Comes Close But Perhaps the Wrong Comparisons Being Made

Rating: 7/10 (9 June 2010)

This film is set in 1954. During that year, Hitchcock was making Rear Window. Supposedly the crew for this film was shown Vertigo (1958) when getting ready to make this film. Perhaps this film is closer to Topaz. The critique of Topaz in that it would be considered a good film in the 1950's, but not such a great film in 2010.
Still it is a good film, one of Leonardo DiCaprio's better performances since Titanic. 81 year old Max Von Snydow is along in support. It does follow a logical if not original plot line & carefully leads the viewer along through a story. Actually, when compared with other works from Martin Scorsese it is better than Gangs of New York which kind of went over board in my opinion.
The story is of 2 US Marshalls going to an Insane Asslyum known as Shutter Island in 1954 to investigate the escape of a female inmate. The island setting is well done. The cliff sequence & the dark settings in the film do give it a murky environment. The story is really quite logical & it becomes quite easy to realize your being tricked at the beginning of the movie.
The question is do you mind the trick? Some folks will like it, & some folks (like myself) will realize early on what the trick is. One thing definitely like Hitchcock in this is 2 of the main actors riding in a jeep that is traveling in obvious moving background rather than on a road. That is a method of travel Hitchcock used often. Scorsese must have studied Hitchcock films & employed it here on purpose.
To me, even if Martin Scorsese was trying to mimic Hitchcock here, when you compare it with Martin Scorsese, it is better than most of Martins latest efforts.
If you really want that type of suspense though, I suggest sticking with Hitchcock. This film does not get to the master of suspense standard, but is a good movie.