Don't you get it? You're a rat in a maze.
US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) travels to an island asylum facility for the criminally insane with his newly assigned partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). Their reason for being at Ashecliff Hospital is to investigate the mysterious disappearance of murderess Rachel Solando. But Teddy has another issue to deal with at Ashecliff, namely a meeting with Andrew Laeddis (Elias Koteas), the man he believes responsible for the death of his wife (Michelle Williams). Nothing is what it seems at the facility though, and the further Teddy & Chuck investigate, the murkier the truths of Ashecliff become.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island is adapted from the best selling novel of the same name written by Dennis Lehane ("Mystic River/Gone Baby Gone"). It finds the talented director getting closer to horror than at any point in his career, it also finds him arguably over cooking his grits. Lehane's novel is a page turning lesson in thriller writing, there's no need for deep cranial thinking or fill in the blanks like musings. Scorsese has crafted a movie that, whilst both stylish and moody, is far more intricate than it needed to be.
From the off we saw reams of amateur reviewers dissecting the film and searching for other worldly cinematic meanings. The truth is, is that they don't exist, it is just a great story pinging with psychological twisters. Lehane himself said he felt it was a book he kind of knocked out while in his flow (he undersells himself mind). Scorsese, clearly loving the source to be sure, has crammed too much in for the film to be an across the board winner. Technically accomplished? Without doubt. Depth to the story? You bet. But the reality is that the depth isn't enough to sustain all the genre blending atmospherics that is Marty's want. One is inclined to feel that he so aware that he is treading on well worn genre ground (spot the homages to film noir, old time horror and Hitchcockian grandeur), that he's trying to steer the viewers away from the obviousness on offer. The film is further let down by the second half, where it positively crawls along, something not helped by the fact that the first hour bristles with moody excitement and a promise of clinically executed terror. Anticipation can be a real killer at times...
Yet as is normally the way with a professionally assembled Scorsese picture, there's still so much to enjoy and moments that ensure it will always be a divisive film in the New Yorker's cannon. The cast are mostly great, DiCaprio delivers a stunning performance, one that can only be appreciated once the story has reached the climax. Ruffalo (restrained), Ben Kingsley (shifty) & Max Von Sydow (troubling) all do what is needed and in keeping with the tone of the piece. While the girls - Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson & Williams - have small but crucial parts to play.
Then there's the supporting characters played by some quality character actors. Koteas is joined by Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levein & John Carroll Lynch. How many of you noticed that we here have a roll call of cinematic serial killers? Edgar Reese, Freddy Krueger, Buffalo Bill and Arthur Lee Allen! (OK, Allen was not proved but "Zodiac" the movie lends us to believe it was him). The music used is suitably heart pounding and Robert Richardson's photography is on the money, especially within the dimly lit Ashecliff walls (the foreboding Medfield State Hospital for location filming). The costumes also have a nice 50s look to them, our first encounter of Teddy & Chuck sees them splendidly adorned in film noir hats and coats. While Thelma Schoonmaker's editing is up to the usual tight standard.
It's always tricky when great directors are involved, so unsurprisingly we witnessed at the start a difference of opinion with the critics as to how good Shutter Island is? What most agreed on was that the film fluctuates in quality and should have been, given the talent behind and in front of the camera, a much better picture. There's also no getting away from the fact that if you have read the book first the impact of the ending is considerably weakened. Personally I feel Scorsese was the wrong director for this particular source, but that's me, and be that as it may, he still manages to come out of it in credit with his fans - though even if he just passed gas some of them would proclaim it as a masterpiece... 7.5/10
