On the couch

DVD REVIEW

Shutter Island****
Directed by: Martin Scorcese
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Mark Ruffallo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams

Green Zone****
Directed by: Paul Greengrass
Starring: Matt Damon, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan

There’s always a certain amount of hype, excitement and anticipation that goes with a new Martin Scorcese film. The man who gave film fans such seminal movies as Mean Streets, Goodfellas and Taxi Driver has had something of a patchy record the last 15 or 20 years though. For every The Departed there’s been a Kundun; for every Aviator a Bringing Out the Dead. Shutter Island definitely falls into the “good” end of the spectrum of his recent work but still falls short of greatness due to a nagging sense of the film trying too hard to mean too much. Like an attention-deprived teen showing off in front of their peers.
Based on the brilliant book of the same name by Gone Baby Gone author Denis Lehane, Shutter Island is a tense, psychological detective drama starring Scorcese’s current muse, Leonardo Di Caprio.
As US Marshal Edward Daniels, Di Caprio is headed to the eponymous island with his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffallo) to investigate the apparent escape of an inmate from the state asylum there.
Ramping up the tension right from the off, everything about the island facility smacks of suspicion – the strangely subdued but murderous inmates, creepy head shrinks Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow  and the staff closing ranks during the course of the officers inquiries and most of all, the circumstances surrounding the woman, Rachel Solando’s, disappearance.
As a storm moves in trapping the cops on the island, Daniels begins to question his sanity as he starts to hallucinate about his dead wife and the missing woman.
Sticking closely to the book and studded with some super character acting and dynamite cameos – Jackie Earle Haley in particular – one of Shutter Island’s signifigant stumbling blocks is Di Caprio.
As talented a performer as graces the screen at the moment, Leo, at 35, still looks like a recently annoyed teenager – a fine characteristic if you’re playing one in, say, Catch Me If You Can, but not so good if you’re supposed to be a world weary WWII vet with nightmares of Dachau.
He just isn’t believable as Daniels but manages, by force of performance, to eclipse this deficiency for most of the film. Still, it’s distracting.
As are some of the musical cues which punctuate matters like a large neon sign that instructs you as to what emotion would be appropriate for the scene in question.
All-in-all though these are relatively minor quibbles. Shutter Island, while not a patch on ’70s Scorcese, is still a fine film by any standards. And in the end, isn’t that all you really want out of your Saturday night’s viewing?
Exciting, well-shot, politically relevant films have become something of the norm for director Paul Greengrass. The only thing more predictable than the big standard of his output is the involvement of Matt Damon with the project and, with that, you know nearly everything you need to about Green Zone.
Just to round matters out here’s a quick list – see if you can guess what the film is about: Iraq, WMD, conspiracy, interdepartmental squabbling, marines, exposé.
Got it yet?
Matt Damon stars as Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, the leader of a marine squad tasked with finding the dreaded weapons of mass destruction in the days after the fall of Baghdad.
After one wild goose chase too many Miller begins to doubt the very existance  of the WMDs and gets embroiled in a spat between experienced Middle East CIA operative Brendan Gleeson and oily politico Greg Kinnear.
What follows is a tense trawl through most of the highlights of the first weeks of the US engagement in Iraq which, as a representation of current political tensions in the area is smarter than The Kingdom, more approachable than Syriana and broader in vision than The Hurt Locker.
Which isn’t to say that it’s better than any of them, except The Kingdom, just that it does a good job of representing how matters may have unfolded in the Gulf at the start of the occupation.
Not something to base your political opinions on and certainly not to be used as a study aid for a history exam, Green Zone is yet another example of Greengrass doing what he does best – smart, gritty thrillers that give you something to talk and think about when the final credits roll.