5. Shutter Island
What critics say: "It may not rank with Scorsese's best work, but
Shutter Island's gleefully unapologetic genre thrills represent the director at his most unrestrained." - Rotten Tomatoes (68%)
What audiences think: Moviegoers feel that Leo and Marty's fourth film together DOES rank among the filmmaker's best, seeing that
Shutter Island is one of the six Scorsese pictures ranked in the IMDb Top 250, sporting an 8.0 rating. Many were impressed by the environment and uneasy tone Scorsese gave the film and the acting, particularly DiCaprio, was top-notch. Some feel that the release date shift from November 2009 to February 2010 caused the film to go unnoticed in a rather competitive Oscar season.
Who's right? I have to side with moviegoers on this one. While
Shutter Island is not as great as
GoodFellas (really, what is?), there's more than enough to enjoy in this love letter to old school Hitchcock films. All of the actors do a fine job with their parts, especially Leo who has some truly emotional moments towards the end of the movie (if you've seen it, you know what I mean). The surprise twist (which I won't give away here), elevates the final product and almost demands you see it again. It's one of those twists where you want to go back and reexamine everything to see what you might have missed the first time around. I feel the critics dropped the ball here and
Shutter Island should be Certified Fresh.