Author: Alton Williams

Shutter Island ****

The latest directorial effort from Martin Scorsese has been the source of a fair amount of controversy since Paramount, the studio behind it, made the surprise announcement that it was postponing the film’s release from its original release date last October to February 2010 (March for us in the UK), a decision which put the film out of the running for this year’s Academy Awards. While the move was surprising and difficult to understand at the time, however, now it appears that it may well have been a strategic move on the part of the studio, as Shutter Island – based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane – has gained substantially from facing lesser competition on its release at the US box office, where it is already one of Scorsese’s most lucrative films, having achieved the biggest box office opening weekend of his career to date, and reviews thus far have suggested that the film is far from being one of his best, raising the possibility that perhaps the studio never expected it to do that well at the Oscars anyway. Does this, in any way, reflect badly on the film though? Not really.

In 1954, US marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), a troubled individual traumatised by the death of his wife Dolores Chanal (Michelle Williams) and things he did during his time at war, and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are ordered to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a mental hospital on Shutter Island, a remote outcrop some 11 miles off the coast of Boston. The missing patient is Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), a murderess who seems to have defied the high security in the hospital and vanished into thin air. As Teddy begins his investigation, he starts to unearth some sinister goings on but it becomes clear that nobody, including the hospital’s enigmatic chief Dr Cawley (Ben Kingsley), the sinister Dr. Naehring (Max Von Sydow), the Warden (Ted Levine) and Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch), is willing to talk, and the only ones actually saying anything are the patients themselves, including Laeddis (Elias Koteas) and George Noyce (Jackie Earle Haley), but who no one will listen. When a hurricane hits Shutter Island, more inmates manage to escape and Teddy becomes trapped. Now plagued by terrifying visions and doubting everything, including his partner, Teddy begins to question his sanity and fears he’ll never make it off the island alive.

Shutter Island gets off to an excellent start with an opening shot of a boat appearing out of a mist being a terrific example of the kind of cinematography that Martin Scorsese is capable of delivering and from the outset and unnerving sense of dread is established, emanating from virtually every aspect of the film, with absolutely everything – the cinematography, the locations, the performances, the music and the dialogue – contributing to the whole. The first shot of Shutter Island itself creates a very chilling and unsettling look and feel to the place, creating a presence that intensifies as we see more of the place through the character’s explorations, and it only takes seemingly simple shots such as this to create tension and uneasiness. While this it not a horror film, rather a classic style mystery thriller, the film is undeniably chilling in places and Scorsese creates this effect not with cheap tricks or gimmicks like many horror films but through simple, effective and stylish filmmaking techniques. These include the eerie score which creates a sense of menace long before anything actually happens, the superb and sublime cinematography – visually the film is quite stunning, particularly in the flashback/ hallucinaiton scenes and even scenes where it is quite dark are well shot – some low key but well done effects and sharp utilization of and emphasis on sounds. The acting is uniformly excellent with actors in both big and small roles delivering great performances. Leonard DiCaprio delivers another masterful performance as a damaged individual, his character’s descent into madness being really rather impressive; Ruffalo is strong as the partner about whom major questions are raised; Kingsley, Von Sydow, Levine and Lynch all perfectly portray characters who we are completely unsure about morally; and Mortimer, Koteas and Haley are both suitably cast as mental patients. There isn’t a weak link to be found among the cast of cops, doctors, nurses, orderlys and patients, and everyone speaking with convincing, period and location authentic accents. This authenticity is also present in the dialogue the actors speak out, which is realistic and well written and has some other strong attributes as well, notably the way that certain conversations can be interpreted in different ways, i.e. they can seem perfectly straightforward or in another context they also make a character seem insane. Such dialogue is particularly important when it comes to the major plot revelation, a twist which is not entirely original but is very cleverly staged and that seems fairly surprising in the context of the story, playing well into the central character’s personal traumas but not in the way you might necessarily expect. This is, of course, subjective and some viewers may guess where the story is headed beforehand. The writing is the one possible flaw in the film. The writing and plot as a whole are undoubtedly of a high standard but there are several rather long talky scenes that really slow the pace down and these scenes have the effect of making the film somewhat less engrossing than it could be. This isn’t too much of a problem though as in every other aspect the writing is pretty much excellent. The characters are well developed, the emphasis naturally being on Teddy Daniels, whose former life as a married man and as a soldier is effectively shown through the use of flashbacks and hallucinations that both give us insights into the traumatic events he has endured in his past and his current mental state. The plot as a whole is very strong too. Overall, Shutter Island is a very well crafted mystery that is nearly flawless but not quite. Technically superb and delivering genuine tension, it falls short of being a masterpiece and it certainly isn’t Scorsese’s very best film but it nonetheless stands as another superbly made film from the director and one that should not be missed by anyone who loves his works.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)

