Shutter Island Review

[Grinch11]

This review will remain spoiler free in order to allow for the mind-boggling journey you’re about to take whilst consuming Martin Scorsese’s inspired foray into supernaturally tinged noir storytelling to be as surprising as possible. As a condensed summary to get a feel of what you are embarking on when you take the ferry to Shutter Island, know this; it is beautiful, immediate, and relentlessly gripping moviemaking by a master pulling both the strings and the wool over your eyes with the renewed vigour of a director stepping outside of his already stratospheric comfort zone.

Adapted from Dennis “Mystic River” Lehane’s novel, this is a drama (or is it a horror? or is it a mystery?) set in 1954 that tells the tale of US Marshall, Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his investigation into the disappearance of a convicted murderer from her seemingly impenetrable cell on the notorious asylum of Shutter Island. For your own benefit that’s all we’re telling you.

When stepping foot on Scorsese’s island, the first thing you notice is how stunning it looks. You can keep your three dimensional rabbits and blue aliens if directors can still make traditional moviemaking that looks this good. Utilising a naturally graceful camera technique that is balletic in its movement, there are enough outstanding instances to fill this entire page, but if you find a sequence as stunning, operatic and as detailed in depth as DiCaprio’s apartment farewell with Michelle Williams then you can send me to the nuthouse and throw away the key; it’s breathtaking.

Orchestrated to a booming (when necessary) score, Scorsese abandons us on an intimidating island that’s made up of looming walls and isolated locations that make the penitentiary as much of a monster as the assorted loons. There is even a nod to Mean Streets as the ferry emerges from the mist over the opening credits, and the labyrinthine claustrophobia of the Ward C steel cage sequences is highly effective. There is a comparable and successful Wicker Man vibe that permeates Shutter Island and helps magnify Teddy’s increasingly bleak plight.

A situation made all the more harrowing by a career best performance from DiCaprio, and that’s going some. Initially hard headed in the tradition of all the golden era Hollywood detectives, you get the feeling he could have walked straight from the set of The Maltese Falcon. It’s watching this veneer peel away as Teddy goes deeper into the catacombs of the asylum that’s the true horror, and it’s to DiCaprio’s credit that you are emotionally attached to him every step of the way or the film wouldn’t work.

Marty never opts for the cheap scares either; they are all earnt by ratcheting up the tension and the unhurried (some may say slow) nature of the narrative. If he is this at ease within the horror/mystery genre, then he should make this his playground more often.

Only slightly hindered by the temptation for one twist too many, there comes a point at which DiCaprio notes “I’m not following you, I’m sorry”, and as with the rest of his excellent performance I was right there with him. However, when the somewhat predictable pay-off comes, it is superbly handled and heartbreakingly played out.

Shutter Island is an intimate beast of a movie from a director let off the leash that challenges and rewards the viewer in every single department, dismiss it as a B-movie genre offering at your peril.


****Here's a link to Total Film's 4 star review of Shutter Island. Added by Liz. Thanks.****

[Zippykins1]

Enjoyable creepiness as you try to work out what the hell is going on ( I had it mostly figured out bar a few details).

A fine cast doing a good job, although they could have shaved off a bit of the running time by getting to the point quicker at the ending. But, overall a good watch.

[hawktheslayer]

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), Shutter Island tells the story of 1950’s US Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) as he and his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) as they head to Shutter Island, a mental institute for the criminally insane, to find an escaped in-mate.

All is not what it seems on the foreboding Shutter Island: the staff, led by a particularly creepy (SIR!) Ben Kingsley, seem almost reluctant to help the case progress and are seem almost conspiratorial with the inmates to cloud the investigation. On top of this, Daniels himself has another agenda for being involved involving his murdered wife.

All of which weaves a tangled web that really get the grey matter working, especially if, like me, you are inclined to enjoy the challenge of keeping pace with the detective in a detective story.

The movie is very much in a similar vein to Scorsese’s Cape Fear remake, complete with a seriously imposing score, sweeping camera moves and scene compositions that comfortably straddle Film Noir and thrillers from the 50’s stylistics.

Whilst the cast are adequate in what they do, the movie really belongs to Scorsese. The look and sound of the movie is entrenched in Cape Fear territory, but the atmosphere of the movie is much more akin to Polanski’s paranoia classics Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby. It is credit to Scorsese that this side to the movie is the most apparent and helps entwine the viewer in the tangled web that is Shutter Island. There seems to me to be a real focus on Scorsese’s vision for the movie and the result is indelibly stamped as a Scorsese movie much more than it will ever be a DiCaprio movie.

