Recent Release Reviewed: Shutter Island

Shutter Island
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow
Screenplay: Laeta Kalogridis, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane
Director: Martin Scorsese

It's 1954, and Federal Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arrive on Shutter Island, an maximum-security asylum for the criminally insane. They're here because one of the inmates, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), escaped from her locked cell and is nowhere to be found. The doctors, led by Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow), are polite but uncooperative. Teddy begins to suspect that Rachel could not have escaped with no one noticing. He's also haunted by nightmares of his dead wife (Michelle Williams), who was killed in a fire started by an arsonist (Elias Koteas) who he believes is an inmate. Teddy and Chuck find themselves drawn into a mystery there may be no way out of.

Right, that's as much of the story as I can give you without wrecking the film! The first, and perhaps most important, thing to say is that Shutter Island is a big, fun, silly throwback to the type of overblown gothic horror that probably would have starred Vincent Price. From the dense fog that opens the film, to the incredible storm that prevents Teddy and Chuck from leaving, to the crypts, the lighthouse, and the maximum security wing that resembles a torture chamber from the middle ages, Scorsese and his team have turned everything up to eleven. The same instructions have been given to the actors, who all stay on just the right side of hammy.

DiCaprio continues his progression into one of the best actors around under Scorsese's guidance. He's got progressively better with each film, and he does well with a challenging role. It's a big performance, to be sure, but it certainly fits with the tone. Ruffalo is quietly solid in the less showy role of Teddy's loyal partner, Kingsley gives his best work for a while as the softly spoken head doctor, and he is very capably backed up by von Sydow, who's clearly enjoying himself. Michelle Williams gives another excellent performance (following Wendy and Lucy and Synecdoche, New York) as Teddy's deceased wife, and is incredibly haunting in fantastically shot dream sequences that are flooded with colour and layered with dread.

It's also a mark of a Scorsese film that the supporting cast is flooded with incredible character actors. Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, John Carrol Lynch, Elias Koteas, and Ted Levine all make a very big impression in their limited screen time, which for most of them is a matter of a couple of minutes.

Dennis Lehane is known to cinema-goers as the author of the novels Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone, both of which were successfully turned into films. The first words that come to my mind when thinking about those two movies are "gritty", "depressing", and "realism". None of these words are applicable here. Shutter Island is overblown in the most entertaining sense of the word. The colours palette ranges from inky black darkness to scenes of almost overwhelming light/dark contrast. Michelle Williams' dream sequences, in particular, are shot with a striking mix of yellow and red that, combined with her excellent performance, make these scenes some of the most memorable.

Shutter Island also draws heavily on 1950s anger and suspicion. The red menace of the Communists is present and correct, although I won't go into it too much here. Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule both served in the Second World War. Daniels was present for the liberation of Dachau, which we see in carefully judged flashbacks that are given the same treatment as his dreams. There are just as visually striking, but they do not feel exploitative. These scenes move the narrative forward. They also give Daniels another point of antagonism, as von Sydow's Doctor Naehring is German.

And as for Mr. Scorsese? Well, the verve and energy that critics enjoyed so much in The Departed is equally as present here, if not more so. I was not a big fan of Gangs of New York, and I thought The Aviator was entertaining, but it feels like he enjoys these B-movie homages so much more. He clearly had a great time crafting this labyrinthine, over the top Gothic horror. There are things in the film that are easy to criticise, and some of the plot twists are signposted too easily, but the most important thing about Shutter Island is this: It's very entertaining. I'm repeating myself, but it's a big, fun B-movie made by a brilliant director and featuring a fantastic cast. What's not to like?

8/10