he is directing things for the CIA, he announces, and others carry out his decisions. He is pretty blank as a character. He does make a couple of choices with regard to his son, though. But he also doesn't choose to deter his son beyond his vague suggestions about life in the CIA. Most other decisions are made for him and he follows orders when he is not giving orders. He does make the choice to turn around in the hallway and go back to the Skull and Bones innitiation. He chooses that life. He does what is expected of him. He has sex when he is dragged into it, he gets married when the girl getspregnant, he goes overseas when asked.