Out of Matches

There are few things in this world which are more terrifying than the reality of insanity, and being locked away forever in an asylum. “Shutter Island” is one such island, where patients are tucked away from the outside world with no chance of escape, under the watchful eye of Dr. John Cawley, subtly played by Ben Kingsley (“Sexy Beast,” “House of Sand and Fog”). The problem that the much delayed release date for this film, and the overzealous trailers have presented is that the film gives us little in the way of real terror or horror and more in the way of a good old fashioned mystery story. The lighting, set design, costume design and acting are all decent enough, and a tier above the average film, but the expectations have prevented this movie from garnering what it could have as a solid mystery/drama film.

It is the 1950s, and the arrival on “Shutter Island” by detectives Teddy Daniels (Leonardo Dicaprio), and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), as they ferry their way over on assignment to solve the disappearance of one of the patients/criminal opens the film. They find little in the way of answers for the missing woman, as they interview Dr. Cawley, Dr. Jeremiah Naehring played by Max Von Sydow (“The Tudors,” “Minority Report”) and various patients. Kingsley expertly plays the dedicated psychiatrist Cawley with a soft spoken edge; you don’t know if this guy is truly passionate about his work or if he has maniacal intentions behind his research and treatment. Sydow brings to life the questionable German doctor who Daniels dislikes right off the bat, being that he is a WWII veteran, and recalls quite vividly the horrors of that war.

As the investigation continues, there are no concrete answers, but more leads as to potential funny business on Shutter Island. Daniels starts to have visions of his deceased wife, played by Michelle Williams in a less-than intense manner, and she directs him to do or not to do certain things as he carries on the investigation. The scenes with Williams should come off more intense and moving; after all you are watching Daniels talk (or think he is talking to) his dead wife, but the scenes just sort of hang there like dead air. This may be more due to Williams’ lack of passion, because DiCaprio is not only believable as the grieving husband who won’t let go, but the shots of them holding one another are beautiful and artful.

As Daniels’ startling hallucinations of his wife increase and branch off to other things like rats, you start to wonder if his sanity is slipping slowly on this island. The one person who is supposed to be there to ground him is his partner Aule, but his theories about the hospital are off the charts, and Daniels claims a one-man mission to solve it.

Ruffalo is also less than convincing in his squinty-eyed confused diatribes and unassuming presence on screen. Although Ruffalo carries the look of this period piece well, he simply cannot hold his own on-screen with the giant presence of DiCaprio looming like a shadow of talent. Since the pair are on-screen most of the film, this hampers the effect and level of convincing that the film has to do in order to succeed in the end reveal with the plot twist.

The film then takes a surprising turn, as Daniels looks to uncover the questionable experimental procedures that are taking place on Shutter Island, but the twist isn’t as powerful as what the last quarter of the film reveals. It is almost as if you want to be utterly shocked by the twist, but it doesn’t quite make it there, as the film itself is good, but the twist isn’t enough to rein the whole film in and make it feel complete. As a result, an unsatisfying feeling remains, as if the story could have been told in a more unorthodox way causing the end have an even greater impact.

“Shutter Island” would have fared a lot better had it included less well-known actors and had less of a marketing build up. It presented itself as a horror film, which seemed like it would do something different, given the groundbreaking director Scorsese being attached. What really happens though is that it is a solid mystery, but a drama that misses the mark. It needed to be released under the radar, catching the audience off-guard, as the story itself does.