Shutter Island Review

Todd McCarthy is first out of the gate with a review of Shutter Island. Many have seen the film but have withheld their opinions — there is no stopping them now. The flood of reviews starts now, says McCarthy:

Expert, screw-turning narrative filmmaking put at the service of old-dark-madhouse claptrap, “Shutter Island” arguably occupies a similar place in Martin Scorsese’s filmography as “The Shining” does in Stanley Kubrick’s. In his first dramatic feature since “The Departed,” Scorsese applies his protean skill and unsurpassed knowledge of Hollywood genres to create a dark, intense thriller involving insanity, ghastly memories, mind-alteration and violence, all wrapped in a story about the search for a missing patient at an island asylum.

If he compares it to The Shining, that’s like saying it will remain one of the horror classics for all time. Is that really what he’s saying?

Here is the Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt:

Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” is a remarkable high-wire act, performed without a net and exploiting all the accumulated skills of a consummate artist. It dazzles and provokes. But since when did Scorsese become a circus performer?

The movie certainly keeps you in its grip from the opening scene: It’s a nerve-twisting, tension-jammed exercise in pure paranoia and possibly Scorsese’s most commercial film yet. With a top cast hitting their marks with smooth efficiency, “Island” looks like a boxoffice winner. Paramount opens the film domestically Friday Feb. 19.

Screendaily’s Tim Grierson is a little less keen on the film:

Unfortunately, at well past two hours in length, Shutter Island can’t maintain its feverish grip on the audience, as certain thematic points and narrative tricks are repeated until they lose their potency. In addition, the mystery’s outcome, though masterfully delivered, isn’t entirely a surprise, which makes its slow reveal somewhat anticlimactic.