Shutter Island

This is one creepy movie, but then you would expect that, since it’s set on a remote rocky island surrounded by miles of angry ocean, and there’s a storm brewing. Leonardo DiCaprio plays US Marshall Teddy Daniels, sent out to investigate the disappearance of an inmate from a high security penitentiary located on the island – a facility for the criminally insane.

Criminally insane. There is something simultaneously horrifying and intriguing about that phrase, particularly in a movie context. These villains aren’t Mafioso types, killing to get the job done (it’s business, not personal) or tough cowboys who use their guns to wrangle justice out of the untamed west. These are people who kill because they are nuts.

Doesn't get much creepier than that.

Marin Scorsese spares no stylistic detail in bringing Dennis Lehane’s bestselling novel to the screen. Early on it’s all very noirish, the detectives hardboiled and scruffy, you half expect them to make a crack about double crossing dames. But thing don’t go predictably from there - Daniels, who should be a hard as nails cop, seems s little unhinged; he gets headaches, and keeps having flashbacks to his World War II service, liberating Dachau on a bright cold winter day. And when he bunks down for the night, he has strange, acid trip dreams about his dead wife (Michelle Williams) and fire. His investigation isn’t straightforward either – the trail of evidence twists and turns and spins back again, while conspiracy theories emerge about the impenetrable Ward C and a mysterious lighthouse that is cut off from the island by the incoming tide.

It’s a fun ride because Scorsese is one heck of a filmmaker. The story itself is a little flat, all the strange visions and fever dreams don’t get us to care much about Teddy Daniels even though Leo DiCaprio tries mightily to bring him to sympathetic life. And when the roller coaster ride finally screeches to an unfortunately predictable stop, you might feel a little let down. But never mind, the journey is worth it; Scorsese keeps surprising us, and we get to spend some time on a creepy remote island with criminally insane people.

Also starring Ben Kingsley as the progressive director of the facility, Max Von Sydow as his sinister and possibly ex-Nazi colleague, and Emily Mortimer in a terrifically eerie turn as the missing inmate. And keep your eye out for some great cameo moments with Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Hayley. Shutter Island won the box office derby in its opening weekend, the biggest ever for DiCaprio and Scorsese. Playing in lots of theaters.  B