Great Suspense From Start To Finish

Rating: 7/10 (6 March 2010)

What this movie does well, it does very well. Essentially, what that is is setting the right mood. From the very first scene, there's a feeling of suspense, fear, foreboding and even dread. There's something about this island. We know that, of course, but for a movie to strike that tone from its very beginning is unusual to say the least. And that feel is never really abandoned. It stays with the viewer from beginning to end - and that's absolutely essential, because for about three quarters of the movie I was feeling a bit lost. The story wasn't making any sense; there seemed to be too many different things going on inside Daniels' head - from the liberation of Dachau to the death of his wife to some suspected connection with the Red Scare to trying to piece together the mystery of this woman who's gone missing from a facility for the criminally insane, even though there was no way for her to escape and nowhere for her to go if she did. That island setting was brilliantly used by Martin Scorsese, and the scenes filmed inside "C" Block are positively claustrophobic. For all the mystery involved with that, though, the movie suddenly comes into clear focus the moment at which Daniels encounters Dr. Cawley in the lighthouse. At that moment (even before the twist was formally revealed) I knew what was happening, and yet - a sense of uncertainty still remains. Is there going to be a double twist? You're kept on your toes until the very end.
There are very good performances, especially from Leonardo DiCaprio as Daniels (although he struck me at first at least as a bit too youthful looking for the role) and from Ben Kingsley as Dr. Cawley. What pulls you in, though - and remains with you afterward - is that atmosphere so brilliantly created by Scorsese. 7/10