Shutter Island

Rating: 9/10 (3 May 2017)

Few current-day filmmakers have eclipsed the reputation of Martin Scorsese. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold. In 2010, Scorsese made his last production on film, to date attempting to strike gold yet again. With a master director at the helm paired with his frequent star collaborators, Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as a stellar cast including Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, and Michelle Williams, Shutter Island, a 1950's noir thriller seemed nearly impossible to mess up. Visually breathtaking and a wonderfully told story make Shutter Island a resurgence of the great director's prowess.
A promising young U.S. Marshall, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) has been assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital, a mental institution. He and his partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are ferried in to begin the investigation. Teddy has been trying for awhile to be assigned to the island for personal reasons, so when the opportunity arose, he leaped at the chance. Soon after arriving on the island, they learn that the missing patient has killed her children drowning them in a lake one by one. The troubling information about the missing patient rivals the troubling methods Teddy learns are employed by the hospital. Many of the methods are unethical, are even illegal. The more the duo finds out about the practices at the hospital and the cryptic messages left behind by the patient that disappeared, the more unsettling their surroundings become. As the vast island encloses around them, they are soon stranded due to a hurricane raging around them as it comes to light that Teddy might be part of a bigger plan the hospital is orchestrating which begins to bring his sanity to question.
I can't talk about Shutter Island without first talking about the sound design. The sound soon acts as a character itself, bearing down on Teddy as he desperately struggles for truth and eventually creating the claustrophobic atmosphere that nearly kills him. The cinematography at the opening ensures that the audience will stay put until the film's conclusion and cement the belief I hold that nothing is better than actual film. There is a series near the opening of the film in which there are a series of jump cuts that are an incredible tool for establishing the rapid pace Teddy's mind is working attempting to understand the events unraveling around him. The world building in Shutter Island was incredible. No bit of detail was overlooked, from the paintings chosen to decorate the offices to the statues lining the hallway every single detail in the film is important and nothing is overlooked. The colors are amazingly vibrant, especially in the wonderfully executed flashback scenes, and seem to be influenced by Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. The low angle shots used throughout the film are positively captivating and engaging. I'm such a sucker for well-used low angle shots. Where the film really shines is in its brilliant reveals. When we learn the key elements of Teddy's life for the first time, the audience is gifted 30 of the very best moments in cinema. I was curious to see how well Shutter Island held up since the last time I saw it in the theatre shortly after its release, and I was thrilled to learn that it has only gotten better with age.