Terror of a Different Kind

Rating: Null/10 (21 February 2010)

Shutter Island (2010)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio's fourth outing together is a brilliantly made that has two hours of build up to a masterfully handled final twenty-minutes. In the film DiCaprio plays U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels who with his partner (Mark Ruffalo) travel to Shutter Island, a mental hospital where a female prisoner has escaped. Teddy and his partner try to break through with the main doctor (Ben Kingsley) but he appears to be hiding what may have really happened. Meanwhile, Teddy continues to suffer migraines and bad dreams of his wife (Michelle Williams) who died in a fire shortly before current events. Out of the four pictures and director and star have made together, I'd probably call this one here the weakest even if it might be the best made one they've done. As I said, this movie has two hours worth of a drawn out mystery that has one brilliant touch after another and then we get hit with a chilling, extremely effective and at times disturbing third act that perfectly puts all the pieces together. Best of all is this is the type of movie that will guarantee people to be talking years after its release.
The technical side of things make this one of the most beautiful and haunting Scorsese pictures out there, which is saying quite a lot when you consider how many great films he has made. What I really loved the most was his wicked cinematography that perfectly puts you on this island and really captures all the possible evils going on. Even better is the music score that's one of the most haunting in recent memory. It perfectly builds up a nice tension and an overall doom and gloom that hasn't really been matched since the wonderful score in THE SHINING. Speaking of the Kubrick film, I can't help but think it was some sort of influence on Scorsese as the two films don't just try to go after cheap scares but instead they build up a strong story and then give us everything else second. Like the Kubrick film, a lot of this movie takes place during the daylight, which again adds a weird and surreal nature to the film. With that said, there are a lot of scenes in dark hallways and dungeon like cells that really work as well as the art direction and set design are top-notch. Other visuals work as well including an extremely beautiful and haunting sequence when DiCaprio first "sees" the ghost of his dead wife and they have a discussion about the missing patient.
The performances are also another very strong part with DiCaprio once again showing why he's one of the best and most interesting actors out there working. He gives another strong performance and it's rather amazing to see how much he can do and how much he can deliver whatever is asked. He perfectly fits the violent side of his characters mind but he is also believable during the conclusion of events and how everything plays out. He handles the emotion scenes extremely well as well as some of the lighter ones. Williams is also very refreshing in her scenes in the film, although she doesn't have as much to do. Ruffalo is also very strong and works well with DiCaprio. Veterans Kingsley and Max von Sydow are wonderful as well as Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley and Ted Levine. The performances mixed with everything else really makes this a complete film from start to finish.
Again, the first two hours are pretty much just building up everything that follows. Perhaps a second viewing would change my opinion on this but I do think a little of this could have been edited out and we wouldn't have missed anything. With that said, one does have to admire the screenplay for getting so many different things in (including a haunting Holocaust sequence) and be able to work them in a way where it all comes through in the end. The ending, which I won't spoil, will have people talking for years and I'm sure many different theories could be made about what happened or didn't happened. To me that's the sign of something special and Scorsese really delivers once again.