Film Review: Shutter Island

Director Martin Scorsese has created an old-fashioned thriller, in which he openly acknowledges his debt to the likes of Hitchcock. The film is set in the 1950s, and its tropes and imagery hark back to an earlier age of cinema: the protagonists are physically isolated on a forbidding looking island, dramatic weather sets the mood, the hands of the inmates reach out through the bars of the asylum cells.

However, the film is not an exercise in knowing pastiche, more of a faithful homage. And it is fitting, therefore, that I found it enjoyable in a very old-fashioned way – as an exciting and satisfying mystery. Despite the many twists and turns of the plot, it was in no way demanding to follow and I felt that the story was always ‘fair’ to the audience in that none of the twists came out of the blue. They were not predictable, but they were always set up within the context of the story. Twists that come completely out of nowhere can feel contrived, leaving the audience feeling cheated, as though the film they thought they were watching has been tossed aside for the sake of some meaningless cheap shock. In this case, the twists, as good twists should, throw new light on what has gone before, so that, even when everything is turned on its head, the audience still feels they are watching a complete and satisfying film.

Leonardo diCaprio - an excellent and somewhat under-rated actor in my opinion -gives a typically convincing performance in the lead role, and the supporting cast do a good job too, with just the right amount of hamminess on display for the type of film. Everybody looks the part - Mark Ruffalo in particular, as diCaprio’s sidekick, seems to have the perfect face for the 1950s - and the cinematography is stunning and atmospheric.

Despite touching on some interesting points about power, exploitation and the nature of madness, it never explores any of these ideas further than they move the plot along. This is not a think piece. It set out to be a thriller and it delivers magnificently – a masterclass in tension, pace and atmosphere.