Shutter Island

Rating: 5/10 (5 February 2011)

This dark looking film was bigged up quite a lot at the time of release, and it was the fourth time director Martin Scorsese was teaming up with his star of Gangs of New York, I had to see what this film was about. Basically set in 1954, World War II veteran and current federal marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are heading to Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island located in Boston Harbor. They are investigating the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), who was incarcerated for drowning her three children, but the staff are confrontational, lead psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Sir Ben Kingsley) refuses to turn over records, and Solando's doctor, Dr. Sheehan, left the island for vacation immediately after her disappearance. Daniels has constant migraine headaches and is haunted by both his experiences in the Dachau liberation reprisals, and the death of his wife Dolores Chanal (Michelle Williams), killed in a fire started by local arsonist Andrew Laeddis, he also has a vision of his wife telling him that Solando is still on the island somewhere, the same applies with Laeddis, although everyone claims he was never there to begin with, Daniels tells Aule his ulterior motive for taking the case is to find Laeddis. Solando suddenly resurfaces, with no explanation of where she was or how she escaped, so Daniels breaks into the restricted Ward C, there he encounters patient George Noyce (A Nightmare on Elm Street remake's Jackie Earle Haley) in solitary confinement, he warns Daniels the doctors are performing questionable experiments on the patients, the lighthouse has significance, and everyone, including Aule, is playing an elaborate game specifically designed for Daniels. Daniels is determined to investigate the lighthouse, while climbing the rocks he is separated from Aule, below he finds a cave, with a woman hiding, she claims to be the real Rachel Solando (Patricia Clarkson), a former psychiatrist at the hospital, who discovered the psychotropic medication experiments and trans-orbital lobotomies, she was forcibly committed to Ashecliffe as a patient before she could report her findings. Returning to the hospital, Daniels cannot find Aule, he is convinced he has been taken to the lighthouse, he breaks into it, only to discover Cawley calmly waiting there for him, he explains to Daniels he is in fact Andrew Laeddis, "the most dangerous patient", incarcerated for murdering his manic depressive wife after she drowned their children, Edward Daniels and Rachel Solando are anagrams of Andrew Laeddis and Dolores Chanal. Cawley explains that the past several days have been designed to allow Laeddis to play out the role of Daniels and break his conspiracy- laden insanity, all hospital staff, including Dr. Sheehan posing as Aule and a nurse posing as Rachel Solando, were part of the test, Laeddis faints as reality and realisation hit him. Laeddis awakes in the hospital, watched by Cawley and Shaheen, the doctors are satisfied with his progression when he tells the truth in a coherent manner, Cawley notes that he achieved this state nine months before, but quickly regressed, this test was Laeddis' last chance to redeem himself. In the end, Laeddis calls Dr. Sheehan by the name "Chuck" and says they need to leave the island, Shaheen shakes his head to gesture the experiment has not worked, but before Laeddis is taken away to have a lobotomy, he says ""Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or die as a good man?", suggesting that he is in fact sane, it is presumed Laeddis cannot live with what he has done. Also starring Max Von Sydow as Dr. Jeremiah Naehring, Ted Levine as Warden, Elias Koteas as Laeddis and Volcano's John Carroll Lynch as Deputy Warden McPherson. DiCaprio gives a terrific performance as the investigator who gets more than he bargained for when he takes on a case, and there is good support from Ruffalo and Kingsley, the Gothic surroundings and operatic thrills work well, you can predict the big twist before the end, and it is the slightest bit too long, but if you want something creepy and gripping then it is not disappointing, a quite good mystery thriller. Worth watching!