CinemaCynics.com

Scorsese brings Dennis Lehane's best seller to the screen in an adaptation that is sure to please fans of film and book alike. 

Shutter Island

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

The Players:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow,  Patricia Clarkson

It's a Detective Story/It's a Horror Story/ It's a Thriller

Shutter Island opens with a ferry emerging from a surreal mist as we slowly see the island of the title take shape out of the fog.  It's hard not to think of King Kong in this scene.  It's a very effective opening. The horrors awaiting U.S. Marshalls Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) may not include a giant ape but they do include the horrors of the human condition.

Daniels and Aule arrive on Shutter Island (home to Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane) to investigate the disappearance of inmate (or patient) Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer).  Ms. Solando was found missing from her room at midnight the previous night...her room door was locked and none of the orderlies, nurses or guards saw anything.   More mysteries than answers are revealed as the two delve further and futher into the possibly nefarious goings on in the hospital.  On top of everything else, a hurricane is bearing down on the island to create an atmosphere of violence on the outside complimenting the violent nature of the patients on the inside.

DiCaprio and Ruffalo arrive in Hell

Overseeing the hospital is Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) whose benign concern for his patients may or may not be an act to conceal hidden atrocities comparable to the Nazi death camps.  Assisting him is the sinister Dr. Naehring (Max Von Sydow..does anyone do sinister better?) who has a strange interest in what he perceives to be the violent tendencies in Teddy. 

Interspersed with the investigation conducted by Teddy and Chuck are flashbacks to images of Teddy freeing the death camp at Dachau during World War II.  Also, there are flashbacks to images of his wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams) who died in their apartment when a pyromaniac named Andrew Laeddis torched the place.  Laeddis just happens to be a patient at Ashecliffe. 

Is Teddy there for the investigation or to exact a brutal revenge on his wife's murderer?

Another Well Executed Dennis Lehane mystery

It might just be that Dennis Lehane novels are film-ready, or it may just be his uncanny ability as a writer to grab us, the readers, and thrust us on a roller coaster ride that makes the film versions of his works so compelling.   Nothing much has to be changed or adapted when bringing his works to the screen. 

Such is the case with Shutter Island.  It's virtually a literal translation of the book with a few scenes cut here and there for narrative structure.   By using the source material, Scorsese already had a workable screenplay.  That isn't to say that Scorsese doesn't put his bloody fingerprints on this thing. If he filmed the phone book he would find a way to make it bleed.  This isn't gonna stand with his best films (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) but it's a solid film ala The Aviator and let's face it...a solid film by Scorsese beats a good film by some of the hacks (Shyamalan/Cameron..cough cough) throwing eye candy our way at the local multi-plex. 

DiCaprio shines a light in the darkness...he shouldn't have. 

To say that Leonardo DiCaprio gives a solid performance is to state the obvious.  I honestly haven't seen the guy give a bad one.  Had this film been released a few months ago, he might have found himself among the Best Actor nominees at this year's Oscars.  But due to some scheduling snafu that pushed this film from its original November release date to a February one,  he will have to wait for almost a year to get a nod, at which point this performance will be forgotten by the short sighted members of the Academy.  Perhaps a well timed DVD release might help keep him fresh in the minds of Academy voters.

Leave it to Scorsese to surround his star (and yes it seems he owns DiCaprio's very soul at this point) with some of the best supporting performers working in the film industry today...it's virtually a who's who of exceptional talent...Kingsley, Von Sydow, Mortimer, Ruffalo, Williams, etc.)...and yet it doesn't feel like stunt casting...every actor is perfectly suited to his or her role. 

Shutter Island is a satisfying and gripping thriller brought to the screen by a master director and a gifted writer.  The result is a ride through one of the weirdest funhouses....er haunted houses....er...madhouses...well...it's one heckuva ride anyway.   

It's not Prime Rib but it's a really good burger. 

See It, Rent It, Skip It

Nothing much else playing in the theaters right now so this is a good bet...not a date movie though...repeat..not a date movie!!!!! 

WARNING:  This film contains some graphic disturbing images (death camp atrocities, violence involving children) and the sensitive filmgoer needs to use discretion.