A NEW Martin Scorsese flick is always a good reason to get a little bit excited, because the man just doesn’t make dud movies.
That’s not to say everything he touches turns into a classic, but that his strong filmmaking instinct always crafts something captivating that shines over the top of any conceptual or script-related flaws that may be present.
Shutter Island is not in the league of Raging Bull or Taxi Driver– even The Departed would have stronger claims to classic status – but what Scorsese brings to the table should be enough to satisfy all but the most jaded and demanding filmgoers.
Scorsese’s favoured leading man of recent years Leonardo DiCaprio plays US Marshall Teddy Daniels, who is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane situated on a remote island off the coast of Boston in 1954.
With a new partner (Mark Ruffalo) in tow, Daniels soon finds his suspicions raised by the secretive nature of the hospital’s chief physician Dr Cawley (Ben Kingsley in an appropriately clinical performance), and by the way the clues of the patient’s disappearance just don’t seem to add up.
Haunted by his experiences liberating the concentration camp Dachau at the end of WWII, Daniels is also highly suspicious of German Dr Jeremiah Naering (Max von Sydow), whom he fears may be carrying out research similar to the Nazis’ gruesome experiments during the war.
When a fierce storm cuts the island off from the mainland, Daniels takes the opportunity to delve deeper into the mystery, but soon finds events slipping beyond his control or understanding.
Shutter Island is a tense, claustrophobic psychological thriller that almost crosses into horror territory once or twice in some of the film’s best scenes.
Based on the 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane, it sets itself up for a plot twist at the end, which is duly delivered, and quite satisfying in its unpredictability.
By the way, the heavily scarred man in the cell is not old Scorsese regular Robert De Nirodoing a cameo; it is heavily made-up Elias Koteas looking not unlike a young De Niro.
Shutter Island is a beautifully photographed stylistic triumph, and one that hints at Scorsese’s capabilities if he decided to turn his hand to horror.
Maybe we can all hope one day he will give us something to shelve alongside Kubrick’s The Shining.
Shutter Island (MA)
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo
Rating: Four stars (138 minutes)
Screening: Now