Scorcese hasn't lost his touch!

Rating: 7/10 (20 February 2010)

I love Martin Scorcese. There are few filmmakers in the history of cinema who are as capable of crafting a cinematic tour de force as he is. He is part of a great generation of filmmakers that includes Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, and of that generation he is the only one who is still consistently pumping out kick-ass movies. All of the filmmakers above have each directed at least one total stinker.
Not Marty though.
For me, Scorcese's films generally fall into three categories. There are the masterpieces, this category includes the indisputably awesome Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver and The Departed; there are his films that while good, for one reason or another fall shy of greatness, these include Bringing Out the Dead, Gangs of New York, Kundun and Casino; finally there are the films where it seems he's stepping outside of his comfort zone and experimenting with different genres. This last category includes his remake of Cape Fear, After Hours, The King of Comedy and his latest film, Shutter Island.
Shutter Island is Scorcese's first foray into the horror genre since 1991's Cape Fear. The film, based on a book (which I have not read) of the same title by novelist Dennis Lehane, is set in the 1950's on an island in Boston Harbor that houses a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane. Leonardo Dicaprio and Mark Ruffalo play a pair of U.S Marshals who travel to the island in order to investigate an escaped inmate. Once on the island, the Marshals quickly realize that everyone, including the two lead psychiatrists (portrayed by the always great Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow) are keeping secrets from them. It is clear that there is more going on than they had originally expected, paranoia and claustrophobia ensue. This is an extremely tough film to write about without giving anything away, and I strongly recommend that you get yourselves to the theater and check this one out as blindly as possible.
The entire cast deliver outstanding performances, and if this film were released later in the year I would say that Dicaprio would be guaranteed a nomination for next years Oscar. I hope that the Academy, not prized for their long term memory, can keep ol' Leo in mind. This is absolutely the most deeply layered and interesting role he has ever tackled.
To be honest, there are issues that I have with this film. Again, I'm walking a thin line here while trying to say something without really saying anything, but I will say that in the hands of lesser talent this film could have been a silly convoluted mess. However, in the exquisitely clever paws of Scorcese, and with the enormous amount of talent on the screen, the end result is an extremely creepy, atmospheric thriller that's sure to crawl around in your brain for hours after you finish viewing it.
3.75 / 5 on the Awesome Meter