"Someone is missing."
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Teddy Daniels
Mark Ruffalo
Chuck Aule
Ben Kingsley
Dr. Cawley
Max von Sydow
Dr. Naehring
Michelle Williams
Dolores
Emily Mortimer
Rachel 1
Patricia Clarkson
Rachel 2
Jackie Earle Haley
George Noyce
Ted Levine
Warden
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
Good suspense and mystery, although a bit too reliant on hallucinations, and the ending could have been better.
Accompanied by a great cast and atmosphere, ‘Shutter Island’ certainly has a thrilling and engaging mystery to unfold, with an ending that is as tranquil as bittersweet. 8/10
**_Leonardo DiCaprio’s trip to Fantasy Island_** In 1954, two US Marshals (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) are sent to an island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the disappearance of a patient from the asylum for the criminally insane located there. The lead detective suspects something really fishy going on. "Shutter Island" (2010) is like a combination of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “A Beautiful Mind” with a little “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Being helmed by Scorsese, it’s a top-notch production with a stellar cast, including the likes of Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley. The first three quarters are quite good as a slow-burn eerie investigation with the milieu of post-WW2 America and interesting flashbacks to Dachau Concentration Camp. Unfortunately, the last quarter ruins the movie for me. Don’t get me wrong, the ‘twist’ could’ve been done in a compelling, streamlined way, such as in “The Sixth Sense,” but instead everything’s unnecessarily drawn out. For instance, the final sequence between DiCaprio and Michelle Williams is dreadfully dull. Still, it’s a matter of taste. So, if what I described above intrigues you, give it a watch. Many cinephiles hail it. Fittingly, the title, “Shutter Island,” is an anagram of "truths and lies" or "truths/denials.” The film runs 2 hour, 18 minutes, and was shot mostly in Massachusetts, but some stuff in Los Angeles and northeast of there at Hearst Ranch, San Simeon. GRADE: B-
Shutter Island deserves all the praise for being one of those films that stays with you long after the credits roll. Martin Scorsese dives into the psychological thriller genre with precision, creating an atmosphere that’s equal parts eerie and thought-provoking. Leonardo DiCaprio absolutely nails it as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal investigating the disappearance of a patient from Ashecliffe Hospital. His performance is raw, vulnerable, and perfectly captures the gradual unraveling of Teddy’s psyche. Mark Ruffalo as his partner Chuck adds a subtle balance to the chaos, making their partnership intriguing to watch. And let’s not forget Ben Kingsley, his calm, enigmatic portrayal of Dr. Cawley gives the film its chilling edge. Visually, the movie is a masterpiece. The cinematography by Robert Richardson is hauntingly beautiful, capturing the oppressive isolation of the island and the labyrinthine corridors of the asylum. The storm scenes are particularly memorable, heightening the tension and pulling you deeper into the mystery. And that score, Scorsese’s choice of music hits all the right notes to amplify the unease and suspense. What sets Shutter Island apart, though, is the narrative. It’s a layered puzzle that keeps you second-guessing everything you see. The twists and revelations are not just there for shock value; they’re carefully woven into the story, making the rewatch value sky-high. That final line, “Which would be worse: to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?”, absolutely gut-wrenching. Thematically, the film explores trauma, guilt, and the fragile nature of reality. It’s a deep dive into the human mind and the lengths we go to protect ourselves from the truth. Whether you see the ending as a tragedy or a twisted form of redemption, Shutter Island challenges you to confront the darker corners of your own understanding. A gripping psychological thriller with stellar performances, masterful direction, and a story that keeps you hooked until the very end.
Two US Marshals arrive at a remote island sanatorium to investigate the disappearance of one of it’s patients. “Teddy” (Leonardo Di Caprio) is a confident, bullish man who has only recently returned from combat duty in Germany at the end of the war, whilst his partner “Chuck” (Mark Ruffalo) is a long-term beat cop. The place has it’s own fairly heft security arrangements and neither “Dr. Cawley” (Sir Ben Kingsley) nor his enigmatic consulting physician “Dr. Naehring” (Max Von Sydow) have much time for his heavy-handed demands. Quite swiftly, their work begins to unveil some sinister undercurrents at the asylum, where it’s 66 (or is it 67?) inmates might just be the victims of some left over work from the Nazis? "Teddy” starts to have flashbacks of his life with his wife (Michelle Williams) and their children and as the plot thickens both he, and the audience, begin to struggle with just what and what isn’t reality. Then an hurricane hits the island and from the devastation it soon emerges that virtually nothing at “Ashecliffe Hospital” is as we first thought. What starts out as a routine cop drama really does dig quite deeply into aspects of the human psyche as this progresses, and though Di Caprio is on solid form, it is Sir Ben who really delivers here with an accomplished display of menace hidden behind a bow tie and a meticulous command of both the language of the psychiatrist and of a character who might just have an ulterior motive. Von Sydow usually just has to show up to inject a degree of complexity to a plot, and he does that well enough - if a little too sparingly for my liking, and Ruffalo works with as a foil for his partner whose grasp seems to be slipping. Though hardly filmed in a dungeon environment, there is still a claustrophobic darkness to the hospital in which they live, work and explore and as the threads all start to knit together, we are never quite sure just which way up the toast is going to land. It explores the trauma of post wartime stress, the etymology of trauma, grief, despair and all whilst leading us on a merry psychological dance for a couple of hours. What's in the lighthouse and might they ever make to that ferry?
Excellent movie, was a bit morbid though some scenes may affect sensitive viewers as they say and even though I can handle zombies and sci-fi it's different when you know this stuff is based on reality. Disturbing, but they did it tastefully and always a good reminder while sci-fi our monsters are creatures from outer space the reality is that the real monsters are far scarier and more likely our next-door neighbors! Great movie twist was a bit obvious, but fun to watch the plot unfold.
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Zach Riley is a psychiatrist, who leaves a job at a prestigious university, to take up a job at the privately run mental institution, Millwood. What he doesn't reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson, spent many years of his life.
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.
After an accident, acclaimed novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued by a nurse who claims to be his biggest fan. Her obsession takes a dark turn when she holds him captive in her remote Colorado home and forces him to write back to life the popular literary character he killed off.
The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.
New York City, 1957. Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, tries to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend, armed only with vague clues and the strength of his obsessive mind.
A mentally disturbed man takes residence in a halfway house. His mind gradually slips back into the realm created by his illness, where he replays a key part of his childhood.
A psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, investigates the savage blinding of six horses with a metal spike in a stable in Hampshire, England. The atrocity was committed by an unassuming seventeen-year-old stable boy named Alan Strang, the only son of an opinionated but inwardly-timid father and a genteel, religious mother. As Dysart exposes the truths behind the boy's demons, he finds himself face-to-face with his own.