Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese, 2010 (7.8*)

This is Scorsese's tribute to Hitchcockian melodramas, in my opinion, aided by an exotic island location which holds a maximum security asylum for the criminally insane, and an earnest if strained performance by Leonardo Dicaprio. The film is full of stormy atmosphere, disappearing psychos, mysterious doctors; in fact, all it's missing are the Universal logo and Boris Karloff and you'd have a classic 40's horror film if done in black and white.

I've actually heard people say that this is Scorsese's best film, while others have placed it closer to his worst (impossible with Bringing Out the Dead in his filmography), so it's obviously not an 'accepted classic' of his. I guess it really depends on how jaded a film fan you are, for this is really not a new story, the 'twist' is not that unexpected, and one gets the feeling that 'I've seen all this before'.

The most misleading marketing in recent history has all the ads touting this as a Hitchcockian suspense-horror film, yet it's far closer to A Beautiful Mind and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, being more about states of insanity than any horrific mystery. I'm not sure if Scorsese's real fans will find this as rewarding as his more serious efforts (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Departed), yet it's an engrossing enough story to hold one's interest until the cliched plot unravels. Look for terrific character actor Ted Levine, the killer in Silence of the Lambs, in a small part as a prison guard.