Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley , Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley
Runtime: 138 mins
UK release date: 12 March 2010:
Leonardo DiCaprio is fast becoming Martin Scorcese's new Robert DeNiro. It's a partnership that's becoming almost as common as Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, although Scorcese recently mentioned in an interview that he'd like to work with Depp so Burton's going to have to keep a tighter leash on his star. But still it's a box office and award-winning match made in heaven so no need to knock it and unsurprisingly expectations for Shutter Island are going to be high. Luckily for the dynamic duo, Shutter Island meets them.
This time DiCaprio plays U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels in Scorcese's dark psychological thriller. Daniels alongside partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) is sent on a mission to Shutter Island, the home of a mental hospital for the criminally insane. When one of the patients, Rachel Solando, goes missing the boys are called in to find out how she could have escaped from a seemingly unescapable rock. As their investigation deepens so does the feeling that there's something not quite right about this place, and we discover that finding Rachel isn't Teddy's only reason for coming to this strange place.
Based on the bestselling novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone) Shutter Island is a taut, dark thriller which will keep you guessing and on tenderhooks as the plot unravels and messes with your head. If you have read the book, it's going to be a different experience but not necessarily a disappointing one. While Scorcese remains faithful to the novel in most details there's an entirely different feel to the film and some of the script changes, particularly an extra line at the end, mean the impression you leave with from the cinema and that of when you close the book are quite different from each other.
While Shutter Island won't go down in history as Scorcese's best it's still up there with The Departed and proves that the 67-year-old director still rocks.
