Moviegoers and critics will undoubtedly be debating whether or not Shutter Island is a horror movie for years to come. While its genre might be up for debate, there’s no doubt that it’s a Martin Scorsese film, haunted with the inner demons and guilty violence that have characterized much of his work. Shutter Island may not go down as one of Scorcese’s best movies, but it wears Alfred Hitchcock on its sleeve and is a taunt and harrowing journey into madness.
The year is 1954, and World War 2 is still fresh enough that concentration camps flashbacks are understandable, and a murderess can gain a sympathy point for being a war widow. Federal marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to Shutter Island to investigate a disappearance of a patient from Ashecliffe Hospital. The criminally insane Rachel Solando has managed to free herself from a locked cell without any assistance, witnesses, or shoes. Nothing adds up, and as a hurricane bears down on the isolated island, the secrecy piles up oppressively. Daniels is weighed down by the atmosphere, crippled by migraines and past memories which the asylum preys on. Danger oozes around every damp wall, the solicitous doctors are exchanging too many furtive glances, no one wants to talk, and even his partner seems mulishly uncooperative. Daniels becomes desperate and suspicious, and he clings to his badge as the only hope that he’ll escape Ashecliffe alive or sane.
There are not a lot of surprises in Shutter Island. Even if you haven’t read Dennis Lehane’s book, you know there are only a few ways the story can go. Moviegoers may be furious Scorsese has fallen prey to the popularity of a twist ending, though the director broadcasts his intentions early on. The thrill of Shutter Island isn’t meant to be the end game. It’s the visceral journey that lures you into fever dreams and clammy realizations, and make the viewer question the nature of madness, responsibility, kindness, and violence. The ghosts raised go beyond the big reveal of the film, and will be what hold up to multiple viewings along with the stunning cinematography, hellish soundwork, gory effects, and solid performances.
DiCaprio is fantastic as Daniels, a man tries to bury his horrors under brusque impatience and toughness. As he begins to crumble, his desperation and sorrow play out in his red-rimmed eyes. The final act is a bitter and breathtaking rush of a performance, one of his best to date. It’s to DiCaprio’s credit more than Scorsese’s that you carry any frantic and desperate wish for a sunshine conclusion. In the end, it’s not the slippery rocks, the rats, or the labcoats that deliver the final chill of the film. It’s DiCaprio’s closing line, aching with bitter knowledge and sadness.
DiCaprio’s performance is strong enough to carry the film on its own, but he’s set off by a great supporting cast. While the nature of the plot leaves Ruffalo standing stolidly by the wayside, Kingsley is unusually light with his slick platitudes. Max von Sydow and Ted Levine ooze classical evil, while Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, and Patrica Clarkson do eerie work with very little material. Even the shaky Boston accents of a few players don’t distract too badly. They all lull you in to accepting the surreal, and doubting the sincere.
In lesser hands, Shutter Island would be a hamfisted spook fest. But Scorsese elevates it to something that truly unnerves you. It’s not a perfect film, largely due to an ending that does ask a lot of a viewer and may feel too familiar. But it’s refreshing to see Scorsese jump genres, and go deeper with the horror he’s only toyed with before in films like Bringing Out the Dead. Thrillers are rarely done this well, and Shutter Island is one that will leave you shivering beyond the initial shocks and surprises.
The twist ending was a bit of a fad let down, but DiCaprio was great, as usual. All in all a good watch. One for the shelf, just as a novel would, for a revisit every other year or so… on a cold winter night. Thanks for the review!
Very good actor’s play, music and beginning of the movie. All went well untill DiCaprio met the George in block “C”. Then began clear pscyho, not trhiller… Bad the end of film, imho.
I don't see the twist, rather how brain washing works – if you believe Leo was patient of the clinic since ever, you might be a patient too?
Spoiler alert… I agree that the ending was not necessarily a twist. Rather, Scorsese leave you guessing as to whether decaprio’s character was a brainwashed federal marshal (Teddy Daniels) or whether he was a patient (Andrew Ledis) . The key nuance is when chuck (the doctor???) Calls out to decaprio, “Teddy!” Thus, maybe he was the brainwashed detective after all. Further, they were taking him to the lighthouse presumably for lobotomy, in line with Teddy’s theory.
Chuck is his partner.
I'm often conscious of the tricks our mind can play on us and how we can sometimes become confused between reality and fantasy / imagination. small wonder it seems as we are yet to fully work out how the brain differentiates between the two! however, if i needed any reminding of this fact, the film 'shutter island' (2010) illustrated it very well.
martin scorsese's latest venture, set in 'a water-bound mental hospital housing the criminally insane' (rottentomatoes.com), was in my view a hopelessly sensational and ludicrously contrived film with more twists and turns than one could keep track of. it eventually left you feeling potentially unsure of anything in life let alone the film, which could have been unnerving if you hadn't walked out of the cinema or felt beyond caring by that point.
not exactly in the realm of 'the usual suspects' or 'the sixth sense' where you didn't quite know what to expect or what was coming but at least it all came together in the end and the audience didn't feel quite so hopelessly and deliberately manipulated…
The scene where he finds the actual Rachel Slondo makes me believe that he becomes brainwashed at the end.