REVIEW: ‘Shutter Island’ Impresses With Everything But the Story

by John Nolte

Big movie twists are fine. I appreciate them when they work and sometimes even when they don’t. There’s all kinds of gimmickry in storytelling and The Twist has always been one of my favorites. Regardless, we all love a movie twist that knocks us out; a “Sixth Sense” kind of twist where (with the help of the filmmaker) you rerun the story in your mind and feel a great amount of satisfaction as the pieces all come together. Even less successful movie twists work on some level. The last reveal in “Unbreakable” might not have been a “Sixth Sense” wowser but is arguably successful within the context of its own world and without the specter of its predecessor might have received the respect it deserved.

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In order for this kind of twist to work, however, a film must accomplish two things. First, the story shouldn’t require the twist in order for it to be successful. What precedes the twist should be stand-alone compelling – a good movie all on its own.  Second, the twist should make you want to see the film again, and as soon as possible, because now what came before takes on an entirely new dimension that requires another viewing to truly savor.

And this is where “Shutter Island” fails. *SPOILERS COMING*

The two hours or so to director Martin Scorsese’s Big Reveal is a long haul, especially after you lose all interest after the first thirty-minutes due to a narrative that never gels or grabs hold. The acting is fine and the look of the atmospheric production is top-notch in that foreboding kind of way (aided by Bernard Hermann-esque flourishes in the score). But the mystery of an escaped patient on a big spooky island simply isn’t all that compelling. Nothing makes much sense once the second act really gets going, and while the Big Twist does work in explaining what came before, the thought of reliving two muddled unfocused hours was the furthest thing from my mind.  

The year is 1954 and U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (an always excellent and interesting Mark Ruffalo) are on a ferry headed for Shutter Island, an island with one tenant: a hospital for the most violently insane criminals in the country. Rachel, an inmate/patient who murdered her children, has somehow managed to elude being caught after an escape from her cell that required either help from someone on the inside or magic.

The institution is run by Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Naehring (Max Von Sydow), two imposing figures who talk a good game about their advancements in treating the insane with humane, modern methods. But it doesn’t take long before Teddy (and we) have our doubts about the doctors’ sincerity. The two men appear to hold as many dark and sinister secrets as the large mysterious island they enjoy total control over with little to no outside interference or oversight.

Sure, there’s a mystery, but there’s also all kinds of red herrings that hurt the narrative because they are so obviously red herrings and therefore serve only to frustrate rather than surprise. As the scenes tick by, characters increasingly behave in ways that make no sense and a series of regular flashbacks that are beautifully realized are unfortunately more successful at killing story momentum than rounding out Teddy’s emotional life. Teddy fought in WWII and is still haunted by the inhumanity he saw firsthand after liberating Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp. He also lost his beloved wife not too long ago in an apartment fire. Both experiences continue to come back to haunt his day and night time dreams.

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DiCaprio’s performance improves significantly as the story rolls on. His eternal baby face under a fedora is a distraction at first (Ruffalo looks fantastic in his fedora), but the personal journey Teddy’s forced to endure allows the actor to eventually stop play-acting as a tough guy cop and move into the more comfortable arena of emotionally-driven scenes where he’s 100% believable and even quite moving at times. His last line’s a killer – the whole ballgame – and DiCaprio knocks it out of the park.

Rounding out an already impressive cast is a terrific group of welcome actors in smaller (sometimes a single scene) but pivotal roles: Elias Koteas, Jackie Earle Haley, Patricia Clarkson, Ted Levine and Emily Mortimer. For my money, I would’ve preferred DiCaprio and Ruffalo switched roles, but the actors are the least of the film’s problems.

At 100 minutes as opposed to 140, “Shutter Island” would improve greatly. If the DVD directors cut looks like that, a second look might be worth the time. But no matter how solid the acting, impressive the production design and predigree’d the director, everything comes down to story and this one quickly falls under the weight of its own runtime, lack of tension and the need of salvation in the form of The Big Twist.


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Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 6:47 am in Film, Reviews | 56 Comments