Martin Scorsese's take on Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2012)

After having recently finished reading Dennis Lehane's smart,tense Gothic Horror mystery-Noir novel Shutter Island,my anticipation for seeing the film adaptation greatly increased when I found out who the director and cast were that are connected to this movie,which started to make me really looking forward to going on a holiday to Martin (who due to both of us never having exchanged X-Mas cards with each other,I will not call "Marty") Scorsese's Shutter Island.
The plot:
Arriving to a hospital for the criminally insane based on an isolated island in 1954,US marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels (who has been brought out of early retirement related to the brutal murder of his wife by "the force",who feel that he is one of the very best for this case) and new recruit to the force: Chuck Aule go to meet the chief psychiatrist, (Dr. John Cawley) on Shutter Island to find out why they have been ordered to pay a visit to the isolated hospital.
Hardly wasting any time with even greeting Teddy and Chuck,Cawley tells the marshals that they have been ordered to pay a visit to the place,due to one of the hospital's most dangerous patients (Rachael Solando) having mysteriously "disappeared" from Shutter Island a few days ago and not leaving a single trace of where she may have gone.Deciding to search Solando's cell,Daniels and Aule do an extensive search in the cell and sadly find no clues at all to what may have happened to Solando.
leaving the cell,Teddy suddenly notices that one of the floor panels is broken.Carfully moving the panel,Daniels finds a cryptic note,strongly hinting about there being a "secret" patient hidden deep inside the hospital.Being told by,the suddenly frightened looking Cawley that he should ignore the note as "The words of a mad woman",Daniels begins to wonder what Cawley is trying to keep hidden away on Shutter Island,and also if it might be connected to the man that killed his wife.
View on the film:
Smartly focusing on the essential elements of Dennis Lehane's novel,screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis cleverly makes sure that the Neo- Noir and Horror elements of the plot stay evenly balanced,with Teddy's flashbacks to the last days he spent with his wife allowing Kalogridis to create some very strong macabre moments,whist Daniel's (played by a tense Leonardo DiCaprio) and Aule's (played by a fantastic "by the book,sir" Mark Ruffalo,who along with this,2004's Collacteral and 2007's Zodiac has become one of the main faces of 00's Neo-Noir) increasingly dangerous search for the "truth" on Shutter Island allows Kalogridis to build a good Neo-Noir feel,as Teddy and Chuck get deeper in the murky waters surrounding the island.
Although Kalogridis does not build the solid foundation which made Lehane's "turning of the cards" truly masterful,and also shockingly gets near to giving away the "twist" early on, Kalogridis is still able to get some "kick" from the ending,by including a number of moments,which initially look completely minor,before the film unleashes its "surprise" and makes those moments look like some of the most important sections in the movie.
For Teddy's dreams,director Martin Scorsese shows an amazing eye for just using the right amount of CGI to make the scenes really unsettling,whilst never taking the easy option of completely going overboard with the CGI.
Despite the film having an absolutely fantastic setting which looks like a near guarantee for the movie to be filled with thrills and chills,Scorsese unexpectedly shows a restrained side to his directing for most of the film,which despite having a misty feel never transformers into becoming a truly under the skin haunting atmosphere which would have made Shutter Island a place that you would never want to leave.