Shutter Island is an effective psychological-thriller featuring some good performances from an impressive cast, but what stood out to me was Scorsese’s precision direction.
Shutter Island
— 10th Anniversary Limited Edition —
(2010)
Genre(s): Mystery, Thriller
Paramount | R – 138 min. – $29.99 | February 11, 2020
Date Published: 02/11/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 4.25/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: The implausible escape of a brilliant murderess brings U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (LEONARDO DICAPRIO) and his new partner (MARK RUFFALO) to Ashecliffe Hospital, a fortress-like insane asylum located on a remote, windswept island. The woman appears to have vanished from a locked room, and there are hints of terrible deeds committed within the hospital walls. As the investigation deepens, Teddy realizes he will have to confront his own dark fears if he hopes to make it off the island alive. Review: Shutter Island, released in 2010, was a bit of a departure for filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who seemed to generally direct crime-dramas, and veered into psychological-thriller territory. For one reason or another, I had never seen this movie despite being a fan of not only Scorsese, but Leonardo DiCaprio. And, while it is on the lengthy side for a relatively simple story, still found it to be compelling from beginning to end. Acting wise, can’t really say there are any great standouts, DiCaprio included, though not to say he’s average, but his performance, and the character as a whole, reminded me of Inception, could be the whole dead wife haunting him (interestingly, both films came out in 2010). The rest were rather good, including the magnanimous Ben Kingsley, who always brings his A-game no matter the material. I think where Shutter Island excels was with some interesting production designs as well as the directing choices from Scorsese, a lot of great visual in conjunction with aural elements that gave the movie a bit of a hauntingly stark component, such as when Teddy flashbacks to his days during World War II. Shutter Island is a pretty effective psychological-thriller and even though it may not be Martin Scorsese at the top of his game, I still was rather enthralled while still ackowleding the running time could have been trimmed down by a good 10-15 minutes. However, the performances from an impressive cast and just enough mystery makes this worthy of checking out. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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The 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs are held in a two-disc Steelbook case. All of the features are on the Blu-ray. Not much here, unfortunately, with only two featurettes: Behind the Shutters (17:10) and Into the Lighthouse (21:11). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Paramount releases Shutter Island onto the 4K Ultra HD format where it is presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p high-definition transfer. While I didn’t feel this was an astounding looking picture, it still looked rather good in 4K. Detail is sharp, perhaps a tad better than its Blu-ray counterpart, and colors are vibrant during the more dream sequences where they stand out against the more dreary tones on the island. Can’t really say this is a significant improvement over the Blu-ray, but still looks quite good nevertheless. |
AUDIO – 4.75/5 |
| The 4K has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which, while not the newer Atmos or DTS:X track, still really showcases the depth-filled rainy island atmosphere with each channel getting some excellent usage, with clean and clear dialogue effectively comes through the center speaker. This is likely the same audio codec as the Blu-ray, even so, it’s still impressive. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Shutter Island is an effective psychological-thriller featuring some good performances from an impressive cast, but what stood out to me was Scorsese’s precision direction and employment of some interesting, and stark, visuals. |