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Release Date: Feb. 19
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay), Dennis Lehane (novel)
Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Studio/Run Time: Paramount Pictures, 138 mins.
Scorsese gets his Hitchcock on
Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s pulp thriller is a brainy and compelling take on that most hoary of film genres: psychological horror. Equal parts parable and cautionary tale, Shutter Island is an expertly-paced thriller that feels far shorter and more exhilarating than its lengthy runtime suggests.
Federal marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio dressed to the nines as a scenery-devouring g-man) is sent to the eponymous isle—a maximum security mental-ward-cum-penitentiary off the New England coast called Ashecliffe—to investigate a criminally insane prisoner’s disappearance. It’s quickly apparent that there’s something amiss about this case, and a palpable sense of foreboding bleeds through Scorsese’s gorgeous and ominous establishing shots: brick buildings loom against murky skies, the prisoners’ screams echo through the facility’s crumbling corridors, and Daniels, a WWII veteran, is haunted by vivid and surreal flashbacks to his dead wife and the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.
As Daniels chainsmokes his way through literal and mental labyrinths, Shutter Island heaps on plot twist after hallucination after cryptic foreshadowing. Keen editing prevents this psychological alphabet soup from becoming incomprehensible, instead providing layers of intrigue and forcing the audience to puzzle through Daniels’ delirium without the benefit of dramatic irony. The film’s ending is quite clearly telegraphed by the third act, but Scorsese’s knack for getting his audiences emotionally invested in the ride fosters a near-voyeuristic thrill at seeing DiCaprio (ravenous for what might well be an Oscar nod) break down, so the fragments of his psyche can be sorted out along with the plot. Which is why Scorsese hasn’t just crafted an admirable thriller—he’s damn near made the genre his own.
Watch the Shutter Island trailer:
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I couldn't disagree more with you. On a technical level, the score is completely over the top. Or maybe that's just the sound mix. Individual scenes are well edited but the whole thing has a sort of pasted together feel rather than seeming like an integrated whole. Acting performances are all good but you wouldn't know they are acting in the same movie. This would never get an award for "best ensemble acting." Because of the story line the movie (unintentionally, I think) trashes every concern of the 50's, from H-bombs to mind control experiments to red baiting to lobotomy) and renders them meaningless and simple evidence of paranoia. In fact, the movie has no meaning at all, has nothing to say. And to me, the Hitchcock comparisons are not quite correct. It is more in "The Sixth Sense" vein, which doesn't strike me as having all that much to do with Hitchcock. There have been other reviews that talk about Scorcese's references to other movies as a kind of subtext. Those things may be there and, perhaps, they are what he liked most about this movie. But to me there is not enough in the basic surface of the movie to make it worth making the side trip to film buffdom land. And maybe that's the real problem; that maybe Scorcese's more interested in that and the movie is just a game that he has to play in order to do the other.
Given all the hype about the movie and, in particular, about the "genius" that is Scorcese, I found the film a major disappointment.
Best review ever, Michael.
as a huge scorcese fan, and a huge hitchcock fan, i have to say i was disappointed with shutter island. the film was slow, and i was actually bored at some junctures. i suppose it didn't help that i had the movie figured out within the first 10 minutes. there were some very good scenes, but nothing surprising. i won't bother watching it again. i heard a rumor that scorcese had the cast watch north by northwest before shooting the film. for what? any actor worth his salt would have already seen that film at least a few times. if that was the vibe he was trying to create, i think he missed the mark.
I would just like to say, look at the ending of this film again, I see something other than what everyone i've spoken to and all of the reviews i've read have seen. tell me if you also see something else.
I saw this movie and noticed this blunder ;p Mrs. Kearns uses Teddy's ball-point pen to writes her note in Teddy's notebook. Later, When Teddy reveals what she wrote during the rainstorm, the ink runs off the paper, as if it was written with a fountain pen.
"Given all the hype about the movie and, in particular, about the "genius" that is Scorcese, I found the film a major disappointment."
...agreed. Big time.