Fairly Topical Movie Review: “Shutter Island”

Going to the movies is more and more becoming a rare experience for me. So much so that every time I go, I’m still shocked by the ticket price. I actually overheard the couple in front of me in line say ‘Are we really going to pay $21 to see Hot Tub Time Machine?’ The answer is yes, they did. And though I feel a little better about my movie choice than theirs, it still stings a little. But, such is life.

I’ve been excited to see this movie since it first came out, for two reasons. The first is that it looked really good, scary in a weird kind of way that I like my scary movies to be. And second, because it’s actually a good movie. So many of the movies that I love to go see are action movies, summer blockbuster superhero movies or science fiction, nothing that’s really setting the critical world on fire. But here was a Martin Scorsese movie, getting good reviews, and I actually wanted to see it. For once my taste in movies wasn’t being belittled by the movie watching elite. And then I made the mistake of reading a review for the movie on the Onion A.V. Club (which was positive), and reading the comments section that went along with it (not so much). It seemed that the hipster douche community was determined to rain on my parade and piss all over this movie. But what irritated me even more was the fact that they spoiled the end of it for me. Undeterred, I set out to see the movie anyway.

Leonardo Dicaprio is Teddy Daniels, a US Marshall traveling to an asylum for the criminally insane on the titular Shutter Island in Boston harbor. He has a new partner and a dark past, and he’s been assigned to investigate the escape of one of the asylum’s most dangerous patients. Almost from the moment they arrive, the staff and the patients of Shutter Island start acting strangely. The escaped patient disappeared from a locked room, and nobody saw anything. Soon, Teddy reveals to his partner that he’s on the trail of something much bigger then just an escaped patient, and that the goings on at Shutter Island are much more sinister than then appear. A violent storm traps the Marshalls on the island, and Teddy begins to have strange dreams about his deceased wife and his experiences in the army during the war, liberating a Nazi concentration camp.

The most striking thing about the movie is the cinematography. It’s shot in such a way that you feel much like the protagonist, you can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t? Who’s sane and who’s insane? Who can you trust? You become almost as paranoid as Teddy, expecting trouble around every dark corner.

Amazing visuals with an intriguing story that keeps you guessing, even when you think you have it figured out you’re never quite sure. Ultimately, the experience is worth it, even if you do have an idea on how it’s going to end.

My Netflix Rating: Four out of Five Stars