My
initial reaction to "Shutter Island" is 'much ado about nothing'. It is
a long movie with many unnecessary shots plus many you would expect
from a first time director and not the professional Martin Scorsese.
Another reaction was, like "The Sixth Sense" (though they are not at
all alike) you would have to sit through it again to see if it all
fits, but, in thecase of Shutter Island, sitting through it again would be torture.

There
is so much wrong with this film that making it run for over two hours
and twenty minutes is as much torture, for the audience, as takes place
on the island. There are so many red herrings and, as Hitchcock called
them, McGuffins that eventually you lose interest until the "What's it all about?",
moment and then you have to start thinking if there is enough logic to
whatpreceded the moment and does it all jell---the reason, if you can, sit through it again.

Don't
know where to start with the acting except to express a lot of
disappointment with Leonardo who I have always been a fan of. His
Boston accent is all over the place, he is not aging well at all
(nothing to do with the makeup) and his acting, like his accent, has no
basis. Mark Ruffalo, a
good actor, doesn't come through here and failing the story line badly.
Ben Kingsley is doing a role that he could do in his sleep and Max von Sydow, also, collects his paycheck for a role he has played many times.

The
only real affective/effective performance is the strong one by Patricia
Clarkson. She is only on the screen for 10, maybe, 15 minutes out of
138 minutes but that 10-15 minutes is full of truth, spell binding and
holds your complete interest.

There
is no arguing that Martin Scorsese is one of the best directors around
but since he has been using Leonardo as his 'muse' his last three
pictures, (Yes I know The Departed won an Oscar but would you see it
again?) with him have not been good. I don't know if it was a figment
of my imagination, or hope, thinking I saw Robert DeNiro in quick bit.

I do not recommend "Shutter Island".