Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Shutter Island' movie review

[rahulrocks85]

U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels(Leonardo DiCaprio) is trying to crack a case and it’s a nightmare. Literally.

It’s not just that the puzzle is something out of a detective story — a mental patient leaving a locked room and escaping an inescapable island — it’s that it’s giving him bad dreams. Very bad dreams.

But Teddy has his own dark history. And the secrets he’s trying to uncover now only keep drawing him back to the painful memories that keep reaching out from his past.

“Shutter Island” is the locale, and the movie — and it’s a surprising effort from Martin Scorsese, on every level.

Genre? It’s a neo-Gothic thriller from a man who’s always gravitated toward urban crime. Mood? Instead of exploding in rage, this dives headfirst into sneaky suspicion. Style? An unusual embrace of CGI surrealism, with lost loves who turn, literally, into ashes in your hands.

It’s as startling a change of pace for this director as “The Shining” was for Stanley Kubrick, and often just as unnerving.

Not, perhaps, as satisfying — there’s a big, climactic twist in this tale (based on the novel by Dennis Lehane) that I’m not sure I buy. (It’s one of those endings that send fans trudging up the aisle muttering, “So, wait, then that means ...”)

It’s been a problem with a lot of Lehane’s work. They’re acclaimed best-sellers in print, but turned into moving images they sometimes — like “Gone Baby Gone” — ask viewers to accept some very far-flung final explanations. It’s no different here.

It’s the journey to that point, though, that’s intriguing.

Credit the actors for much of that. One of the great things about being a director like Scorsese — or Quentin Tarantino, or Woody Allen — is that everyone wants to work with you. So “Shutter Island” is the kind of movie that can cast even red-herring parts with whales.

Just take a look at the supporting actors, some here for only a few scenes — Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, even the legendary Max von Sydow. (There’s no Robert De Niro, true — but a mischievous Scorsese includes him anyway, by casting look-alike Elias Koteas). They’re all superb.

It’s DiCaprio, though, who carries this.

DiCaprio — whose once open, baby face has gotten reserved and boxy over the years — creates a man here in genuine pain. He’s seasick. He has headaches. And he has the kind of nightmares that would have kept Ingrid Bergman in “Spellbound” busy for years.

It’s an angry, anguished job (and a nice companion to his work in Scorsese’s “The Departed”) — and it’s put into fine relief by the complementary work by the rest of the cast.

As his partner, Mark Ruffalo draws on a screen persona of slightly untrustworthy passivity; as the chief of the asylum, Ben Kingsley is all snobbish, smiling menace.

Do all the nightmarish images, great actors and odd plot turns add up to great Scorsese? No. Like “The Departed,” (or “Cape Fear,” or “The Color of Money”) this is merely very good Scorsese, with the director not so much confronting his own dreams as interpreting someone else’s.

But even “merely very good” Scorsese is still miles away from most other directors’ best.

[wiliamjoan]

I agree, Shutter Island is a must see. Its one of those films, similar to Revolutionary Road, in its ability to depict Leonardo DiCaprio's intensity as an actor. He is so moving in this role, so able to convey sorrow and despair as a man who has lost his entire family. I was very impressed with his moving performance.The way the film unfolds is an interesting one, but is difficult to put into words without spoiling everything from the film. It strings you along so many different paths that guessing how the film ends is nearly impossible. While watching the film.

[tomjstn7]

DiCaprio's never been better than he is in Shutter Island. This fourth collaboration with Scorsese requires DiCaprio to go deeper and be more vulnerable than we've seen him on film, and the 35 year old actor who's grown up in front of the camera does something here he's never done before. I can't explain just how he disappears into Teddy Daniels, but more so than any of his previous performances, he's tapped into the very essence of this conflicted and tormented character.

[princehappy]

This movie was really good. I do not know what to expect from all the mixed reviews, I kept hearing. But it was great, not Marty's best movie, but still very good and surprisingly short. excellent performance of the distribution, especially Leon. I guess the reason most people do not like this movie because they do not believe in watching movies, they just wait until everything is written in stone for them. Probably the same people who did not like The Usual Suspect or Memento. My advice is to watch this film if you ever get a chance

[johnmartin]

Shutter Island is really good film. You must see. I have seen some scene of this film and find it too interesting. I will watch it tonight.

[jhonybush]

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the best Hollywood Actor, His acting is very fabulous, In the shutter Island he is in the role of Sheriff like a agent which was blocked at the island by the head doctor and other workers, the role of Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley was also brilliant in this film.