Leonardo DiCaprio is on top form in this exciting and full throttle drama about a US marshal assigned to investigate the disappearance of an inmate at a hospital for the criminally insane, a hospital conveniently located on a mysterious island cut off from the mainland ... I guess that's why it's called Shutter Island!
To set the tone for the movie, it begins in 1954, and the audience is introduced to up-and-coming US marshal Teddy Daniels, who is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a deranged patient from Shutter Island's Ashecliffe Hospital.
Teddy has been trying desperately hard to get an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but it's not too long before he begins to wonder if he's been brought there as part of a sinister plot by the hospital's doctors, whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to completely insane.
His investigations help him to discover a promising lead, but for some bizarre reason, the hospital refuses to give him access to records he believes would help solve the case ... this is when an assortment of fevered mind games really kick off.
Just as the film becomes a little dull, a spectacularly placed hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, increasing the tension and suspense and once again gripping the audience. In the chaos and confusion that follows some more dangerous criminals escape and the puzzling, mysterious clues begin to add up.
Shutter Island is a no holds bared drama that deals with fighting your demons and the conflict that rages within us all. This is a psychological film that pushes the main character to the brink of madness, and forces the audience to question their own distinctions between what is real or unreal, right or wrong etc.
DiCaprio does a surprisingly good job in his role, stepping outside his comfort zone and playing a character who has his own secrets, demons, and delusions, which become more and more evident the longer he stays on the island.
As Teddy and his partner Chuck attempt to solve the secrets of the island, they are met by a host of insane characters, including the hospital's top doctors, who have clearly gone a little mad, lots of mental patients, and a smattering of deranged guards, perverted orderlies and bizarre hospital administrators.
This is a film which sees Scorsese take a leap into an unfamiliar genre and remarkably land on his feet. This movie is gritty, violent, dark and even has elements of black comedy for good measure.
