Shutter Island is just a good movie, simple as that. It's not great and its definitely not The Departed but I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has seen this movie and that wouldn't recommend you watch it. They may not rant and rave, but they'll definitely suggest it. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself, because that's what I'm doing right now.
Shutter Island is based on a Dennis Lehane novel by the same name. For those of you who don't know Lehane, see Mystic River, see Gone Baby Gone. Yeah, he wrote those. The movie is directed by Martin Scorsese. If you don't know who that guy is I have two words for you. "You suck." It stars Leonardo DiCaprio who is in probably every scene and is supported brilliantly by Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Mark Ruffalo (Blindness, Reservation Road). There's also a who's who of other supporting actors including Max Von Sydow (Minority Report), Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek), and Emily Mortimer (Math Point) just to name a few.
Shutter Island takes place in 1954 on Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) are assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient, a murderess name Rachel. From the beginning, things on Shutter Island are not as they should be. It appears the hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister seem to have a very sinister twisted plot brewing. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, plot twists happen, things begin to not make sense, and the audience, along with Teddy, begins to doubt everything they've seen, believed, and thought. The movie makes you question what you've believed and what you've thought the whole time.
Now, I had pretty high expectations going into this one. I mean, Scorsese and DiCaprio set the bar pretty high with The Departed, and while I know every movie those dudes make isn't going to be that awesome, I couldn't help but hope this one would be too. While it wasn't The Departed, it was a thoroughly engrossing movie all the same. The movie kept you watching, kept you thinking, and most of all kept you guessing. Leo delivers one of his best performances and for what its worth, I felt like he carried the entire film. I think anyone, even if they don't recommend it like I pretend people will, will at least tell you Leo did an awesome job. There a few really awesome plot twists, however, I just did what I hate. When a movie is billed as having a plot twist, I tend to spend the whole time trying to figure it out, and lose what the movie is really meant to do.
I recommend this one. It would be a solid rental any day of the week. It's creepy, tense, well acted, visually stimulating, and just good entertainment. Some movies, the ones that give your mind, body, or heart a workout, make you feel like you've accomplished something by watching it, Shutter Island does just that. Watch it, and enjoy.
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