SusannahSHUTTER ISLAND
April 5th 2010 08:28
Shutter Island (2010)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer.
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese sure knows how to make movies, as is in evidence here by his new thriller Shutter Island. He has returned to his Hitchcock-inspired phase of Cape Fear, for a gripping and compelling take on what could be viewed as pulpy source material, from the novel Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.
How much trauma can one mind cope with? And is it better to live in the real world with the grim truth, or to retreat into a fantasy of your own construction if that is the only way you are mentally able to survive? Without giving too much away, those are the central questions that Shutter Island asks. The year is 1954 and Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) a U.S. Marshall, has been sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous female mental patient. He and his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) quickly become suspicious when the facts don’t add up and they suspect something more may be happening on Shutter Island than the staff may be telling them. What is the Rule of Four? And who is patient 67? Teddy also has a personal interest in one of the patients housed in the sinister block C, an old civil war fort, which is reserved for only the most violent of mental patients on the island. He is also tormented by flashbacks from his days as a soldier in World War II, when he liberated one of the Nazi concentration camps.
To say any more regarding the plot would risk spoiling the story, but there are clues scattered throughout the narrative as to what is really going on on Shutter Island. Pay attention to the flashback sequences, and you may figure out the reveal before it comes. When it does come though, it is a satisfying and plausible explanation, and is consistent with the narrative.
The film is beautifully shot as well. The opening sequence when Teddy and Chuck get their first glimpse of the island as they are being driven from the ferry dock around to the gates of the asylum, creates an extreme degree of tension, with the music building to an almost unbearable crescendo before the gates of the asylum open, preparing us to see all manner of horrors, only for the music to die away, and for the shot to reveal...some tranquil looking inmates tending to the gardens around a peaceful looking lawn. But that is the core of Shutter Island; all is not as it seems, and appearances may be deceptive.
All the acting is excellent. DiCaprio has never been better, and it is great to see Ben Kingsley back in a decent role after a drunken detour in a Uwe Boll movie. Michelle Williams also gives great support as the ghost of Teddy’s dead wife; and Emily Mortimer gives good crazy as Rachel, the escaped patient.
I recommend Shutter Island for fans of well-crafted and intelligent thrillers that make you think.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer.
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese sure knows how to make movies, as is in evidence here by his new thriller Shutter Island. He has returned to his Hitchcock-inspired phase of Cape Fear, for a gripping and compelling take on what could be viewed as pulpy source material, from the novel Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.
How much trauma can one mind cope with? And is it better to live in the real world with the grim truth, or to retreat into a fantasy of your own construction if that is the only way you are mentally able to survive? Without giving too much away, those are the central questions that Shutter Island asks. The year is 1954 and Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) a U.S. Marshall, has been sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous female mental patient. He and his new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) quickly become suspicious when the facts don’t add up and they suspect something more may be happening on Shutter Island than the staff may be telling them. What is the Rule of Four? And who is patient 67? Teddy also has a personal interest in one of the patients housed in the sinister block C, an old civil war fort, which is reserved for only the most violent of mental patients on the island. He is also tormented by flashbacks from his days as a soldier in World War II, when he liberated one of the Nazi concentration camps.
To say any more regarding the plot would risk spoiling the story, but there are clues scattered throughout the narrative as to what is really going on on Shutter Island. Pay attention to the flashback sequences, and you may figure out the reveal before it comes. When it does come though, it is a satisfying and plausible explanation, and is consistent with the narrative.
The film is beautifully shot as well. The opening sequence when Teddy and Chuck get their first glimpse of the island as they are being driven from the ferry dock around to the gates of the asylum, creates an extreme degree of tension, with the music building to an almost unbearable crescendo before the gates of the asylum open, preparing us to see all manner of horrors, only for the music to die away, and for the shot to reveal...some tranquil looking inmates tending to the gardens around a peaceful looking lawn. But that is the core of Shutter Island; all is not as it seems, and appearances may be deceptive.
All the acting is excellent. DiCaprio has never been better, and it is great to see Ben Kingsley back in a decent role after a drunken detour in a Uwe Boll movie. Michelle Williams also gives great support as the ghost of Teddy’s dead wife; and Emily Mortimer gives good crazy as Rachel, the escaped patient.
I recommend Shutter Island for fans of well-crafted and intelligent thrillers that make you think.
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