3.0, United States/Canada

Shutter Island

2010 / Martin Scorsese > Something happened to Scorsese between Goodfellas and Casino. He stopped demanding more of the viewer, started catering to a lower common denominator and/or became too complacent with his storytelling. For a film to work, the technicals need to match the fundamentals and aesthetics. They don’t always need to be in equal parts, but if one fails, the others get dragged down hard. In the case of Shutter Island, a darkly beauteous approach to classic Hitchcock horror, the director of Taxi Driver becomes satisfied with an ending that’s not only predictable but has become almost expected in this day and age. It takes a lot more than a question of morality and human conscience that surrounds the finale to quench the thirst for a good film.

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