Shutter Island (2010)

When Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese collaborate you have certain expectations. For example, you expect the movie to be good. Maybe you expect it to be a little violent. You might even expect it to not treat the audience like idiots.

Well... Shutter Island at least lives up to the second one. And it has an interesting plot. Or at least it makes you think it has an interesting plot.

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a US Marshal in 1954 on the case of a missing patient from a hospital for the criminally insane on the allegedly unescapable Shutter Island. With his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Teddy comes across several roadblocks from the staff to the investigation and begins to suspect that something akin to the sinister activities he witnessed in death camps during World War II is taking place on the island. Things are further compounded by a hurricane, more escaped patients, and Teddy's dead wife.

Unfortunately Teddy and Chuck tell us way too many things explicitly. At some points it wouldn't be surprising if they turned to the camera and relayed the lines. And with the storm and the fireplaces and the men sitting in high-back chairs, you almost expect Teddy to announce it was Col. Mustard who absconded with the missing patient in the library with the candelabra.

There's a fair amount of suspense but it gets tiring after awhile and the story really starts to drag. Eventually, it's just annoying and tempting to fast forward to the end.

The actors do a fair enough job with what they've been given. Patricia Clarkson probably gives the strongest performance, but then again she was just making the most of the 5 minutes she's in the movie. DiCaprio and Ruffalo seem like an odd pairing. I never think of them as being in the same genre of films, but they work well together here.

In the end, only parts of it were the thriller I expected and instead of finding the ending itself clever, I felt betrayed. Looking back I see where all the seeds are sown, I just didn't care any more when it came time to harvest.

Rating: 2/5

Recommended for: People who like to be reminded that sometimes great film people put out a not-so-great movie