It's a real treat to have a movie like Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island right now- I highly doubt there will be a better Hollywood movie for the time to come. Why am I giving it such praise? Because it's made by a man that believes in repeated viewings & you will likely need it for this one, which has a twist that demands to be studied and reviewed when the credits roll & -unlike other surprise endings- actually makes sense in its context. What Scorsese has done is a Horror picture that pays tribute to some of Horror's legendary people, there's a bit of Val lewton's The Seventh Victim & almost every seminal Hitchcock is payed tribute to: There's a mountain scene reminiscent of North By Northwest, there's a lighthouse reminiscent of Vertigo & there's a window sequence reminiscent of? Actually you get my drift- and add some influence on Kubrick's The Shining. I've already heard complaints about the picture not being up to par with even his more recent work such as Gangs Of New York & The Departed, I highly digress and even insist its the most rewarding picture he's made for repeat viewings since..well since I can remember.
It's all in the fun. & what fun ! I think people are taking the picture a bit too seriously, this is Scorsese's Valentine to horror & has moments of pure joy and ridiculousness- which is how it meant it to be. I'm kind of reminded of Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell, which didn't take itself too seriously and was brilliant because of that. If you haven't heard about the plot- Leo Dicaprio (extraordinarily reliable) plays a Federal Marshall whom along with his partner -played by Mark Ruffalo- goes to an Asylum for the Insane -called Shutter Island- to investigate a missing patient. That's all I'm gonna say but watch out for those horrific dreams Leo has about his dead wife and his experience as an American soldier discovering Nazi concentration camps in WWII. & don't pay too much attention to the missing person case, it's a trap for a more nuanced and revelatory outcome near the end.
I guess you can say I liked the picture & the supporting cast is just great (starring with Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley & Jackie Earle Haley). The film was supposed to come out last year but got postponed due to 'production issues'. If it came out last year it would have surely been one of my very favourites. Seek it out- it's rare to find an auteured movie in mainstream cinema today and this is surely an Auteured movie if there ever was one.