Movie Review - 'Shutter Island'

Shutter Island Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley Directed by Martin Scorsese Rated R

A hurricane rips through the already disquieting island off the New England coast, making US Marshal Teddy Daniels' job that much harder. Charged with discovering what happened to Rachel Solando, a patient at Ashecliffe, a mental institution for the criminally insane, Daniels must now sift through the rubble while clearing a path through a foggy bureaucracy. At the eye of the hurricane is Martin Scorsese, exercising atrophied muscles of the suspense genre with so much style that while the storm rages from all directions, Scorsese keeps it moving exactly where he wants it to go. Scorsese, finally an Oscar winner with The Departed, is not truly a genre filmmaker, which is not to discredit brilliant, versatile directors who may have made their primary marks as practitioners of westerns (John Ford), thrillers (Alfred Hitchcock), or even science fiction (James Cameron). Scorsese's common preoccupations as a director are thematics - obsession, guilt, unspeakable violence - many of which stem from his Catholic upbringing. He would freely admit that, and all of those themes dominate the struggle in Shutter Island. In that respect, Scorsese isn't doing anything new, but it's certainly different. Shutter Island, like Cape Fear, is a contemporary filmmaker's response to the kinds of hardboiled movies that informed him 50 years ago and could contain many of the surface elements without laying bare so many of these disturbing themes. Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his best, most magnetic performances) arrives with his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) to uncover where the mysterious Mrs. Solando (Emily Mortimer) has gone and how she apparently - as illustrated by the institution's Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) - "evaporated straight through the walls." Soon, however, a routine investigation becomes something much darker and far more layered. And Shutter Island understands that you know the rules of movies like this and you'll do anything to work out the ending for yourself long before it arrives. Resist that temptation; it's a better film that way, and that's true of any great motion picture: Let it do its job. Outside of the obvious reason why it's preferable to follow the action of Shutter Island instead of trying to be in front of it, there are more subtle bonuses to using that strategy. Even great films don't look as good as this does. Scorsese, one of the finest craftsmen to ever make movies, has delivered one of his most visually appealing films. The rich colors, vibrant cinematography, punctuated editing, and intensifying study of Teddy Daniels' face as his grip on the case begins to slip away are simply too good to overlook. So make an effort to watch the movie you're seeing and you might appreciate it even more. So many times, movies like this fall victim to the genre trappings, but Martin Scorsese knows what works and applies them to his brand of filmmaking rather than the other way around, and he's always done that. He stabilizes a story meant to be unstable through almost half a century of finding ways to let his camera create tension and fill us with dread. And we haven't even mentioned how palpable the tension is for about 90 minutes. There is nothing brilliant about Shutter Island. It is not a revolution like Taxi Driver, not as elegiac and raw as Raging Bull or as complete and overpowering as GoodFellas. But it combines some of the best of all of those in more familiar packaging and if you're a fan of the movies, you'll appreciate what Scorsese adds to the recipe.

Comments

[Honz Brix]

Can't wait...going to watch it Sunday. I think i might know how its going to end but i promise i will not let it ruin the movie if i'm right.

[ramsay]

I want to see this so hard, but its my wife's birthday this weekend, and we STILL haven't seen Valentines Day (I was hoping that she forgot that I promised to take her to see it). And, of course, she refused to see this movie with me, playing the "it looks to scary" card.

Sigh. How scary could it be?

[Yan]

I don't think it will be scary or terrifying, it will be surprising but haven't read the novel, the trailer gives it all away, i think... i'm just hoping i'm wrong :)

[MRPigg]

Paramount really did drop the ball on this one. DeCaprio would have made a serious run at an Oscar, and don't get me started on those darn revealing trailers.

Still in all, this is an exception to the rule of too much information ruining the experience. This is an expertly crafted film with an emotionally resonant climax. And Colin is right, you would be doing yourself a disservice by trying to "figure everything out.' The movie knows what it is doing, so just enjoy the ride.

And the movie is quite "scary," but not quite in the ways that the poor advertising makes you think it is...

[Chris]

This review is crap. Shutter Island is an exploration of madness. All the visual imagery of DiCaprio searching through darkened corridors with a lit match is symbolism referring to searching the depths of the mind where we hide demons from everyone, even ourselves.

[MRPigg]

While I agree with your point, Chris, how exactly does that make this positive, four-ape review "crap?"

[Honz Brix]

Just got back from seeing it. All i can say is wow! Loved it!! I was right about where i thought it was going to go with the ending but it so much better than i could have imagined. I'm not going to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it but it is what you think it will be if you've seen enough of these movies, but some much better. Great acting, great story, great everything. It isn't really scary, maybe twisted is the best word to describe it. You might jump in a few spots but its just the suspense of the movie. Go see it and you will not be disappointed

[digital camera memory cards]

About halfway through writing a review of Shutter Island, I was caught by an undertow. I originally thought that the movie was stylistic nonsense. But then I realized that beneath the nonsense were intriguing swirls and tides.For those who like their movies wrapped in a tight bow, you're not going to get it here.