Scorsese scores again

Grade: A-

Many wondered if esteemed director Martin Scorsese (Shine A Light) could conjure up another masterpiece, but he certainly did. The Academy Award winner once again displays his filmmaking brilliance and lives up to lofty expectations with the film adaptation of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel, Shutter Island.
Set in 1954, two U.S. federal marshals are summoned to a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the sudden disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane. After a hurricane devastates the island, the marshals find themselves in a nightmarish game of cat and mouse, thanks to the deception of the only sane people around them.
Scorsese reunites with best bud Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), who plays U.S federal marshal Teddy Daniels. Daniels arrives on the island intent on solving the mystery behind Rachel Solando's (Patricia Clarkson, Beyond All Boundaries, & Emily Mortimer, Harry Brown) disappearance, but also has a secret agenda for one of the asylum's inmates.
Haunted by flashbacks of his deceased wife, Daniels wants nothing more than to get his hands on the man that set ablaze the house his wife died in. Daniels's obsession with his wife's death quickly takes precedent over the investigation, but it, in turn, takes its toll on him. Plagued by migraine headaches, frequent hallucinations and intense nightmares, Daniels finds himself becoming one of the mental hospital's own.
Daniels's mental deterioration is remarkable. DiCaprio puts on a brilliant performance as a man that literally losses his mind. Yes, he was confined to an island with the criminally insane; any normal human being in this situation is susceptible to losing his or her psyche.
But the incorporation of Daniels's past into his mental collapse is intriguing. DiCaprio's ability to sell the character – as if he himself were losing his mind during production – helps lift the movie to new heights.
DiCaprio's performance isn't the sole impressive performance; a remarkable supporting cast accompanies him. The many mystifying characters keep the audience baffled throughout the movie.
While it may seem as if his only dialogue in the film is, 'You OK, boss?', Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are Alright) plays a convincing role as DiCaprio's sidekick, U.S marshal Chuck Aule. Sir Ben Kingsley (Fifty Dead Men Walking) joins the cast as Dr. John Cawley, the hospital's eccentric chief physician, who gives off the feeling of a generic creepy butler turned mad scientist. While only in the film for a short time, Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) makes a lasting impression as the mutilated pyro-patient, George Noyce.
But a former Dawson's Creeker's performance leaves moviegoers with a lasting impression.
As Dolores Chanal, Daniels's dead wife, Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) delivers one of the most moving roles of her career as the supernatural damsel from the dead. Her scenes as an evaporating figment of Daniel's imagination to a shocking flashback at the film's climax are the movie's best.
Visually, Shutter Island is in a league of its own. The film doesn't require viewers to wear 3-D glasses to become completely and utterly immersed in its look and feel.
Its old-fashioned appearance gives the movie an eerie feeling that keeps the audience's attention for more than two hours. From scenes of light snowfall at a Nazi death camp to flashbacks of blood-soaked murders – in addition to the intricacy of the island itself – it's clear that Scorsese put his years of moviemaking experience into compiling the most visually stunning picture in recent memory.
Scorsese and screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar) stick closely to Lehane's story – almost too closely. The twists and turns that Daniels encounters as a rat trapped in a maze are jaw-dropping. For those who have read the novel, however, the elements of surprise are virtually ruined. Still, DiCaprio's portrayal of Daniels is convincing enough that viewers can still feel the effects of the shock factor.
Unfortunately, Shutter Island does fall into the corny clichés of 'inescapable island,' 'man fighting for his life' and 'don't trust anybody.' These themes have been seen time and time again, and it would've been nice for Scorsese and Kalogridis to make the movie their own. Sticking to the pages of the novel is fine, but adding elements of their own would've given the movie its own identity.
Regardless, Shutter Island is sure to be another blockbuster on Scorsese's resume. Submerged in a plot of horrifying mayhem and visual brilliance, the film will take the viewers minds' on a wild ride that could make anyone contemplate enrolling in the nearest insane asylum by the time the credits roll.

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