The trip to Shutter Island is worthwhile if only for DiCaprio's amazing performance

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2010)

There are only a handful of filmmakers whose work I compulsively follow and run out instantaneously on or near their film's release date to see. But there are very few filmmakers who can make a movie, not a predetermined blockbuster, feel like an event. Yet somehow, Martin Scorsese manages to do it every time. And when Shutter Island was delayed from October 2009 until February 2010, you can imagine how disappointed I felt. But it helped build the anticipation even greater.
U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to the titular island to investigate the disappearance of a patient at Ashecliffe Hospital in 1954. The hospital houses the criminally insane in various buildings, including some of the worst offenders in the country. As the pair begins interviewing doctors, nurses, patients and the like, they quickly realize not everything is right at Shutter Island. And with a ferocious storm heading their way and Daniels suffering from recurring hallucinations, getting out intact may be even harder than discovering the truth.
Let me be clear on this, Marty Scorsese never makes bad films. He makes flawed films, he makes overly long self-indulgent films, he makes good films, he makes great films, and he makes brilliant films, but never bad films. Coming off his historic Oscar win for The Departed, it was clear Shutter Island was not even going to attempt to come close to repeating how incredible that film was. But in spite of that, Shutter Island comes off as a good movie but one that has flaws Scorsese easily could have corrected.
The film is a slow burn of a mystery-inspired thriller. There are a lot of macguffins, a lot of inconsistencies and plenty of clues scattered throughout the film (almost surpassing the body count of The Departed), but it has a lot of trouble translating into something truly inspiring. When the film really begins unravelling and eventually hits its eye-opening climax, it becomes just as awesome as we all know Scorsese films can be. But for the most part, the content comes off as alternating between incredibly boring or incredibly fascinating. There is no middle ground at any point in the film, and I found the experience to be maddening in a lot of instances because the film just could not deliver on how incredible its trailer was. To me, Scorsese has always had a problem with the length of his films (looking simply at his last four films, two are pushing three hours in length and none are under two hours), and Shutter Island makes it incredibly clear how big a problem this can quickly become. For a thriller to be as riveting as it needs to be, it needs to keep the audience on its toes throughout its runtime. And unfortunately, Shutter Island only manages to do this half the time.
Equally aggravating is the use of green-screening and special effects in the film. In some instances, it almost looks amateur in how badly edited some scenes are. It is fairly common knowledge that few films in 2010 feature the actors on actual sets but more often on special effects soundstages, but many of them trick the audience into thinking it is all real with some really good editing techniques. It seems these same techniques were only employed half the time for Shutter Island and with how much of a master craftsman Scorsese is, he really should have known better and put more time into ensuring the film looked perfect. And with a five month delay, there is next to no excuse for why some scenes cheapen the look of the entire film.
But even if Scorsese is faltering as a filmmaker, DiCaprio continues to strengthen as an actor. He carries the film entirely on his shoulders, and never once do we take his conviction for granted. Daniels is a war veteran who suffers from hallucinations, and DiCaprio breathes depth, sorrow, anger, confusion and genuine fear into every frame he occupies. He is the focus of the entire film, and he fills its running time with a complex character that nearly makes his Oscar-nominated turn as Howard Hughes feel juvenile. The man continues to grow as an actor, and with each new role he takes on, he is moving ever closer to his eventual acting Oscar. And after seeing his whirlwind of emotions on display here and his emotionally devastating role in Revolutionary Road (the real film Kate Winslet deserved an Oscar for last year), I can only hope it comes very soon.
The supporting cast is all excellent in their roles. Ruffalo continues to impress as a supporting actor. He has yet to truly master leading man status, but he plays off with DiCaprio better with each scene that passes. Max von Sydow, John Carroll Lynch and especially Ben Kingsley all deliver great performances as the main members of staff Daniels and Aule encounter. The three of them are just great alternating between being cooperative and sinister all at once. Michelle Williams is an even bigger standout, despite the trailer giving away her main function in the film. I would have liked to have seen a whole lot more from Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine, Elias Koteas and Jackie Earle Haley however. As great as they all are, they all appear basically in extended cameos. A little disappointing for how haunting their parts all turn out to be.
If you can look past its boring sequences, the trip to Shutter Island is worthwhile. It is a good movie, but it falls short of greatness. DiCaprio is truly amazing in his role, but I cannot help but feel disappointed in the film as a whole. It easily could have been much better, but I think the five month delay ended up being more detrimental than beneficial for it.
8/10.