(Long Island, N.Y.) So, we’re talking about Shutter Island today. I’ve seen the preview for directing great Martin Scorsese’s new film (based on Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel) seemingly millions of times, as it’s been attached to nearly every film that’s been released for the past 6 months. It was getting to the point that I was starting to hear the following line of dialogue from the trailer in my sleep, delivered by star Leonardo DiCaprio with what appeared to be a harsh Massachusetts accent: “We’re dooooLEE ap-POINN-ted Fed-RAL MAAH-shalls.” Try saying that with your friends. It’s fun.
Anyway, Shutter Island. The trailers painted it to be Scorsese’s foray into horror, a genre first for the director of noted gangster films such as Goodfellas and Casino. Only, in reality, it’s NOT a horror movie, but more a mystery/thriller. Another disservice the trailer does for the viewer, in addition to portraying Shutter Island as something it’s not, is that it heavily hints towards what the film’s “twist” ending is. But if you’re lucky enough not to have put two and two together from the preview, you probably will about 5 minutes into the film itself. And you know what? The conclusion you draw as to the twist ending will probably be right on the money, but you’ll still have to sit through the remaining two hours of Shutter Island nonetheless (well, you don’t HAVE to, but it’d be silly to walk out having paid to see it). This is maddening in the sense that knowing the obvious outcome robs the movie of all tension and/or anticipation on the part of the viewer. But, that large flaw aside, is Shutter Island worth watching anyway? Read on for the exciting answer!
So, this Shutter Island place is home to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are a pair of U.S. Marshals sent to the island to investigate the disappearance of a patient, murderess Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer). They are introduced to head administrator Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley), who right away comes across as shady and deceitful. And you know what? He just might be! But regardless of the good doctor’s allegiance to the letter of the law, Teddy and Chuck begin their probe into the whereabouts of Rachel, and soon find themselves encountering more questions than answers (which is always the case in this type of movie). To complicate matters, Teddy reveals to Chuck that he has ulterior motives for being on Shutter Island: that he’s actually there to take revenge on an inmate named Andrew Laeddis for
the death of his wife two years prior. Soon, a savage hurricane hits, Dr. Cawley and his staff turn against the officers, evidence of grisly human experiments surfaces, and Chuck mysteriously disappears, forcing the intrepid and troubled Teddy to go it alone against the grim secrets and dangers of Shutter Island.
Well, we’ve already covered how this film telegraphs it’s climatic punch a light-year ahead of its delivery (if it didn’t for you, I’m envious), but does that make it a bad movie? Not really, no. Shutter Island is still chock full of the classy touches we’ve come to expect of Martin Scorsese, including slow, steady, prolonged camera shots (a rarity in this day and age
of rapid-fire everything) and some very tight and creative editing. Also worth mentioning is another Scorsese trademark, namely the score; Shutter Island’s classical music soundtrack is actually very good and contributes greatly to the Silent Hill-meets-1950’s Detective Story atmosphere of the movie. And personally, it was a relief that Marty didn’t manage to sneak a Rolling Stones tune into one of his flicks for once.
Of course, an impressive ensemble cast is another staple of Scorsese movies, and Shutter Island is no exception. Leonardo DiCaprio, whose 2007 movie Blood Diamond was the subject of my very first review here on Long Island Exchange (hopefully my writing has improved a little since then), continues to cement his reputation as one of this generation’s greatest actors, delivering a gritty, multi-faceted character with a tragic past. But it’s not just DiCaprio carrying this movie on his shoulders, oh no. I mean, look at this list of actors: Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levine, and Elias Koteas, all of whom put in a great performance. I mean, Scorsese has assembled an amazing cast, here.
So, with assets like this, how could anything, other than the transparent plot, be wrong? Well, here’s a valid complaint: Shutter Island is a bit long, and it’s plot a bit too centered around it’s big twist. And when that twist can be figured out so very easily, a movie that is a “bit long” can wind up feeling like an eternity. Now, I’ve been complaining about the non-surprise plot twist my whole review thus far (sorry!), but to be fair, I suppose I should address an important question: is it a BAD twist? Actually, no. In may ways it’s actually a very good convolution, but if you went into The Sixth Sense knowing Bruce Willis’ character was dead (sorry if you haven’t seen it yet, but man, Sixth Sense was made YEARS ago), you probably wouldn’t have found that movie nearly as gripping, either.
Also, and this may seem nit-picky, but the film seemed to go out of it’s way to get Leo to every part of the island for some strange reason. That was just odd.
So, Shutter Island: a moody mystery with some really fantastic settings (I forgot to mention this- the island’s environments are really breathtaking, and the hospital creepy as hell), but it drags pretty badly in parts and a lot of the suspense is killed because of a script that inadvertently gives everything away right at the beginning. Not one of Scorsese’s best, but certainly not one of his worst, either.
