Scorsese Driving DiCaprio Insane Again - ‘Shutter Island’ Review

Posted on March 3, 2010 - 7:31pm by michael It was by pure chance that I read Dennis Lehane's novel “Shutter Island.” I was wandering around the Santa Monica public library a few years ago and noticed it on one of the new release sections. Crazy stories that take place in crazy houses tend to interest me, so I checked it out just to see if it would catch my eye, and I ended up reading almost the entire thing in a single afternoon. I seem to remember that the ending didn’t exactly knock my socks off, but man, that thing’s a page-turner if I’ve ever read one. Martin Scorsese lends his characteristic style to the proceedings and, by staying closely faithful to the novel, brings us a cracklingly good adaptation of it. The movie’s showcase twist in the final act is conspicuously unshocking, but there’s never a dull moment, and that goes a long way. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Teddy Daniels, a federal marshal assigned to investigate a missing prisoner on Shutter Island, an old Civil War outpost that’s been refitted into a detention facility for the criminally insane. Mark Ruffalo is his partner Chuck, whose main objectives seem to be handing Teddy cigarettes and agreeing with him. No points for guessing that Everything Is Not As It Seems, but Scorsese’s skillful direction, outstanding performances across the board, and a totally fascinating location more than make up for the high predictability factor. The missing prisoner is Rachel Solando (Patricia Clarkson). The circumstances of her disappearance offer no room for a reasonable explanation, from her inexplicable disappearance from a locked room to the entire security force’s inability to find her on an inescapable island. It isn’t very clearly explained why two federal marshals are brought in in the first place, but the movie never slows down enough for us to wonder much about it. Scorsese makes the most of the movie’s remote location, never allowing us to forget how isolated the asylum is, and how far removed they are from any help. The only way off the island, other than death, seems to be a ferry that never seems to show up, and events get weirder and weirder as the walls, the guards, and the very sky close in on us. Ben Kingley plays the character of Dr. Cawley, a man who has masterminded what he hopes to be a ground-breaking method of treating mental illness. The movie takes place in the 1950s, as the controversial era of involuntary lobotomies was being replaced by the era of psycho-pharmacology – thorazine and whatnot (which you may remember not working at all on Michael Myers) - but Dr. Cawley’s convinced that there’s still something to be said for simply talking to the patients and trying to better understand them rather than pumping them up full of pills. Seems like an idea that should be given a little more credit way up here in the 21^st century. Dutton and his partner are faced with the task of figuring out what’s going on on the island, where every new discovery just leads to more confusion. The cast of the movie is particularly memorable. It seems at first glance to be another Scorsese/DiCaprio movie, but closer inspection reveals an impressive list of notable actors. Mark Ruffalo delivers yet another outstanding performance, Ben Kingsley inhabits the ominous character of Dr. Cawley with astonishing, almost unsettling accuracy, and the 81-year-old Max Von Sydow appears as a ranking doctor with a dark past. Every time I see Sydow in another movie I’m amazed. The guy has looked exactly the same for a quarter century. And Elias Koteas, a highly accomplished actor who I nevertheless will always remember as Casey Jones from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, makes a small but welcome appearance. But like I said, it’s the location that’s the real star of the movie. It opens with an aerial approach to the forbidding island between a stormy sky and a stormy ocean, setting the perfect stage for the strange events that are to follow, and Scorsese milks the atmosphere for all its worth. Besides a compelling story, the movie provides such a fascinating tour of the island that it made me wish I could be an orderly or a guard on a place like Shutter Island. I’ve never had an inkling of interest in being a hospital orderly or a security guard, but imagine the stories those guys must have! It should be noted that Shutter Island is a huge movie, probably the most important one released in 2010 so far, so it’s sure to get dragged through the mud for some reason or other. You can be sure that some uppity critic or other is going to come up with a title like “Desert this Island” or “An Island You Don’t Want to get Marooned On” and then form their review around it, thinking they came up with something really clever, but Shutter Island is just a solid movie, hands down. The ending will be a little too much for many viewers, but come on, it’s made by the same guy that made Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, GoodFellas, and Casino. What did you expect, a romantic comedy? The Bean Meter