Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese) - ****

Dir. Martin Scorsese
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams

The most curious thing about the pre-release buzz for Scorsese's Shutter Island is the idea that Scorsese is somehow slumming by making a thriller. The man who has made his mark elevating the gangster/cops and robbers genres is somehow above the same genre that the legendary Alfred Hitchcock mastered. And it seems that this has led to the consensus opinion about the film being, "Nice job, Marty, now get back to what we want you to do." It's a shame, because I think this does a great disservice to what is a fantastic film.

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a federal marshal sent to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous patient in a remote insane asylum. Assisting him is a brand new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who may or may not be on his side. From the start, there are warning signs that not all is right; they are forced to give up their weapons, patients give ominous warnings like writing "run", and Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) seems to be offering very little assistance to the investigation.

Martin Scorsese has great fun setting up an exaggerated visual theme. The noirish premise allows him to get away with pretty much whatever he wants. The island is filled with an intensely drab look that feels like it would make one go insane if they already weren't. A brutal storm bashes the island throughout the film. And there's the foreboding lighthouse (with rumors of sickening medical experiments) that seems to have an almost impossible route to enter. Scorsese does such a great job with the visual look of the island that it feel like an extra character in the story.

However, what makes Shutter Island such a wonderful experience is not just the visuals or the wonderfully creepy moments that punctuate the film, but it’s the raw emotion that Scorsese brings to the story. Yes, the same intensity that Scorsese brings to all of his other projects is still here. Where the standard thriller is generally about using forgettable cardboard characters as devices to surprise the audience with scares, this one contains fully realized people, including a hero with a painfully regretful past. The film contains two incredibly painful dramatic sequences that rank among the filmmaker's best work. It is this emotional intensity that elevates the film above your standard thriller fare and makes it work on multiple levels.

Yet the fact that Scorsese is even daring to do a thriller seems to have limited the potential for the film getting its just praise. Everyone seems to be waiting for him to get back to his next "serious” work. There seems to be such a lack of respect for genre films that one wonders why any respected filmmaker would dare attempt to make one. This is somewhat understandable given the odious quality of the average genre film (even worse when you refine it to the thriller genre), but this is exactly why great filmmakers like Scorsese should be encouraged to make films like this. Otherwise, we’re basically telling filmmakers, “Hitchcock was great, but don’t do what he did.”

Seen in the proper context, I think it is clear that Shutter Island is a great film, and a superior example of a modern thriller. It’s exactly what we should expect when a great filmmaker with seemingly unlimited resources at his disposal (including a terrific cast headlined by a DiCaprio at the top of his game) brings his considerable talent to a promising story. The ending combines a memorable final line with a closing shot that is truly the work of a master. .