In director Martin Scorsese’s latest film, Shutter Island, both Scorsese and lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio, create another masterpiece.
One of the most well-know directors in Hollywood is Martin Scorsese. Although he has done many popular films such as Gangs of New York (2002) and Goodfellas (1990), it was not until 2007 when he won his first Oscar for directing the crime drama, The Departed (which also won Best Picture that year). Scrorsese’s latest thriller, Shutter Island, stars Leonardo DiCaprio (who appears to be in most Scorsese movies) who gives the usual phenomenal performance as a U.S. Marshal sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient in a hospital for the criminally insane located on the remote Shutter Island.
Set back in 1954, Shutter Island begins on a day when the weather is foggy. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road) and his partner Chuck Aula (Mark Ruffalo, The Brothers Bloom) are on a small boat, sailing the ocean to reach the Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane, located on the remote Shutter Island. While the boat does not seem to be sailing at a fast pace, the first shot of Teddy is of him vomiting at a toilet, as he claims to get seasick easily. While I feel the film’s opening did not have to consist of a seasick Leonardo DiCaprio, I really did enjoy the musical score, especially in the beginning. As the boat was sailing, there were deep, ominous foghorns heard in the background. These horns were a part of a great score written by John Adams (On the Transmigration of Souls), which seemed to stay in tune with the film, as listening to the score alone will give one the sense of doom and evil.
After arriving on Shutter Island, Teddy and Chuck are introduced to the police force that seems to be hard at work searching the entire island for a missing patient. The police warden (Ted Levine, Monk) makes them both hand in their firearms before escorting them to the main building where the head of the facility, Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley, Lucky Number Slevin), tells them what happened: A patient (although they are prisoners, Cawley insists they be referred to as “patients,”) named Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer, Lars and the Real Girl) mysteriously vanished from a locked room. While both DiCaprio and Ruffalo gave amazing performances, Ben Kingsley was just as phenomenal. In such an unsettling and bad situation, Cawley acts very calm, especially when he says things like, “It’s as if she evaporated, straight through the walls.”
As Teddy begins to do his own investigating because he believes they are not being told everything, he and Chuck begin searching the buildings and interviewing the patients. While beginning his investigation, Teddy’s deceased wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy), comes to him in dreams to inform Teddy that Rachel is still on the island, as is Andrew Laeddis, the man responsible for starting the house fire that killed her. I thought Teddy’s dream sequences were very well crafted, as they seemed quite surreal. In one, Teddy is remembering the house fire, and while he is holding his wife, she begins to transform into ashes. As one who likes films with a surreal feel to them, I really enjoyed these abstract scenes, as they were very unique, especially for a Martin Scorsese film (I do not think Scorsese has ever done scenes like this before).
After a destructive hurricane hits the island, Teddy and Chuck gain access inside the third building where the most dangerous patients are kept. Once they were inside, I too felt a little on-edge. The inside of the building looked like the set of the Saw horror movies, as it was old, dark, and rusty and it seemed more like a torture chamber than a prison, but I guess if one was a vile psychopath, this building’s ambiance would suit their needs just fine. Teddy and Chuck meet the police warden again and are tasked with catching the patients who are loose (the hurricane knocked out the power lines): Chuck and the warden going one way and Teddy going the other.
As Teddy is wandering down the cell halls alone, he meets George Nonce (Jackie Earle Haley, Watchmen) who tells him Shutter Island is performing human experiments on the patients. Jackie Earle Haley, known for his disturbing and rather creepy performances in films such as Little Children and as Freddy Krueger in the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie (April 30, 2010), gives another unsettling performance as a patient who, although seeming a bit friendly to DiCaprio, his horrifying appearance would make one think otherwise.
Both Scorsese and DiCaprio create another memorable masterpiece with Shutter Island. While I was expecting the story to revolve around ghosts and the paranormal, I was a bit disappointed when there was none. However, Shutter Island has a great and original story [which is based on Dennis Lehane’s (Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River) best-selling novel] with phenomenal acting (especially by Leonardo DiCaprio), surreal dream sequences, and a twist that, while many may see it coming, it continues with even more twists that may make them shutter.
Rating: ★★★★☆