Green Zone ***½

It’s finally here – the much awaited fourth instalment in the Bourne franchise. Oh, wait no, it isn’t, but the studio certainly wants you to think it is. After all, Green Zone boasts the same actor-director combo of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass and trailers have certainly made it look like a Bourne movie. But, alas, it is not, rather being the latest in a long line of Hollywood movies to tackle issues relating to the War on Terror/Iraq War/Afghanistan War/etc, films for which getting made at all is a rather surprising development given that moviegoers have consistently chosen to ignore such films on their cinema releases. Could Green Zone, inspired by the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, be the film to break this trend and actually catch the attention of moviegoers or like support for the Iraq War itself will it find the public turning their backs on it?

After the fall of Saddam Hussein and the US occupation of Baghdad, Roy Miller (Matt Damon) leads a team hunting for weapons of mass destruction. With his specialised skills and combat experience, Miller is considered the perfect man to carry out the search in this unstable region. But Miller is hampered by faulty intelligence and the nagging suspicion that he is on a futile quest. Liaising with Wall Street reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan) and a sympathetic agent named Brown (Brendon Gleeson), he sets out to find the origins of the weapons’ main source – a sneaky agent known as Magellan. Keeping a close eye on Miller’s movements is government operative Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) and brutal special forces operative Briggs (Jason Isaacs), whose motives are unclear. But Miller suspects foul play, and soon finds himself caught up in a lethal CIA conspiracy.

The other war on terror film that Green Zone can be most closely compared with is Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies. As well as treading very similar territory with regard to their central themes, both films also have something else in common – they are both very ambitious in what they set out to do, and they both fail to fulfil their ambitions. It’s definitely not a case of Green Zone being a bad movie because technically speaking it is actually quite brilliant on many levels. Paul Greengrass expertly utilizes his trademark shaky hand held camera techniques and a grainy look to the picture to create an impressive sense of realism in what is seen on the screen. Everything we see seems completely real and much of this can be attributed to the excellent camera work and editing techniques. At times, it seems as if it could even be real news footage that you are watching, it really is that realistic. Even the way sequences are staged rings true to life. We hear explosions before we actually see them as would be the case in real life and this adds to the almost journalistic style in which the film is presented, with Greengrass using first hand experience from his time as a journalist to fantastic effect. In general, the film accurately and convincingly portrays the sense of chaos that was rife in post invasion Iraq and this is also much the case with the action sequences depicted in the film. There is no sensationalism of the violence here, just shootouts and chases as they would happen in the real world. All these sequences are suitably intense but it is the gunfights where lots of soldiers play a role that really stand out, shot and executed with expert precision, showing the perspective not only of Damon but of other soldiers as well, and giving a glimpse into what warfare is really like, with none of the nonsense that is often depicted in Hollywood films. As you might expect, however, this means that the action won’t be to everyone’s taste and while the film is undoubtedly true to life in depictions of these events, they don’t always manage to deliver the thrills, lacking in entertainment value at times. One thing that is undisputable, though, is the strength of the performances, with the entire cast doing a very good. Matt Damon delivers a typically great performance, being suitably gritty in the leading role, Jason Isaacs is suitably sinister in a rather morally questionable role, Amy Ryan makes for a believable journalist, Brendan Gleeson is good as the spook character and Greg Kinnear is completely convincing as the self absorbed politician type. Sadly, however, all the efforts of the stars are not enough to overcome the shortcomings of the film. There really are too many ideas floating around in the film and as a result none of the issues are explored as well as they should be, the story is overcomplicated at times – something which is a double edged sword, on one hand reflecting the complicated nature of war and politics in real life, on the other making for an occasionally contrived narrative where events are somewhat hard to follow – and attempts to show different sides of the story prove rather confusing. Consequently, the film never engages as much as it could and should. These flaws, however, cannot really be blamed upon Paul Greengrass, who does a largely excellent job, but rather scriptwriter Brian Helgeland. Regardless, however, they do mean that a potentially great film ends up being a merely decent one that is stuck somewhere between being a Bourne style action thriller and a thought provoking insight into the truth behind the Iraq War, not being quite entertaining enough as the former or successful enough in presenting the issues as the latter. So, Green Zone is a film that is far from perfect but will be appreciated differently by different people. If you liked Body of Lies you will most certainly like this film too but if you are more of a Bourne fan you will be very disappointed as Roy Miller definitely isn’t in the same league as Jason Bourne.

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Review by Robert Mann BA (Hons)