[Movie Review] Shutter Island

Shutter Island

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Written by Laeta Kalogridis from a Dennis Lehane novel

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, and Michelle Williams

What can you say about a masterful director who continues to make great films? Not much.

In Shutter Island, Leo DiCaprio (who is slowly starting to convince me that he is an actor of caliber) plays Teddy Daniels, a US Marshall shipped to investigate a “missing persons” in an asylum that serves as the last stop for the criminally insane. If they can’t help you on Shutter Island, then there is no hope for you, but “help” may come at a price when there are rumors of mistreatment and government experimentation on the inmates. But if the staff is in on it, the patients are all delusional, and there is nobody to bail you out for miles and miles…what’s to stop the medical staff from diagnosing you?

Martin Scorsese knows psychosis. With Robert DeNiro on board, Scorsese’s fervent examinations of Jake La Motta (Raging Bull), Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver), Rupert Pupkin (King of Comedy), and Max Cady (Cape Fear) are some of the best put to film. Shutter Island is no exception. While the performances of DiCaprio, Ruffalo, Kingsley, von Sydow, and Williams are all haunting (no small feat with all these familiar faces), it is Scorsese’s guiding hand that turns this spiral. The director uses all the old tricks, but with a master’s touch (pay particular attention to the use of lighting as a storytelling tool), creating an intense psychological thriller that puts M. Knight Shyamalan’s best efforts to shame.