Movie Review: Shutter Island, a psychological thriller!

Shutter Island (2010) is a psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese and takes you to how the mind can work in mysterious ways. The film is set in the 1950s and tells the story of a US Marshal named Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), as they both were assigned to investigate the strange disappearance of a patient from a mental institution located on a small island in the middle of the ocean, Shutter Island. As they uncover more and more, Teddy starts fighting with his inner demons and starts to lose his sanity.

"Sanity's not a choice, Marshall. You can't just choose to get over it."

This post will contain a lot of spoilers from here on, I recommend watching the movie or skipping the following parts of the post if you don't want to ruin your watching experience.

Plot

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) meets his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) on a ferry as they approach the secluded island, Shutter Island and into the psychiatric facility where they investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando, convicted of murdering her children. As they wanted to investigate further they were denied access to critical documentation and they became increasingly suspicious of the staff. While on the case, Teddy's past comes to haunt her and he starts hallucinating and seeing the voices of his murdered wife.

As the mystery depends, Teddy sees a web of deception and conspiracy surrounding the facility. He starts thinking that the doctors are conducting sinister experiments on the brains of their patients. As Teddy explores the Island more, he becomes convinced that they won't let him leave the island.

For the final investigation, he goes to the mysterious lighthouse and is confronted by Dr. Cawley, who tells him that he is not an investigator and has been a patient of this institution for the past 24 months and this was all an elaborate plan to get hold of his sanity again before they decide to take serious action.

Is Doctor Crawley lying and only they convinced our detective that he was a patient of this institution or was he here all along and not a detective?

Analysis

Now let's talk about my analysis of the movie.

To say that I love this movie is an understatement. This is a masterpiece of storytelling! The build-up of tension in this movie is quite thrilling. Right from the start as you see the Island, you know something very dramatic will happen.

The energetic performance of Lionardo DiCaprio is amazing and this would be one of the best performances. His hallucinating scenes were very well done and completely contrasted with his detective personality.

The movie is a cinematic masterpiece as well. You can see that the director knew his colours and compositions so well. The use of nature, the stormy sea, the fog, the increasing rain as the story progresses and the bright sunlight at the end as the story conflict is solved, all reflect the mood perfectly.

The background score was one of the best things I loved in the movie. They used classical compositions and used the music to build up tension so well.

What can I say about the writing? It is very well done too! Some of the quotes from the movie are quite memorable.

"You're smarter than you look, Marshall. That's probably not a good thing."

My favourite quote would undoubtedly be from Teddy as he says, "Which would be worse - to live as a monster or to die as a good man?" and walks off to what looks like a lobotomise voluntarily.

I highly recommend it! It's a must-watch and an absolute masterpiece!

My ratings: 9.6/10

Until next movie...