Shrouded mysteries, harrowing challenges and shocking revelations are three of the components that make a psychological thriller, a film so involved that it nearly always requires a second screening. Shutter Island, the latest from renowned director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed), attempts to fit neatly into this complex genre. However, the result is something not worthy of the inevitable comparisons to mind-bending classics such as The Sixth Sense or Fight Club, two of the works that inspired the original novel and screenplay.
While Scorsese brings the necessary visual elements to the screen ? his sweeping shots of Shutter Island and its Ashecliffe Mental Hospital are fear-inducing ? it?s the storyline that leaves Shutter Island predictable and unrewarding.
The film follows the journey of U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, The Departed) in his fourth Scorsese collaboration, as he investigates the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando from her secure cell in Ashecliff?s wards. Set in 1954, Daniels also struggles with his own post-traumatic stress from his time liberating concentration camps in WWII and his wife?s semi-accidental death years before, events which are primarily explored through graphic dream sequences which oddly intertwine these two traumas. Or at least that?s what Scorsese would have you think.
As in any ?good? psychological thriller, Shutter Island comes complete with its own set of ?shocking? plot twists, leading up to the final revelation, inevitably the most surprising of them all. The trailer did a good enough job of preparing audiences for an eye-opening ending and, while watching the film with that mindset, all of the ?twists? become apparent less than half an hour into the film.
The majority of the action in Shutter Island occurs in Teddy?s convoluted dream sequences, which reveal little about his character after the second or third sequence, and do even less to advance the plot. Building suspense within the film was a painful process, as well. As music swelled, hurricanes pounded, DiCaprio attempted to tighten his facial muscles more than humanly possible and minor characters began whispering thriller buzzwords like ?you?re trapped? and ?RUN,? the entire audience squirmed in anticipation. After about five minutes of expectancy, a ?twist? was revealed and ? wait for it ? nothing happened. Scorsese was able to play this card a couple times, but after an hour of waiting for the action to start, he wasn?t fooling anyone.
DiCaprio?s performance deserves mention for both the good and the bad. On the plus side, considering the complexities of his character revealed in Shutter Island?s last ten minutes, DiCaprio handled a complex character with skill and subtlety. However, while his character was supposedly received praise for being a ?skilled interrogator,? which albeit takes on a different meaning in hindsight, DiCaprio awkwardly chokes out his lines and fails to enunciate in a way that would actually create full sentences. Also, the last time I was in Boston, it took more than dropping a couple r?s every few sentences to make a believable Boston accent. Ben Kingsley (Ghandi, Elegy) and Mark Ruffalo (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac) were great in their supporting roles.
There is a strong overall message in Shutter Island about the nature of trauma and the human psyche. However, this message is lost in Scorsese?s failed attempt to pack as much suspense and as many plot twists as possible into a two-hour move. Where the majority of psychological thrillers should be viewed a second time to grasp these deeper meanings hidden in subtext throughout the films, Shutter Island is just too predictable and uneventful for a second go-around.