4.5/5 Stars
Teddy Daniels(Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuch Aule(Mark Ruffalo) arrive at Shutter Island, a mental hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando. It doesn't take long for you to get the feeling that there are other things going on at Shutter Island that the proprietors may not want federal marshals finding out about. Dr. Cawley(Sir Ben Kingsley) seems to want to be helpful with the investigation, while subtly taking advantage of his power over the marshals being under his authority. When asked for access to records the only one who can grant it is conveniently gone on vacation. Daniels then asks to call him, a request which Dr. Cawley is happy to oblige, but then the phones are down. Daniels then decides to question all the other patients who were las seen with Rachel but all the answers he gets from the patients seem strangely rehearsed and corroborated.
From there things go on to become more and more suspicious, and we then learn that Daniels has hidden motives for his interest in the Shutter Island mystery.
From opening scene Scorsese very successfully sets the mood for the story to come with an ominous score. The next element to impress me was the look of the film itself. From even the earliest trailers that I had seen of this film I could already tell that it was very strong visually and that it was going to be a real feast for my eyes. I found myself much more enamored with the look of the world created by Scorsese on Shutter Island than I had been by James Cameron's Pandora.
The talented cast of lead and supporting characters go on to further complete realness and tone of the film. DiCaprio is stupendous and certainly carried the film well for me. Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley, and Patricia Clarkson also give great supporting performances. While I already expected good things from all those actors, Mark Ruffalo was the one who most pleasantly surprised me. It's not that I think of him as a bad actor but more that he was not portrayed as having such a big part in the trailer and I thought he pulled it off very well and stood his own with DiCaprio.
While feelings will differ quite a bit on the ending of the film what I have come to realize, and part of why I have waited a couple of weeks to write my review, is that the genius of the film is in how it unfolds more so than the "twist" ending. It is one of those rare mystery/thrillers that does not depend upon its "surprise" ending to make it watchable, and in fact I think I will enjoy even more a second time.
I was prepared to leave the theater quite upset and disappointed do to the ending, and I would have had it not been for what I believe is the final line of the film:
"Is it better to die a good man, or live as a monster?"
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