From Goodfellas to Casino, to The Departed and even The Wolf of Wall Street, director Martin Scorsese has given us some of this generations's finest crime dramas. So when Scorsese released Shutter Island, a suspense film about an insane asylum on an island, few people knew what to expect. It should only be fitting that while watching the film, it's still impossible to know what to expect.
Scorsese favorite Leonardo DiCaprio (leading man in five of the director's films) plays Teddy Daniels, an FBI agent bound for Shutter Island along with new partner Chuck (The Avengers star Mark Ruffalo) to investigate the mysterious escape of one of the asylum's patients. After that...well, you need to watch it a second time to fully understand it. Some may see this as a quality to the film's credit, others may see it as a drawback, and honestly, it can go both ways. The reason this is a good thing is because it clearly shows that a great deal of thought was put into the film's writing. Upon re-watching, one will find that all of the dots that once stood out in confusion now connect. The reason that this Inception-style writing works against the film is not because it requires and demands constant attention, but rather because it just isn't Scorsese. The master of crime drama, though trying his hardest, can't help but seem out of his element. That isn't to say that he can't expand his horizons successfully. Scorsese's family film Hugo, for example, thrives because it relies entirely on original material. Shutter Island, in comparison, almost feels distractingly reminiscent of The Shining, with all of its harrowing hallways and ghastly encounters. Shutter Island, you'll notice, also has a habit of digressing from its initial course to delve into Daniels' scarred psyche. This isn't an issue in The Shining, because it's the focus of the film. DiCaprio really plays the gambit in this one, ranging his emotions from the utmost confidence to the utmost terror. While this certainly wasn't his finest performance, no one can deny that he's the best man for the job. Ruffalo, in contrast, plays the perfect supporting character, and it's always a pleasant surprise to see the enigmatic Ben Kingsley. If anything can be said for Shutter Island, it is a very well-decorated film (in terms of both its eerie tone and wonderful set design) complimented by enjoyable acting on all fronts. The plot, however, has a tendency to soar over its own head at points, and completely misses the mark on the mission of a good twist ending. Looking back at the original Planet of the Apes and Psycho, it becomes clear that a good twist ending is supposed to leave an audience gasping, not scratching their heads in confusion. This is achieved by a single shot or phrase that implies and makes everything clear. By leaving too many steps for the audience to unravel in such a short time, they are required to overthink the elements, and the result feels very distant from being a great Scorsese picture. Not great, but certainly good, and, despite its contrivances, certainly worth three out of four stars.
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