I've been watching a lot of Olympics lately, so let me put it this way, it reminds me of watching Downhill Skiing, the first skier could have a great run, but since there are still so many skiers to go, you just feel like there is little chance that the great run will hold up for the gold.
Coming out in February and winning the Best Picture of the Year is very rare, but it isn't unprecedented. In fact, a film that is very similar in tone and type to Shutter Island, did it in 1991.
Shutter Island, like Silence of the Lambs before it, is a psychological thriller, a film about the human mind and the horrors that humans are capable of because of it.
The Island on which all of the action takes place is almost a character itself, as Scorsese and Robert Richardson get all that they can out of the beautiful but harsh and deadly environs of the Island.
The actors are all superb, Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow are sufficently creepy and ominous as the doctors in charge of the mental institution placed on the Island. John Carrol Lynch (who is so likable as Marge's husband in Fargo [Blu-ray]
As for Leonardo DiCaprio, in each film that he has made with Scorsese (Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
The story isn't anything too new or surprising in the psychological thriller genre, but it is rarely handled this expertly. Coming from a novel by Dennis Lehane (who also provided the story for films like Mystic River [Blu-ray]
Overall, I think that this is a film that will reward multiple viewings, as it is masterly put together from the very first sounds over the Paramount opening to the final frame.
But, really, did you expect anything less from Martin Scorsese?
Until Next Time, I'm interested to see how the year in film plays out, rather or not there is a stronger film still to race down the mountain.
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