shutter island? more like shudder island!

Poster art for 'Shutter Island' at the Cannes Film Festival

Ha! I chuckle at my witless title for this post. The interwebs are all abuzz about the trailer for Martin Scorcese's latest, 'Shutter Island', and the reviews have not been good. Vulture goes so far as to tell readers not to watch it, since it spoils so many of the plot twists. Patrick Goldstein over at the LA Times finds it a bit cheesy.

I agree with both critiques, but also think the trailer does do a few things right. It shows off the caliber of Leo's performance, which will likely translate into another Oscar nom for him. It is also honest-to-goodness scary, although Goldstein is right in saying that, overall, it packs almost too much punch, causing the dramatic tension to falter a bit by the end.

Regardless, I am pretty psyched to see this movie, not least because of its phenomenal supporting cast, which includes Mark Ruffalo (who I adore), Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson, and Emily Mortimer (who I also adore). It is an adaptation of a novel by Denis Lehane, whose crime novels have inspired 2 previous Oscar winners: 'Mystic River' and the phenomenal 'Gone Baby Gone'. The latter is one of the most underrated movies of the past few years, and the only thing I can respect Ben Affleck for.

It is always really interesting to me to see how filmmakers and screenwriters translate books into film, and I usually like to read the original books before seeing the movie form. (For example, I read The Road last semester in preparation for what seems like this year's Oscar front runner.) In this case, though, for some reason, I find myself wanting to save the dramatic twists for when I sit down in a theater. And while too much might be revealed in this trailer, there were enough twists in 'Gone Baby Gone' to make 10 trailers like this one. So here's to hoping that not all is ruined.