It’s been three years since Martin Scorsese took home the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for The Departed, and after much anticipation he has returned to the big screen. Taking a break from the dramatic and gangster genres, Scorsese opted to adapt the psychological thriller Shutter Island (based on Dennis Lehane’s novel, “Ashecliffe”). Lehane’s previous works, “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone,” were also adapted into films. Returning to a Scorsese picture for the fourth consecutive time is Leonardo DiCaprio (Martin’s undeniable muse for the last decade).
The film’s opening introduces us to Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio), a Federal Marshall travelling with his new partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), to an island, in an attempt to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a patient at a remotely located hospital for the criminally insane. Once arriving there, a serious of twists and turns send Teddy and Chuck down a path that reveals more is happening on the island than has been revealed to them.
This kind of film may seem like a change of pace for Scorsese, and in some ways it definitely is, but fans of his work may recall Cape Fear starring Robert DeNiro (Scorsese’s previous muse). While Shutter Island certainly takes on perhaps an even more intense story and certainly more beautiful-looking canvas, it is more of a return to that territory but on the next level. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage Scorsese had going into this film was that the novel’s ending largely divided its readers. By putting his artistic stroke around the meat of the story though, what could have been a narrative mess in most is elevated into something much more profound and engaging.
DiCaprio turns in yet another mesmerizing performance, and had the film not been delayed, he may have very well been up for another Oscar nomination with his powerful turn here. As mentioned, the book’s ending was fairly controversial and Scorsese honored that by not changing a thing. In fact, he arguably turns the denouement into something even more poetic and comprehensive when seen through the eyes of film. Unfortunately, this follows a large part of the middle act that makes the inevitable climax fairly predictable, which in turn leaves some of the narrative feeling a bit over-stuffed but without being at all self-indulgent.
In the end it is not Scorsese’s best work by any means but, hey, cold pizza is still pizza. In any other hands, this story would have lost its vision within the first 10 minutes. The powerhouse of Martin and Leo not only save it but turn it into a mesmerizing thriller that is, while still very early, most assuredly the best film to be released so far in 2010 and one of the most engrossing psychological thrillers in recent years.
