Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley & Mark Ruffalo
An effective and entertaining suspense thriller, in which Scorsese excels in infusing with Hitchcock style tones, twists and direction with an excellent cast lead by a satisfyingly twitchy performance from DiCaprio.
Much like previous Lehane adaptations Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island retains the familiar elements of Lehane’s novels: the Bostonian locale and dialect, themes of crime, corruption and questions over who can be trusted all built around a central mystery, a central case to be solved. But unlike previous adaptations, Scorsese has also chosen to use the material to craft an effective mystery thriller where he can pay tribute to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. With Leonardo DiCaprio in the leading role (his fourth consecutive leading role for Scorsese), Shutter Island is a very satisfying film that is effective as a suspense thriller, as a tribute to Hitchcock and as an adaptation even though the central conceit of the plot struggles to hold together as effectively as the novel.
It is 1954. Sent to Shutter Island, a high security mental facility treating the criminally insane, US Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) is investigating the mysterious disappearance of a patient who managed to disappear from a locked room without being seen. With a new partner in tow named Chuck (Ruffalo), Teddy finds his investigation stalled by the facility’s bureaucracy and by suspicious behaviour from several of the facility’s staff and patients including the chief psychiatrist Dr. Cawley (Kingsley) who promotes novel methods of treating the insane by encouraging them to act out their delusions in the hope of them realising their falsehoods and accepting the truth while Cawley’s partner, Dr. Naerhing believes in surgical treatment as a way of controlling patients. With Teddy also intending to locate a man he believes responsible for killing his wife years earlier who supposed to be a patient on the island too and finding a note from the missing patient implying that there was another patient also missing, Teddy suspects a cover up and the possibility that the facility’s staff are engaged in secret, immoral experiments involving their patients.
Scorsese has always been known to be a film buff and in Shutter Island, he has found a suspense thriller in Lehane’s novel with which he can pay tribute to filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. In this regard, Scorsese is highly effective. From the musical score, loud and brassy, to camera angles and the staging of scenes that recall moments from Hitchcock films like Vertigo and North by Northwest and with a plot that involves issues of trust and paranoia referencing films like Suspicion, Saboteur, Frenzy and even The Birds (there are even shower scenes though they don’t end as that of Psycho), Shutter Island is filled with Hitchcock-style themes and scenes that should engage other film fans. As a suspense thriller in it’s own right, Shutter Island is still engaging, still enjoyable with Scorsese seemingly enjoying the twists and turns of the plot, or pushing his lead actor DiCaprio into dark places and maintaining enough mystery and sleight of hand to keep all but the most sceptical guessing for a while even though when the truth finally is revealed, the pieces don’t quite hold together as satisfactorily as may be expected.
Shutter Island boasts an impressive cast and all are enjoyable, even impressive. In his fourth leading role for Scorsese, performs admirably in a role that combines the committed detective of The Departed with one under threat of mental instability and collapse like that of The Aviator. DiCaprio gives a committed performance, believably determined to uncover the truth at any cost, constantly angered by the obstacles he is facing whilst struggling to keep his sanity together as the island and its inhabitants and the mounting suspicion and fear plays upon his mind. Mark Ruffalo is enjoyable in a contrasting performance as Teddy’s partner, the calmer more concerned Chuck while Kingsley and Von Sydow are both enjoyable as the facility’s two leading doctors, particularly Kingsley who manages to give a performance that portrays his character as one that could be genuinely concerned with good intentions for his patients but could also be hiding many secrets as Teddy believes. Emily Mortimer is chilling as the missing patient Rachel Solando with flashes back to the incidents that led to her incarceration being effectively frightening coming from someone of Mortimer’s frame and demeanour. The rest of the facility’s staff and patients are filled with memorable cameos by actors such as Ted Levine, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley and Elias Koteas.
The house of cards that Scorsese and Lehane have built might not hold up to scrutiny but Shutter Island is nevertheless a gripping suspense thriller, impressively shot, with enjoyable performances especially from DiCaprio and Hitchcock fans will delight in the many references and influences present throughout. A very enjoyable film.
Rating: 4/5
