In Martin Scorsese's latest film, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. marshall sent to Shutter Island, a mental health facility for the criminally insane, to investigate the disappearance of a female patient. Once on the island, Teddy and his partner, Chuck Aule, (Mark Ruffalo) are met by guards and doctors, who are unwilling to cooperate with the marshalls' investigation. A tremendous storm forces Teddy to stay on the island and search for the missing woman and his wife's murderer, whom he believes is also housed on the island.
The dream sequences in the movie were a little over the top. It is clear that Scorsese wanted to use the dreams experienced by Teddy as a way to tell the backstory and a way to set up the ending of the movie, but the number and length of the dreams seemed excessive. In addition, the World War 2 dreams seemed to be unnecessarily violent.
Leonardo DiCaprio was superb as Teddy. He seemed to completely engross himself in the role, and the range of his acting ability was definitely on display. Teddy was an unforgettable character, and one that I wanted to succeed throughout the entire movie. Other than the Departed, it was definitely my favorite role that DiCaprio has played.
Overall, I would recommend this movie. DiCaprio's performance alone is worth the price of admission. However, be advised that the dream sequences took up too much of the movie, and contributed to the film's unnecessary lengthiness. Shutter Island
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I think the beauty of the entire movie is you don’t know how to feel and you don’t know which to believe. You are very much in the mind of Leo’s character. Paranoid and stuck between two different things that both could very much be true. I called it very early on. The fact that it didn’t show him anywhere else but the Ferry and the Island. He has experienced Trauma. The Doctor said he does experimental procedures. Patients seemed coached. Just met his partner. And there wasn’t much to the movie unless he was crazy. Frankly, practically from the beginning I just felt that’s the only way it could have been.
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