MyRating: YYYY 1/2Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams
MPAA: Rated R for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity.
A gripping crime thriller/mystery about a US Marshal, Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) who is assigned with his partner (Ruffalo) to investigate a strange disappearance of a murderer patient in a criminal mental asylum in Shutter Island. When they find out that the case is more than a simple escape, they realize that there might be a big conspiracy behind that all, involving the hospital head and doctors, whom they suspect of doing dangerous and unthinkable experiments towards the patients, or even involving the government who brought them there in the first place.
As Teddy tries hard to solve the puzzle, the hospital insane atmosphere begins to absorb him and he starts to experience strange things, including being visited by his dead wife. And when a hurricane strikes the island and cut off all the transportation and communication, he doesn't have any choice than to finish what he has begun, even though his life is in danger. But he becomes to distrust everyone and doubts everything he ever believes, including his own sanity.
This fourth collaboration between Scorsese & DiCaprio, adapted from the best-selling novel by Dennis Lehane, is an intense movie with interesting storyline and thick mystery, nicely executed by the legendary Martin Scorsese. The setting and atmosphere of the asylum is bleak and scary enough, which at some points makes me feel as if I am on that island. The tense of the film is carefully built but well-paced, and it grips you till the end once it starts. Leonardo DiCaprio totally put himself into the soul of his character and gave a strong and convincing performance as usual. He is just getting better and better. Without a doubt, he is becoming one of my favorite actors now.
This is a movie that makes you think, and after you come into the end of the movie and walk out of the theater, it still makes you think. The end of this movie will surely become the subject of debate for years to come. And in my opinion, it is just the perfect way to end the film. (MJ)
