You won't forget your stay at this particular island resort

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2010)

Not gonna lie, this movie scared the sh*t out of me. As once he did back in the 80s with the lesser known After Hours, Scorsese has ramped up the tension in a warped cinematic world of high tension, albeit in a very different location. From the ultra psychedelic dream visions to the blustery heart of the island itself, he uses eerier device possible to enrapture the audience in this camp Gothic hell. DiCaprio is on very good form, more vulnerable than in Revolutionary Road, more blistering than in The Departed - and he is ably supported by a stellar ensemble - featuring some great names...Kinglsey. Ruffalo. Clarkson. Williams...they all shine in their respective warped roles, not to mention Jackie Earle Haley and Emily Mortimor as two seemingly broken souls. For nothing is as it's seems on Shutter Island. This story, my god...the definition of a mindf!ck.
Scorsese doesn't let up for a minute throughout, there is no breathing space for the audience - you really spend the time there, from the beginning up until the bitter finale. I didn't know the secret, and was fully invested in finding the truth of it. If there are criticisms to made it surely would fall on the fact that some of the stylistic choice are a bit heavy handed, that Scorsese throws it at you gale force rather than mysterious draught...and to contextualise the story in post-war Communist paranoia, likening the practices of the institution to the death camps of the Holocaust - Scorsese is treading very dangerous water. But then there is nothing really safe Shutter Island - for the entire running time your at the mercy of a master filmmaker, and there are worse way to spend two hours or so. Go see it.