Intriguing, creepy, and engaging little puzzler - one of Scorsese's best

Rating: 8/10 (17 September 2014)

1954; US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is investigating the disappearance of a patient who has escaped from a psychiatric hospital on Shutter Island. Once Teddy begins his investigations, he notices strange anomalies such as; Rachel managing to escape from a room that has been locked from the outside, the fact that she manages to bypass all the other patients and security staff without anyone noticing etc. Daniels is puzzled by Rachel's seemingly 'unexplainable' disappearance and is determined to get to the bottom of it.
I'll be the first to say that mystery films are probably my favourite genre (when they're done right) and films like Shutter Island help to cement that feeling. Shutter Island hooked me in straight away due to how creepy it looked - this was down to some superb cinematography. Then as the film progressed, I found that I was more and more hooked in. Shutter Island takes you in one direction, but then pulls you in another direction and it's all these twists and turns that help to keep things fresh. I felt a constant sense of paranoia throughout this film. I found that I never knew who I could trust when I was watching this film and this merely helped to increase the suspense. Daniels' dream sequences gave his character an added depth, but also added another layer to the plot. I found that Shutter Island not only kept me in suspense, but also kept me thinking and the two elements combined are cinematic heaven as far as I'm concerned.
Acting wise, Scorsese has got lots of big players on board such as DiCaprio, Kingsley and Von Sydow to name a few and all the players on board put in stellar performances. As mentioned, the cinematography was superb and this really helped to give Shutter Island a creepy and mysterious feel.
Where Shutter Island falters slightly is in the heavy handed way it dealt with one particular plot twist (which I won't reveal). Suffice it to say, this did lessen the impact when it was revealed. However, just when I was prepared to be majorly disappointed, Shutter Island throws in more twists and turns after the obvious twist was revealed and these added twists did surprise me somewhat.
This is an excellent film that will most likely appeal to fans of psychological thrillers or mystery films. I loved it and would strongly recommend that you watch it.