"Shutter Island" review by Ben Kenber

Good friends of mine keep telling me that they get all annoyed about movies with twist endings, where the rug is pulled out from under you. For a while now, a lot of people keep getting sick of filmmakers messing with their heads, and one guy told me that he thought that this tactic was “really cheap” and HATES it. I have never been bothered by it too much, and I pride myself on being open-minded and keeping my expectations in check. Some twists can be quite profound if it ties the story together perfectly, and it can make you want to see certain movies more than twice. As long as the ending doesn’t end up giving me a massive headache like the one in “Saw,” I think I’ll be fine. Or will I?

After seeing “Shutter Island,” I feel like I am starting to get my fill of twist endings as it seems like I have seen far too many. Right now, the television ads for it have been bragging about the movie’s ending, and it has now become its chief selling point. I’m not gonna compare this to other movies with tricky endings because I don’t want to give anything away if I can help it. But with this one, I felt like I knew how things were going to end, and it took away from my enjoyment of this movie a bit.

How you take in “Shutter Island” may depend on how you take in its ending and of how many of its kind you have witnessed whether by choice or not. Once you get past that part of it though, it is still a very well made movie that is never boring. Martin Scorsese directed this adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel, and his work has made for some truly great movies like “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone.” It also reteams Scorsese with his Robert DeNiro of the past decade, Leonardo DiCaprio. You can’t help but expect the best from these guys.

Leo plays Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal assigned to investigate the escape of a patient, not a prisoner (as Ben Kingsley’s character constantly reminds him), from Ashecliff Hospital. This hospital houses the most dangerous of mentally ill patients, and it is housed on Shutter Island which is presented to us here as one of the most isolated places on Earth. Try to think of it as Alcatraz for the horrendously insane. Teddy is partnered up with Chuck Aule (the always dependable Mark Ruffalo) to investigate, and they speak with everyone from Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch) to chief psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley), and it soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems…Well, nothing ever is in life.

The one thing I’m really enjoying about writing this review is that I don’t have to spend all that much time talking about the plot. The less I talk about it, the better the experience will be for you. So in the meantime I can write all about all the other elements involved that went into “Shutter Island.”

Leonardo DiCaprio may be headlining this, but Martin Scorsese is always the real star of his movies. It deals with many themes that are predominant in the majority of his movies: guilt, losing your soul to something you cannot control, acceptance of what you did, finding redemption, having to go through your own personal hell, etc. This material is more than suited to Marty’s seemingly endless Catholic guilt, and he has quite the production to go along with this one. Ever since he won the Best Director Oscar for “The Departed,” it seems as if he suddenly has access to even bigger budgets than ever before.

The look of “Shutter Island” is great, and the hurricane that ends up thrashing the hospital and its unlucky inhabitants (sane and insane) is a less than subtle metaphor for secrets that are meant to be uncovered in the worst way possible. Whether it’s one of the stronger or weaker films in his long volume of work, you can be sure that Scorsese never half asses anything he does, ever. Every little detail from the forest surrounding the island to the inside of the dreaded C Block where the worst of the worst are held have been endlessly scrutinized by the director to where you believe that nothing is missing. Plus, he continues working with cinematographer Robert Richardson who did brilliant work on Marty’s Rolling Stones IMAX concert film “Shine a Light.” Robert gives the island a beauty that is forever clouded over by hidden secrets which will bring out the darkness that Teddy is trying to hide or run away from.

Then of course, you have the performances, and there is not a weak one to be found here. Leonardo DiCaprio marks his fourth collaboration with Scorsese with another in a long line of great performances. There should be no doubt by now that he is one of the best film actors of his generation, and his work here is very exhausting to sit through as he gets deeper and deeper into the all consuming madness of this island. Leo doesn’t even have to put anything in words to describe how his character can no longer trust anyone.

As for the rest of the cast, they are on their game throughout be it in the big or small roles they were cast in. It remains all too true; there are no small roles, only small actors. Ben Kingsley never strikes me as ever being capable of giving a bad performance, and that’s even when he is stuck in some of the worst movies ever. I don’t care what anyone says, not even Ewe Boll can make him look bad. As Dr. Cawley, Kingsley presents a kind demeanor that hides secrets he calmly keeps to himself, refusing to bring them out into the open, even if it means finding the escaped patient (not prisoner mind you). Kingsley’s eyes only let you so far into his soul, and his character remains an enigma until the very end. Even after it’s over, he still leaves you with some suspense over whether or not he is dealing with reality.

Max Von Sydow is also on board here, and he is still alive and kicking thespian ass long after making his breakthrough in Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal.” Exactly how many movies has he been in anyway? He’s amazing! As Dr. Jeremiah Naehring, Von Sydow has the appearance in his face of a physician who deals in various methods of treatments far too hideous for him to describe. Of course, he probably has nothing on Jigsaw from that endless “Saw” franchise. In his best acting roles, Von Sydow effectively creates a menacing presence without even trying to be menacing. Of course, it helps when the story and direction do much of the work for him before we first see the particular doctor.

Michelle Williams remains one of the few actors who survived those years of teen soap operas (“Dawson’s Creek” to be more specific), and who has since managed to maintain an acting career as an adult. She is more then deserving of being taken seriously as an actress long after her Oscar nominated performance in “Brokeback Mountain.” As Teddy’s deceased wife, Dolores Chanal, Michelle gives a deeply felt and heartbreaking performance which will have you empathizing with her character regardless of her shocking actions.

There are also some choice cameos to be found throughout “Shutter Island,” and they come from some of the best actors around (whether or not they are big name stars is another story). Patricia Clarkson, whose work in movies ranges from “The Untouchables” to 2007’s “Lars and the Real Girl,” more than excels in the 5 to 10 minutes she has onscreen as the one character who may very well hold the key to what is really going on at Ashecliff Hospital. Ted Levine is a quiet threat here as the warden of the hospital, and his 3 to 5 minutes of screen time are enough to scare his Buffalo Bill character from “The Silence of the Lambs” silly. And then you have the great Jackie Earle Haley as a patient who is really does look like he belongs in the worst part of the island, and his intensity during the scene he has with DiCaprio never lets up. This gives us a good idea of what we can possibly expect from him when he takes on the role of Freddy Krueger in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” remake (like it or not, it’ll be here soon).

But having said all that, the ending almost undid all of this strong work for me. For the last ten or so years, these twist endings have kept piling up to where each one feels incredibly stupid or depressingly predict from one film to the next. Seriously, I felt like I saw this specific coming almost right from the start. Its not that the ending is bad or doesn’t completely work (it is a bit of a head scratcher), and I’m not going to say how it should have ended either. I get so freakin’ sick of people complaining how this movie or that one should not have ended that way. How is a movie supposed to end anyway? How about this one?

I guess what bothers me is that Scorsese doesn’t succeed in bringing anything new to this kind of ending. After all these years, he remains one of the best American filmmakers, and he generates tension the way few others can. But while his personal touches can be found here and there, “Shutter Island” threatens to feel more like an average mystery, and we have come to expect so much more from him.

Still, “Shutter Island” is undeniably well made and is never ever boring. Despite feeling a bit letdown, this film held my attention throughout. Spending a couple of hours watching this one will certainly be more preferable than to sit through “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” again. My frustration with the climax probably has more to do with the number of movies I have seen overall, and those not familiar with these twists will probably still get a big kick out of it. I wish I liked it more than I did, but between this and “Legion,” what are you really gonna watch?

*** out of ****