Shutter Island (2010)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Laeta Kalogridis
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Max Von Sydow, Ben Kingsley
Release Date February 19th, 2010
Published February 18th, 2010
This is one of the most difficult reviews I have ever had to write. Martin Scorsese is, arguably, the finest filmmaker I have written about in my lifetime. I have an unending amount of respect and even awe for the man and his movies. Seeing one of his films is about as close as I come to a religious experience.
So, seeing one of his films and feeling that the film came up short of my expectations is not easy. It's not that Shutter Island is a bad movie but rather that I expect so much more from a filmmaker as great as Martin Scorsese. To watch as he steps into one of the biggest movie potholes in history is a little devastating for me.
Shutter Island stars Scorsese's most frequent, recent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio as a Federal Marshall named Teddy Daniels. Teddy with his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) has been dispatched to a place called Shutter Island, a mental institute for the criminally insane, where a patient/inmate has gone missing.
There is no possible way that the patient, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), actually escaped. Shutter Island is an actual island several chilly miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Installed on what used to be a Civil War base, Shutter Island is a forbidding structure that getting into is hard enough, getting out is unthinkable.
And yet, Rachel Solando is missing and no one seems to know how she got out. Why a Federal Marshall is needed for this case is a question never asked. Rachel didn't get off the island and is dead if she did. The hospital has a staff of ex-military and police officers for security who are searching for Rachel when the Marshalls arrive.
Teddy has a secret of his own related to the island but I will leave you to discover that. There are a number of nimble twists and turns to Scorsese's storytelling in Shutter Island. The screenplay was adapted by Laeta Kalogridis from a novel by Dennis Lehane whose novels Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have previously been adapted into excellent movies. Ms. Kalogridis had an exceptionally daunting task in adapting Dennis Lehane's novel for a script by Martin Scorsese and that may be where the film's biggest problems lie.
The cinematic touches of Shutter Island are remarkable. Scorsese's eye is perfectly intact as he and cinematographer Robert Richardson pay homage to Hitchcock, noir detective stories and The Twilight Zone. Especially effective are Teddy's artful nightmares which contain stirring and terrifying imagery. For the visuals alone I could recommend Shutter Island.
The cast is solid as well as we continue to watch the evolution of Leonardo DiCaprio through the eyes of Martin Scorsese. In his non-Scorsese work DiCaprio's boyishness always seems to get played up. His pudgy cheeks and wet eyes were the central image of the failed Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes. Scorsese however, pushes DiCaprio to be a man on screen and DiCaprio rises to each challenge.
The rest of the cast is well populated with figures of menace and intrigue. Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow seem as if they have played the roles of the menacing doctor's at Shutter Island before. Mark Ruffalo perfectly balances insistent camaraderie with his new partner with enough skepticism to keep Teddy from suspecting him.
Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson play two halves of a whole character and could not be better at getting under DiCaprio's skin. Michelle Williams rounds out the cast as Teddy's late wife and the less said about her the better. It's a very strong performance but so key to the plot that I don't want to spoil it with detail.
The final moments of Shutter Island however, for me, are a massive disappointment. I cannot go into detail because you might see the movie and disagree with my assessment. I don't want to rob you of the chance to find the ending satisfying. I didn't find it satisfying, indeed I found it insulting, especially after the exhausting and exciting journey to get there.
Honestly, I predicted Teddy's fate from the first trailer I saw for Shutter Island several months ago. I have not read Dennis Lehane's novel, choosing to avoid it and avoid spoiling the film. Yet, I was able to predict what would happen at the end of Shutter Island. I hoped Scorsese might find a way to surprise or come up with a way to get the same conclusion in a less predictable fashion. Instead, the structure of the plot makes the ending all the more painfully predictable and irritatingly unsatisfying when it comes.
Shutter Island is exceptionally well crafted and everything that leads up to the final moments is spectacular in its cinematic detail. Sadly, the final moments are such a disappointment that recommending the film is difficult if not impossible. I guess I can’t say don’t see it; there is too much good work not to. Just be prepared for a disappointing end and the rare occasion of being disappointed by Martin Scorsese.
