Shutter Island

Shutter Island ~ This film is an anomaly for me. It looked good in previews but it also appeared to give everything away in the previews as well. I shouldn't have worried. Martin Scorcese is a film god after all. Even if the script might be lacking, it would still be visually stunning and shot perfectly. And it is.

I have to say I like the skinny kid Leo DiCaprio much better than the beefy man Leo. The kid is just more believable to me. I don't know how to explain it any other way. Leo's character, Teddy, is very complex, both engaging and enraging at once. It may have changed my mind about young Leo vs. older Leo. His partner in this one, Mark Ruffalo, actually reminds me a lot of a young Robert Blake here. Him I like.

In the 1950s a dangerous patient escapes from an island prison hospital and federal officers (DiCaprio and Ruffalo) come to investigate. Everyone involved is less than cooperative. Sitting squarely in the villain roles, the head doctors are played by two of Hollywood's finest - Max von Sydow and Ben Kingsley.

A great cast, twisted plotting, stunning visuals and an appropriate and menacing score by various make Shutter Island a surprising flick for me. It's not what you think. Recommended.