When I first saw the "Shutter Island" trailer in the fall of 2009, I remember turning to my movie companion and rolling my eyes. It's funny how superior you feel during movie previews, easily scoffing at what may have been someone's life's work. I rolled my eyes mostly because the movie looked scary and I'm not really a fan of scary. Turns out, the movie wasn't marketed quite right. "Paranormal Activity," this is not.
When a film is continually delayed as this one was, it makes me skeptical. Just what is so wrong with the movie that it can't be released? I mean, they throw movies like the entire "Saw" franchise into the theaters almost immediately after wrapping shooting (it seems) and things turn out just fine. What happened to "Shutter Island" then? Maybe that's the real question we should be pondering instead of the plot-supplied mysteries.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo are 1950s U.S. Marshals (We ARE Marshal(l)...) assigned to investigate an escaped patient on Shutter Island, the home of a government-run mental hospital. As the investigation goes on, we flash back to DiCaprio's past in the military and into his mind. To me, these are some of the best parts of the movie. They are visually stunning and don't obey any laws of physics or common sense; they're dreamlike. From these glimpses into his mind, we discover that DiCaprio has something else to solve besides the case of the escaped patient. The rest of the movie plays on the audience's ideas about what's really going on and quickly changes course once you think you understand.
While DiCaprio's performance is of course moving and effective, Michelle Williams' performance as his wife stands out for me. It's hauntingly beautiful and works exactly as a supporting role should; her performance motivates DiCaprio's actions and gives his performance its emotional weight.
For all its beauty and great performances, "Shutter Island" feels stunningly...average. I feel like I've seen variations of this story many times before which, is true, can be said of many movie plots. There just wasn't much that stood out to make this movie all that memorable. Call me crazy.
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