Shutter Island (2010)
Director - Martin Scorsese
Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer & Mark Ruffolo
2.5 stars
*WARNING - SPOILER ALERT*
Of my 40 odd movie reviews that I've written, I've never once put up a spoiler alert. The main reason being, I like to try and sell the movie, let people know what I thought of it and give you enough knowledge of it so that you can decide for yourself whether you want to fork out your hard-earned to see it. So why change, MJ?
Shutter Island is a massive Hollywood blockbuster that has been floating around for the best part of 3 months. Pushed back in its initial release date (much to the disgust of lead man Leonardo DiCaprio) by it's production company, this Scorsese psychological thriller was making headlines because it was no longer going to be available for nomination at the Oscars. Now in February, it has enjoyed a healthy advertising campaign and media run and has enjoyed some sparkling reviews from people whose opinions are supposed to matter. So often in my life as a film watcher (classy title, I know) I like what I am supposed to like. Give me the big Hollywood film of the summer and I will eat it up for breakfast and rave to the world about the magic that I have just seen. On this occasion, on Shutter Island, I simply cannot conform.
So for those unaware, the film, set in 1954, follows US Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) as they are sent to Shutter Island, an isolated mental institution for the criminally insane, to track down the disappearance of a missing patient/prisoner. Upon arrival they meet the man in charge, Dr Cawley, and find him all too secretive and unwilling to provide him with the information they require. After a while they discover that almost everyone on the island, doctors, wards and even patients aren't keen to speak and the Marshal's realise that there is more going on then they can ever begin to imagine. Their only problem now is whether they will actually be able to get off the island before it's too late.
Seems like a solid plot, and to be honest, it is. It has all the right ingredients for cinematic entertainment and when you throw in names like Scorsese and DiCaprio you are sure to sell tickets. Unfortunately, it seems to offer so much more than it actually does. This can be a danger of a film that enjoys such a profitable pre-release period. Expectations are made and so often left unfulfilled. For me, I had high hopes. I had no reason not to. But by the last half hour or so, I was praying like mad that it would take another twist and blow me off my seat.
It did not.
So this is where the spoilers come in. Any psychological thriller based at a mental asylum where the head detective has hallucinations is going to have the audience asking questions. Is this Marshal actually one of the patients here and we are following one of their journeys as they trip out? If that thought didn't enter your head, then great, enjoy your movie. But for me, shit, that's probably the first conclusion I came up with once I watched the trailer. So when you're watching a film, already well aware of the 'twist' that is supposed to blow the socks of everyone you can't help but feel a little cheated when you eventually realise that there is nothing more to it. You've jumped the gun, and you hate yourself for it - I can only assume that this was how Jim felt in American Pie when he was in his bedroom with Nadia, only to a lesser extent I guess.
Another issue I had with the whole twist revelation was the way it was explained. For a good fifteen minutes Teddy/Andrew was systematically told how every piece of his adventure fit perfectly into the puzzle. It was almost like you had finished your DVD and put on the Director's commentary section just in case you had missed something in your initial viewing. Leigh Paatsch, film reviewer in the Herald Sun, so often sounds like a wanky, pompus moron when you read his stuff but he certainly nailed it here. For the first, and hopefully last time I will quote his view on matters... "All others lead to a BIG REVEAL so clumsily handled - yet pretentiously presented - you'd swear Scorsese sub-contracted this part of his directing job to a shonky M. Night Shyamalan". I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr Paatsch. Here's Martin Scorsese, one of the biggest names in the film world and most highly acclaimed director of a generation, getting it so wrong. Scorsese could sit himself on a toilet for two hours - or better still get DiCaprio to do it - and people would still be buying tickets to his movies, and rightly so because he has proven himself as a more than credible director.
I guess it comes with the territory. When you build yourself a reputation that accepts nothing more than excellence, those few times when you fail to reach the bar you will be critiqued. Fortunately for Scorsese and the Shutter Island crew, myself and Leigh Paatsch seem to be the minority, nay, the unheard voice.
For the rest of the film, there's not much more to report. It flowed well enough and answered all questions. No one will walk out of the movie thinking, 'I don't get it'. Obviously everything linked up and made sense, but that is expected when they took the better part of half an hour explaining how it happened, why he had the hallucinations, what role everyone played etc. Good twists don't need this form of meticulous explanation. Take Saw for example, with one minute to go Jigsaw gets up off the floor and walks out while a series of quick flashbacks dominant the screen leaving the audience in awe and excitement as they think 'OF COURSE!’ With Shutter Island, it was more a case of, 'oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, that works'. Or for those who knew it all along, 'please God let there be another twist, fool everyone and give me the REAL twist!’ That's all it needed, in my honest opinion. It was the difference between 2 stars and 4 stars. I was praying for about 15 minutes that the audience was just being warmed up for the real twist that Teddy Daniels is no mental patient and we will kick some ass and get free. Alas, it wasn't to be.
DiCaprio was good without being and great, and like the film itself, probably wouldn't have troubled the Oscars punters too much had this movie been released when it was originally supposed to.
And that's the crux of it. This big name film, with its big name director and big name lead, has let me down. Expectations were high and left unfulfilled. It was cliché', it was predictable and it was by no means the groundbreaking movie I hoped to add to my hypothetical DVD collection of essential must-owns... but gee, it really could have been because it just offers so much more than it delivers.
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