MY REVIEW: """ 1/2
Jen and I saw Scorsese's latest at a private screening at the Harmony Gold Theatre in Hollywood. I was very excited to finally see this movie; it was pushed back from the Fall of 2009. We both liked it, but I definitely enjoyed it more.
Shutter Island starts off with Federal Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonard DiCaprio) trying, and failing, to stomach the rough seas on the way to a maximum security insane asylum. It's 1954, and Shutter Island houses some of America's most dangerous criminals. One of them, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer) has gone missing.
Almost immediately, the hospital begins to bring out the skeletons in Daniel's very dark closet. His baggage includes nightmares from his experience liberating Dachau and losing his wife to a building fire while he was on another case.
The real strength of the movie is how it requires quite a bit of investigation on the part of the viewer. With characters as creepy as this, the audience is hard pressed to trust pretty much anyone, including Daniel's partner (Mark Ruffalo) and the zealous chief psychiatrist (Ben Kingsley). And then there's the mental hospital: an Alcatraz of a mental hospital that truly puts you into another world. The art direction is worth the price of admission.
I won't say any more about the picture, since I hate spoilers. I will say that the writing was strong, and I was genuinely surprised at moments. All in all, I was very entertained. Then again, when Scorsese'ds name is on it, that's pretty much a guarantee.
[Shutter Island is in wide release]
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