St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 3/8/10 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: www.telepisodes.com

"Shutter Island" begins like it wants to be a horror movie. Creepy old boat coming out of the fog. Check. Secluded island, home to an insane asylum. Check. Characters with suspicious motives. Check. Luckily it evolves into something greater than that: an intriguing, though sometimes dull, psychological thriller.

The movie begins with the introduction of Edward (Teddy) Daniels (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) as a U.S. Marshal sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a woman. Director Martin Scorsese wastes no time letting the viewer know that something is out place in this story. As Teddy and his partner Chuck, played by Mark Ruffalo in a strong supporting role, begin to investigate the disappearance, they face several roadblocks from the asylum's chief psychiatrist played by Ben Kingsley.

As Teddy digs deeper, the audience learns that he is on Shutter Island for a specific purpose, to find the man who killed his wife by setting their apartment on fire. Soon the island is engulfed in a ferocious hurricane, cutting off communication and any means of leaving. Scorsese seems to be invoking a "Wizard of Oz" element as the storm progresses and ultimately subsides, the audience gets the feeling that they are "not in Kansas anymore." For here the mystery grows deep, and Teddy begins to realize that not everything is as it appears.

It isn't that there is anything particularly bad about this movie, it's that it plays like a drawn out episode of "The Twilight Zone." Several times the momentum that has been building up stops dead when a character goes on an extended soliloquy. At over two hours in length, the movie runs too long and slow, tempting a person to look at their watch. In addition there seem to be some superfluous plot elements that the movie could have easily cut. In lesser hands, "Shutter Island" could have easily been a very bad movie. Psychological thrillers are tricky movies to pull off, and "Shutter Island" proves even great directors like Martin Scorsese have trouble with the genre. The movie is executed with precision, and while DiCaprio does not give his best performance it is certainly a strong one. In addition to DiCaprio, strong performances are given by Kingsley, and John Carroll Lynch who plays the asylum's deputy warden.

The other main issue is the ending. Without giving anything away, Scorsese tries to go for a powerful, thought-provoking last line that instead of leaving the audience in thought, falls flat and simply leaves you going, "huh?" "Shutter Island" is intended to have the audience buzzing as they leave the theater, and they do, just not about the ending. Instead they wonder if what they just saw was any good. This is a story that has been told before, and as you watch this movie there will come a point where you realize it is going to end one of two ways. You just need to decide which way is going to make you less disappointed that you spent $10 to see this movie.


3/5 stars

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