Film review: Shutter Island

Shutter Island. 138 minutes. Rated MA15+. Directed by Martin Scorsese; Written by Laeta Kalogridis; Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane.

Psychological thrillers (exemplified by masters of the genre such as Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick) don’t come much better than this screen-scorching mind-bender from Mr Scorsese.

It is 1954, and US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a remote maximum-security prison hospital for the criminally insane. As a devastating hurricane closes in on the island, communication with the mainland is severed and the young investigators find themselves at the mercy, not only of nature's full fury, but also the sinister and singularly uncooperative hospital staff.

Mr Scorsese’s fierce, passionate and wildly-involving film could only ever have been possible when the talent involved is at the very top of their game. Robert Richardson’s (The Aviator) cinematography is positively searing, Sandy Powell’s (The Departed, The Aviator) 1950s costuming is beautifully realised, and Dante Ferretti’s (The Aviator, Gangs of New York) production design is flawless. But the virtuosity of the film’s final sequence (and the all-important pay-off where psychological thrillers are concerned), would not have been possible without the editing skills of Thelma Schoonmaker, who has edited every one of the director’s films since 1980’s Raging Bull.

With a performance of astonishing emotional depth and intellectual muscle, Mr DiCaprio proves, once and for all, that he is one of the most extraordinary actors of his generation. And he is in spectacular company. Mr Ruffalo’s is a career-defining performance of incredible range, while veterans Ben Kingsley (Ghandi) and Max von Sydow (the Exorcist in The Exorcist) are simply superb. Michelle Williams (unforgettable opposite Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain), here, again, uses every one of her chameleon qualities to devastating effect, while Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson excel in their cameos as one of the patients.

And while it’s only February, Shutter Island could well be the most exciting and rewarding couple of hours we’ll spend in the cinema this year.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Geraldton Guardian.