DiCaprio does cope well with his role and one thing that DiCaprio does so well that many of his contemporaries cannot is show genuine vulnerability. Although, I personally find him to still look a little too young-looking and not grizzled enough to play characters such as Daniels, this reservation was lost once Shutter Island came into view.

The movie will have you revsiting themes and scenes long after the titles roll and it is certainly a movie to discuss afterwards rather than file away as 2 hours of escapism. The movie also invites a second viewing, although I think a dvd/blu-ray with a director’s commentary would be my own viewing choice.

My Rating: 4/5

[Lizhawkins]

Hi hawktheslayer,

The URL in your sig has a typo:

www.writeronthestorm.worpress.com

I've fixed it for you via the Admin Panel.

[hawktheslayer]

Wow - good spot

Thank you

[SullivanHatch]

I was going to come on here to give this film the review it deserved - as far as my own opinions go - but here we are, no need. Put simply, Grinch11, I couldn't possibly agree more. For some reason I've been a DiCaprio from day one (I think it's fair to say I wasn't in his apparent demographic, being a teenage boy when the hysteria got off the ground and dampened so many young, female foreheads) and above them all, above Romeo and Juliet, above The Departed, above Grape and the ship and the one with the accent, this is his best performance. Ruffalo, too, who to my knowledge has never put a foot wrong as far as performances go, breezed along in the complex shoes of Chuck with ease. And Kingsley, and the ever-beautiful Williams; not a duff show between them. Max von Sydow was just doing his Max von Sydow thing, but even this isn't to be sniffed at. I was spellbound by this movie and everyone in it. And about the ending; I kind of got it, the bare bones of it anyway, yet I've never enjoyed so much the feeling of waiting to see if I was right - and there was so much more to pick up along the way! Shutter Island is an intimate beast of a movie from a director let off the leash that challenges and rewards the viewer in every single department, dismiss it as a B-movie genre offering at your peril, as you said.

[RobnCaruso]

Shutter Island is the type of film you would need to watch over again to really catch what it was all about. If you did not read the book, which I had a few years ago, the ending was just as a suprise to me as if I had not read the book. Everything that was written had a purpose, the time period in particular. The film was more of a puzzle than a mystry. DiCaprio's preformance was key to make it work. I also believe there were only a handfull of directors that could pull off a film like this. Eastwood would have been one, Hitchcock if he was alive, and maybe Ridley Scott. But in Scorcese's hands it came together very well. To me it's worth a second look.

[Kiba.]

I loved it. Great story, good cast and acting and plenty of atmosphere and harrowing beauty in the location.

[Porkchopexpress]

Well I'm going to go against the flow here and say that I found it to be a truly dreaful film, with it's only redeeming feature being it's cinematography.

In my opinion Scorsese's worst film for a long time and if the missus hadn't paid for the ticket I would have walked out, the second half of the film was so preposterous and the final act stretched out ten minutes too far.

It's strange as I was so excited by the previews and have been a casual admirer of lehane's work for a while, now I've never read 'Shutter Island' and the only reason for that is I couldn't find a copy without Di caprio's mug on it. Call me a literary fascist, but I aim to never own a book with 'Now based on a major motion picture..' in print larger than the title.

I think the reasons for me hating it so much is that we've recently been spoiled in the last decade with mind twisting films distorting realism and changing audience expectations. Whether it be from the sublime (Fincher/Hitchock) to the erratic (Shyamalan). Now the majority of previews and reviews were favourable to the rough score of say 4/5?

But there was always the hinted at 'suprise ending' or 'unusual mystery' and I'm sorry , but anyone who reads a synopsis such as that about a film involving a policeman investigating an 'insane asylum' which housed an important something or other from his past knows the ending. In my opinion it was blatant.

OK guessing the ending is an inquisitive aspect of the cinema goer and it's not always bad, half the fun is the journey as opposed ot the outcome, but it was without flair or art for me.

The acting was satisfactory, but the film left me cold and bored and frustrated at how ridiculous the plot was becoming and the ridiculous journey leading to the under whelming and frankly impotent climax, I'd ceased caring after the initial walk through of the asylum. (Which was gorgeous)

Sadly beautiful cinematography does not a good film make, I found it forced and artifical. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, but I just didn't like it.

Don;t want to hijack this review thread, just my two cents worth.

[Jonesy]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It reminded me of the films of the '50s, and in particular it was obvious that Scorcese was trying to echo Hitchcock with Vertigo, and specifically Marnie. But this wasn't to the detriment of the film. I was glued to the screen all the way through, even though the denouement was fairly predictable. Di Caprio was excellent, and casting Ben Kingsley was inspired, for reasons that I can't mention in case I give away the ending.

Not sure why you didn't like it, Porkchop. Scorsese has made some stinkers, but this wasn't one of them.