Big hats, pointed lapels, and round cars will suck me in every time! And if that isn't enough, make it a Scorsese picture and add Ben Kingsley (one of the five greatest living actors) and I am there for the first showing on opening day (and I was)! The trailers gave me no clue what genre this picture fell into. Horror, drama, crime, thriller, I had no idea. Having seen it I will tell you it's a thriller of the highest form, and YES, I was THRILLED!

It's 1954 and Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), a U.S. Marshal, is sent to Shutter Island, a mental institution for the criminally insane to investigate the strange disappearance of a patient who killed her three kids. As soon as he and his new partner, Chuck (Mark Ruffalo - "Windtalkers" 2002) step off the boat they can sense things are not what they appear to be. Man, are they right!

This picture is not typical Scorsese. When watching his work we normally expect gangsters / criminals, extreme violence and massive profanity. He veered from his normal MO to bring us a thriller that pokes and pricks at our brains for two hours and twenty minutes and when it's over we question not only what we saw but what we are thinking at that moment when we are questioning what we just saw. Confusing? The picture wasn't, but your thoughts will be. The acting: Ben Kingsley was fabulous (as usual) and I was elated that they cast Max Von Sydow as his colleague. As always he was sinister and understated. I have always liked DiCaprio but have found him a little too intense at times. That intensity, this time, was the hallmark of this picture. We had a brilliant look at a man who could not distinguish between his hallucinations, his dreams and his reality. And then there's the supporting cast. Ted Levine (Monk), Elias Koteas (Fallen-1998), Patricia Clarkson (The Green Mile-1999), Jackie Earle Haley (The Bad News Bears-1976) and Mark Ruffalo, who played DiCaprio's partner better than we knew at the time. All fabulous! This is a picture designed to make you think. It is NOT a "jump from the dark and scare the hell out of you" story. Scorsese's stealthful directing coupled to a very understated musical score and a fine screenplay makes for a psychological thriller that begs to be added to a list with "Rear Widow", "Vertigo" and "Strangers on a Train". Excellent!

"Don't you get it? You're a rat in a maze!"

RECOMMENDATION: If you're looking for a horror movie, look elsewhere.

If you aren't afraid to think and have your mind challenged, THIS is your picture. I highly recommend it. Rated R for brief nudity, slight language and intensity.

TWO ANAGRAMMED HITCHCOCKIAN THUMBS UP!!! (our heads raw from being scratched!)

Movie Review © 2010 by Terry Anderson