Shutter Island (2010) ***

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2010)

Engaging if overlong film from Martin Scorsese based on the novel. Leonardo DiCaprio is a U.S. Marshal in 1954 who travels with his partner (Mark Ruffalo) to a heavily guarded mental institution for the criminally insane, far off on a creepy island. He's there to investigate the recent escape of a female patient who drowned her three children, and to possibly uncover what he feels are some unorthodox brain treatments on some of the inmates. He may even have a chance to confront and get revenge on a convict who was responsible for killing his wife two years earlier. Scorsese really handles this material well, but the viewer needs to pay close attention because there are so many twists and turns during DiCaprio's journey that things may sometimes become confusing. However, everything manages to make sense in the end, which is always what's important in a maze of a movie such as this. Leonardo's character is complicated because he plays a cop who had to kill many men during the war, and as a result has to contend with flashbacks which affect his work and better judgment. The rest of the cast is splendid, among them Max von Sydow as the elderly head psychiatrist, and especially Ben Kingsley as the mysteriously evasive and multi-layered head doctor who DiCaprio must deal with during his investigations. The ending wasn't really anything I couldn't have figured out, which is partly why I haven't rated the movie higher (that along with its excessive length and some possible lingering plot holes). But on the plus side, this is a film that I think may reward with a second viewing, and could conceivably come out with a slightly higher score next time. *** out of ****