Shutter Island Movie Review
Shutter Island Movie Review
"Why you all wet, Marty?"
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I love the 1932 James Whale movie, The Old Dark House. Boris Karloff was born to play the menacing Morgan, out-creeping not only costar Charles Laughton, but blending seamlessly with the sinister shadows themselves. Karloff commanded the screen in Val Lewton's shocking story of insanity, Bedlam, several years later. And of course there's the classic mind-bender The Fall of the House of Usher, starring master of the malicious, Vincent Price. Ray Milland was magnificent in 1943's Ministry of Fear, in which he squared off with Nazi ne'er-do-wells and serpentine schemes. When I think of movies like these — Gothic and noir stories that deal with murder, cover-ups, deceit, and an urgent race against time — I think of actors like Peter Lorre, Christopher Lee, and Max von Sydow.
Fortunately, von Sydow is cast in 50s-set Shutter Island and he fits right in with the over-the-top themes of skullduggery behind the walls of an isolated asylum for the criminally insane; shell-shocked flashbacks to wartime crimes; lost loves and dark secrets; mysteries and secret codes begging to be cracked. His costars — some miscast, some overplayed — don't fare quite as well.
von Sydow plays Dr. Naehring, the sphinx-like physician who may or may not be trying to hide a shadowy past and current bad intentions from mainland investigators Teddy Daniels (Leonardo diCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). The U.S. Marshal and his new partner arrive on Shutter Island moments after the movie opens, and are quickly embroiled in the mystery of the baffling disappearance of one of its prisoners… excuse me, patients, Rachel Solondo (Emily Mortimer). Rachel is just a slip of a woman, but she did brutally and bloodily murder all three of her young children. What's more, she is highly intelligent, motivated, and above all, dangerous.
Where could she have gone, barefoot in the night on the jagged, rocky island that's darkened with storm clouds, and confused by conspiracy? Those are great questions, and they are all answered in due time. But unfortunately, astute audience members will have figured it out long before the actual reveal, and there's no fun to be had while watching the surreal games of rat and mouse as Daniels and Aule chase their tails. (Some viewers may think the 'rats' are a nod to diCaprio and director Martin Scorsese's previous film The Departed, but they are actually a touchstone from the Dennis Lehane novel upon which this film is based.)
Unlike a Gothic spine-tingler of classic cinema, or even Scorsese's own macabre masterpiece, the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, there is no chilling joy to be had while awaiting the inevitable conclusion. The ending needn't have been a surprise (though it was, for me, in the book), but slogging through the ham-fisted clues (I asked friends who did not read the novel if they found the film easy to figure out, and they said yes) is just kind of depressing. The ambiance of the film is over-plotted, heavy, and sad, which makes it impossible to enjoy as a thriller. But it's not a drama, either.
Shutter Island is one of Scorsese's most uneven films to date, and it's easy to see why the movie's release date was delayed and why it was recently re-edited. Nothing quite jibes — not the look (though accomplished and slick, it's an uneasy combo or realism and surrealism), nor the sound (the score is bombastic, but at times gripping), or the story (while slavishly close to the excellent novel, the screenplay — written by Laeta Kalogridis, who we can, er, "thank" for the abysmal Alexander and the dire Pathfinder — manages to be both astute and obtuse).
Shutter Island is kind of a sodden mess, but not altogether unentertaining. Unless you are a huge fan of the director or players, I recommend waiting for the DVD — and definitely reading Lehane's superior source material sooner than later.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson