Shutter Island: Double Take

Scorsese’s newest movie film, Shutter Island, sticks close to the director’s strengths of something I like to call “captain obvious makes an experimental film.” But because it’s Scorsese, girl, it works. We start out with Scorese’s man-boy muse, Leonardo Dicaprio, as Marshal Teddy Daniels, investigating the disappearance of a psychopathic murderer from Shutter Island, home for the criminally insane.

The stilted acting, heavy handed dialoged, and too-loud dramatic music of the first five minutes were a stunning choice by Scorsese. It was like watching a 1950’s movie where Marlon Brando never happened to acting. But such deliberate direction could only mean that something mysterious was going on. Were we about to watch a honest to gawd B Horror movie? Were the characters just pretending to be who we thought they were? The first moment of “natural” acting didn’t occur until we meet the patients of the asylum. Yes, they were crazy, but they were real people compared to wooden Marshall Teddy Daniels.

It doesn’t take long to realize that there is something very wrong with Shutter Island. And it takes even less long to learn that Marshall Daniels is not just there for business. He has been damaged both by WWII and the death of his wife in a fire set by a patient he suspects might be hidden on the island. By the second day a hurricane hits, disabling the mainland ferry, of course, and more and more people seem to be telling Daniels, he ain’t ever leaving this island. His desperation and devotion to his wife’s ghost make Daniel’s head a horror film as much as the real horror film going on around him.

Although, to call Scorcese’s move a horror film is not accurate as much as you could call “Age of Innocence” or “Raging Bull” horror films. There is suspense; of course, quick pans revealing disturbing things, people jumping out at you, a wall of rats, and many, many…too many…images of dead children. But the best part about Shutter Island is, that as mediocre as I found the story to be, Scorsese’s wonderfully heavy-handed direction makes everything even lame seem like a bold production choice: His metaphors that involve showing you something, and then explaining to you what you were meant to get out of what you just saw…his many dream sequences and flashbacks to (thanks Scorsese!) piles of dead Jews…and children…the three big info dump scenes, which could easily be called “exposition crypt” “exposition cave” and “exposition light house”…well I just feel like I am watching a goddamn good ole’ American picture. I can’t bristle under that kind of enthusiasm.

Mini Spoiler alert: In the end there is a major twist, of course. And it’s not like the audience wasn’t expecting SOMETHING, but rather… which one of these three more obvious twists it will be? Thanks to “exposition light house” we knew the answer. Because Ben Kingsley told us in a lot of detail. And then Scorsese showed us a flash back of it. Which was just the way it should be. I give it 4 Daniel Day Lewis’ out of 5.





(This x4)






Just don’t see it if you have kids. Seriously. There a lot of dead kids.