In a Nutshell: Shutter Island

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2010)

Shutter Island..A journey from darkness to revelation.
Highly anticipated through the vibe of Here's-another-Scorsese-DiCaprio- collaboration, Shutter Island delivers what's expected and more. It is an acting-directing masterpiece that won't fail most of its viewers. Set in 1954, this is a story of Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio), US marshal, who's called for a special investigation of the disappearance of a psychiatric patient from an island based asylum for the criminally insane. As Teddy steps foot into grim Ashecliffe, he's disturbed by the looks of the patients on the outer grounds of the hospital, but he has no idea that what he's about to encounter is out of his wildest expectations.
Based on a novel with the same name by Dennis Lehane, writer of "Gone Baby Gone" and "Mystic River", this story needed a great ensemble of actors lead by none other than legendary director Martin Scorsese to live up to its viewers expectations, and luckily it did. Scorsese had also chosen his all time buddy Film Editor and 3 time Academy Award winner Thelma Schoonmaker, the lady behind editing movies like "Gangs of New York", "The Departed" and "The Aviator", to become his editing mastermind. I say, since Marty chose to employ flashbacks, visions and short intervening scenes to help reach the dramatic climax of the story, he needed the helping hand of such a remarkable editor.
In this picture, not only is your mind captivated by the thrill of the story, but also your senses by its absorbing setup and its powerful score. Throughout the movie, you can tell that a great effort has been exerted in the art direction especially in scenes of Teddy's dreams, visions and flashbacks. And it's all only backed up by a brilliant choice of music that serves achieving no less than the desired emotional state of the audience.
And just as if you aren't satisfied with brilliant acting of DiCaprio, Ruffalo and Kingsley, Martin Scorsese presents a triple serving of spectacular short appearances by Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley. Each with a story of their own, they not only deliver dazzling performances that may very well earn them supporting role nominations, but they also push the story forward toward its ultimate revelation.
In Short, apart from a rather limited hype of negative criticism towards the similarities of the story and an old silent film called The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Shutter Island has had a great reception worldwide and had been very well appreciated by the book readers and those who just saw the movie. I say if a movie is the highest grossing and the most financially successful in Martin Scorsese's career, you should see it if you haven't already.