Review: Shutter Island

Shutter Down

I was so ready to leave the rather mediocre year of 2009 behind, and get onto the new one ahead. I looked at the onslaught of new releases and was so ready to see many new movies being released. This one caught my eye particularly because it was supposed to be released in early October of last year. Unfortunately, the studio didn’t have enough money for an Oscar campaign, so they pulled it and dumped it in the barren wasteland of February. I didn’t like it, but at least it gave me something to look forward to early in the year, and with so many great elements going into the film, I surely thought that this talented group of people would have to work mighty hard to make this movie be anything but magnificent. Well, the lesson to be learned here is never doubt anything, as this film certainly isn’t terrible, but it is well below the level of quality I expected from this masterful cast and crew.

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the source material for Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, the story revolves around US Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is sent to investigate the disappearance of a mental patient on a tucked away institution on a far-away island. Mark Ruffalo accompanies him as his fresh new partner, and the pair begin their investigation, which comes across some seedy characters including the hospital’s top physician Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley), the deputy warden (John Carroll Lynch), the chief warden (Ted Levine), another dubious, German doctor (Max von Sydow), as well as able body character actors like Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley as other members of the hospital’s ward.

We all know that Martin Scorsese is a genius of filmmaking, and his talent is one that is unmatched by a large majority. Scorsese also knows how to work well in many genres, particularly the pulpy mystery like this one is. There are a lot of moments where Scorsese does do a fine job at creating an eerie mood of suspense and dread, and uses many of the technical elements to his advantage. However, it still feels like many times Scorsese can’t quite figure out what pitch to set the film at, and what we get is a pretty unbearable first twenty minutes when the over-the-top, grandiose setting seems to overpower the narrative and a last act that moves at a crawl and is bogged down by countless mono-a-mono explanatory conversations. These moments work rather well in the book, but have a difficult time translating to the screen.

But still, I would say that while the beginning and end are at major fault, there are some things in the middle, right after the first trippy dream sequence Daniels has featuring his recently departed wife (Michelle Williams). There’s quite good use of Robert Richardson’s stylish, theatrical lighting to create an uneasy mood, and the suspense can be featured quite well. Unfortunately, there are many moments where the tone switches drastically, and we linger on many scenes that either don’t seem necessary or overindulge too much on audience misdirection that could have been toned down. A side note is this film has some of the worst uses of green screen backgrounds.

Now, the ending is something that affects this movie, so I will talk about it, but I will also include the spoiler warning. So, WARNING!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! THERE’S A SPOILER COMING UP IN BOLD LETTERS SO YOU CAN’T MISS IT!!! ALRIGHT, YOU’VE BEN WARNED THERE’S A SPOILER WARNING!!!!

The final reveal is a rather weak twist, one I thought was pretty weak even in the book, but the novel never let the audience catch on that quickly. The film tries to plant hints that can either be interpreted as Daniels is grieving for the lives loss at a death camp he liberated during World War II or his dead children at the hands of his wife whom he killed and caused him to be in the institution all the time. However, the use of the death camp was an absolute minimum in the book while the film exploits the images in excess. Also, the final scene that shows what really happened goes on for far too long, especially after we’ve had many characters explaining what already happened (not to mention the supposedly drowned little girl can clearly be seen to be moving on the lawn).

As is usually the case, the cast is the last thing to go wrong, and the performers are good here, even though DiCaprio feels as if he’s just rehashing his Depahhted accent. Ruffalo, Kingsley, Haley, Clarkson, Sydow, all are terrific actors, but they feel wasted in such a plodding film that never gives them great moments to shine. The film is so concentrated on the mood, tone, and concealing of that big twist that it never takes the time to let the actors breathe life into this material. This is truly a wasted ensemble.

Scorsese is capable of creating pulpy mystery/suspense films, and a very good example would be his remake of Cape Fear, which I thought was actually superior to the original. But that had complex characters circling around a plot that wasn’t devoted to the last act. That’s the issue with this film; it’s too focused on misdirection and never lets intellectual thought and reason seep in. As much as it saddens me, this is not a great Scorsese film and becomes yet another disappointment in the new decade. The next film that I had high hopes for is Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and I really hope that one can at least live up to some of its hype. **1/2 / ****; GRADE: C+