Movie Review: Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese is a man whose name is synonymous with brilliance, according to most. So with that in mind, it is understandable that his latest film, Shutter Island, has been met with high expectations. Before going to see the film, I managed to read several reviews. The general consensus about the movie was that it was mediocre for a Scorsese film (meaning it was a good film, just not up to his usual caliber).

Personally, I felt the movie had TONS of promise. The trailers showed that it was set in my favorite time period (the early 50s) at a mental institution (which is ALWAYS a recipe for a good time), and was not lacking in what seemed to be some good, jump-out-of-your-skin scenes. The movie, though, ended up being a bit different than advertised. As a horror film fanatic, I found this to be more of a contemporary film noir than anything else.

The plot follows the misadventures of a Federal Marshal named Teddy Daniels. You learn in the first 5 minutes of the film that Daniels lost his wife in a terrible fire, and you’re privy to WWII flashbacks. Daniels was headed to Shutter Island in order to investigate the disappearance of a criminally insane patient that supposedly drowned her three children. The story goes from Daniels claiming he’s been trying to get an assignment on the island to him finding himself engulfed in paranoia and attempting to uncover a conspiracy that has managed to corrupt the entire population of the institution.

I felt that the plot got more and more exciting, and then, just as it was going to reach a huge, pivotal peak, it hit a plateau and stayed there for the rest of the film. I suppose had I gone in expecting film noir instead of horror, I would have appreciated the film quite a bit more. Instead, I kept waiting for something awesomely gruesome, or frightening, but was just given more puzzles and clues, with an occasional loud noise to keep me from drifting off to sleep (granted, I spent the previous day in the hospital, and was on quite a grand dose of Loritab which, I’m sure, entirely explains my drowsiness).

Now don’t get me wrong. I didn’t leave with a giant feeling of disappointment. There were a few dreams or hallucinations that the movie would flash to, and they were incredible works of cinematic art. The suspended reality in these dreams allowed Scorsese to really show off his creativity. And while most of the friends who accompanied me to see the film were irked and bored with the ending, I believe the entire film was salvaged by Leonardo DiCaprio’s last line (and now, if only to hear this, you HAVE to see it… even if you do RedBox it for $1 once it’s out on DvD).

Were I to rate this movie on a scale of one to five miscellaneous shapes/ themed objects/ etc., I would give it 3 ½ stars, or clams, or geese, or whatever. I would watch it again, but only if someone else paid for it, and only if we made up some fun drinking game to add to the entertainment value. The moral of this review? Everything is better when you add drinking and games, even Leonardo DiCaprio's tragic but persistent attempts at a Boston accent.

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