Chasing Ghosts in "Shutter Island"

Shutter Island

What you can expect from a movie like Shutter Island, at least you'd think, would be suspense and the seemingly overall creepy, noir atmosphere presented from the early trailers. Only one problem, I did not find any of this when I saw the movie. The beginning began slightly creepy, but quickly degraded to a directionless chase for the next hour and a half. An element that can make a movie so engrossing is the fact that as you are watching you are connected to the character and forget that it's even an actor playing the role. This is what makes The Dark Knight and other movies like Gran Torino so good is that you are in the movie and that the choices the characters make emotionally effect you. Unfortunately, this movie doesn't have that element. Leonardo DiCaprio is a good actor, but I have to think that this falls on Scorsese. There are too many awkward scenes that don't have anything to do with the rest of the movie and the tension never seemed to build as Scorsese tried to create a connection to Daniel's (DiCaprio) with repetitive flashbacks that distort the movie. 6 out of 10. Excellent book translated into a watered down, anti-climatic version.