Take Shelter

Michael Shannon stars as Curtis - a man who appears to be on a steady mental decline. After watching his mother suffer from mental illness, Curtis becomes worried as he starts to have violent dreams, hallucinations and premonitions of a tornado that could wipe out his house and family.

Is Curtis becoming a paranoid schizophrenic?

Can he get the help he needs?

Take Shelter is a movie featuring two fantastic acting performances that deserve a movie with a better ending.

Shannon is a great actor and you get to see that talent on display as he shows us Curtis getting worse and worse without ever making it too obvious what may be happening with his mental health. That mystery makes the audience look closely for any hint or clue, but it also gets us to pay attention to Shannon's performance, which explodes at times, and frightens us with its emotional turns at others. He has one of the best worried, haggard faces in movies today, and watching him interact with the amazing Jessica Chastain almost makes up for the slow pace.

Take Shelter could move along a bit quicker, but the biggest disappointment is the ending that leaves too many questions. Sometimes, an open ended conclusion can be cool, but this one seems unfair to the audience, which deserves a clearer, more concise answer.

Take Shelter is rated R for some language.