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I saw Shutter Island in the theater with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
holyoutlaw back in March, but I apparently thought so little of it that I didn't post anything about it here. What I remember is that I thought it looked great and had good atmosphere but completely screwed the pooch with the banal twist ending that rendered everything rational. Then it nearly redeemed itself with the sting in the tail of the twist. (I'm trying to avoid SPOILERS here, but caveat visitor.)
Spurred by another thread about the film on Glenn Kenny's blog (Kenny remains an admirer of the film), I gave it another shot on Netflix Instant View last night. First of all, I want to say that the quality of the stream was pretty poor. Lots of big, blocky pixellation. As I said a few days ago, streaming is still in early days, and I'm really seeing the quality problems now.
As far as the movie goes, it certainly does play a lot differently the second time through, and as others have noted it turns one's focus from DiCaprio's protagonist character to the performances by Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley and others who are playing roles within roles. Very nifty work by two actors I admire a lot. (Great year for Ruffalo last year between this and The Kids Are All Right.) Director Martin Scorsese also does a terrific job of making the film feel like one made in the '40s or '50s, which is the era it's set in. It feels like an old-fashioned movie visually, and it does have wonderful gothic atmosphere up the yin-yang.
In the end, however, I still come away feeling that it's a misfire. There are nagging questions about how it all works or whether it really holds together, but those are the kinds of things that I'm willing to ignore if I'm pulled along by other aspects. The real problem is that it starts to drag in the middle, culminating in the scene where DiCaprio talks to the Patricia Clarkson character, which consists of a huge, static info dump that caused my mind to wander both times I've watched it, despite the fact that Clarkson is a terrific actress doing everything she can to sell the scene. Then the big climactic flashback in which Leo remembers a past tragedy is just horrifically bad. The part where he screams "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" reminded me this time of the scene in the terrible Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, where Anakin wakes up to discover that he has turned into Darth Vader and screams the same. Talk about the banality of evil! I started laughing my head off, and I couldn't stop through the rest of the movie.
Still, I can see watching Shutter Island again just for the spooky atmosphere and the great performances by Ruffalo and Kingsley. It's a misfire, but not without its pleasures. The sting in the tail is still good, too.
holyoutlaw back in March, but I apparently thought so little of it that I didn't post anything about it here. What I remember is that I thought it looked great and had good atmosphere but completely screwed the pooch with the banal twist ending that rendered everything rational. Then it nearly redeemed itself with the sting in the tail of the twist. (I'm trying to avoid SPOILERS here, but caveat visitor.)Spurred by another thread about the film on Glenn Kenny's blog (Kenny remains an admirer of the film), I gave it another shot on Netflix Instant View last night. First of all, I want to say that the quality of the stream was pretty poor. Lots of big, blocky pixellation. As I said a few days ago, streaming is still in early days, and I'm really seeing the quality problems now.
As far as the movie goes, it certainly does play a lot differently the second time through, and as others have noted it turns one's focus from DiCaprio's protagonist character to the performances by Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley and others who are playing roles within roles. Very nifty work by two actors I admire a lot. (Great year for Ruffalo last year between this and The Kids Are All Right.) Director Martin Scorsese also does a terrific job of making the film feel like one made in the '40s or '50s, which is the era it's set in. It feels like an old-fashioned movie visually, and it does have wonderful gothic atmosphere up the yin-yang.
In the end, however, I still come away feeling that it's a misfire. There are nagging questions about how it all works or whether it really holds together, but those are the kinds of things that I'm willing to ignore if I'm pulled along by other aspects. The real problem is that it starts to drag in the middle, culminating in the scene where DiCaprio talks to the Patricia Clarkson character, which consists of a huge, static info dump that caused my mind to wander both times I've watched it, despite the fact that Clarkson is a terrific actress doing everything she can to sell the scene. Then the big climactic flashback in which Leo remembers a past tragedy is just horrifically bad. The part where he screams "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" reminded me this time of the scene in the terrible Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, where Anakin wakes up to discover that he has turned into Darth Vader and screams the same. Talk about the banality of evil! I started laughing my head off, and I couldn't stop through the rest of the movie.
Still, I can see watching Shutter Island again just for the spooky atmosphere and the great performances by Ruffalo and Kingsley. It's a misfire, but not without its pleasures. The sting in the tail is still good, too.
