Martin Scorsese, known for multiple classics spanning the last forty years such as “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas” and “Taxi Driver,” has had a strong presence as a filmmaker and has defined his place among one of the great directors of all time. In his latest, “Shutter Island,” Scorsese adapts a Dennis Lehane novel by the same name and covers a broad and twisty story of two detectives investigating the disappearance of a patient from the island’s mental institution. Upon reaching the island the two detectives, Teddy and Chuck, discover that the island is harboring a lot more than just its dangerous patients.
The directing style that Scorsese puts into this film is very reminiscent of his earlier works, with many scenes full of clever tricks that he is known for hidden within them. Leonardo DiCaprio takes the lead as the detective Teddy struggling with the memories of the violence he saw in World War II, particularly the dead and dying prisoners held in a death camp he helped shut down. Besides that, he is also coping with the loss of his wife, whom he still sees and is haunted by. DiCaprio, a now-regular actor used by Scorsese, does a fantastic job showing the stress of the trauma of the past, and also the drive that forces him to pick apart every loose end of the case that involves the missing patient in his trek to discover the truth hidden on Shutter Island. His character mirrors that of the character Nicholas Cage played in Scorsese’s “Bringing Out the Dead,” a man suffering from the guilt of the past while working on a job that is a constant reminder of it.
The movie is also supported by great performances from Sir Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo, who plays, with appropriate hesitation, Teddy’s partner Chuck. The film does a good job of putting its actors in a strange and secretive institution (set on an island perfect for defining the minimal possibility of escape), and the movie keeps up a good pace while still managing to let the mystery unfold slowly. Particularly enjoyable are some of the dream sequences, or “walking nightmares,” that Teddy witnesses of his wife and the missing woman. However, the movie feels long at almost two-and-a-half hours, and the dream sequences and flashbacks start to drag the movie down from keeping the audience’s full attention and interest throughout the whole film.
While the movie keeps its tension and thrills by consistently building up to another area of the island that has yet to be discovered by the movie’s protagonist, the amount of time that is spent before reaching these surprises makes it hard for the viewer to care about what they are. Overall, I would recommend it to both fans of Scorsese and those who are interested in watching a twisty and surprising thriller with some fine performances by the actors involved, despite its minor pacing flaws.
