Shutter Island

Saw Shutter Island the other Day, what a film. I'm about to start doing horror reviews here so i decided to do Shutter first, it may not be HORROR horror but it fall into psychological horror perhaps but only by default. Film has breathtakingly beautiful wide shots.Starts Leonardo DiCaprio, playing Teddy Daniels, off in familiar territory, a boat in the ocean! He suffering from sea sickness and has a new partner Chuck played by Mark Ruffalo. Once they arrive at the island they must give away their guns, all the guards are armed, looking like the Others from Lost circa season 2 & 3. We see guards with night sticks hitting through grass tryign to find an escaped prisoner...erm i mean patient, aswell as an electrified fence. It gives an eerie vibe with happy & creepy patients doing yard work but Teddy soon begins to think something is up.

While investigating the room of the missing patient Rachael Solondo, however the bars weren't broke and the door wasn't open, plus she left both pairs of shoes in her locker. Teddy finds a slip of paper assuming there is a 67 patient, however his intention is to get revenge or atleast speak to the killer of his wife, Andrew Laeddis. He begins to interview patients about both Rachael and Andrew, his theory thickens when one patient writes on a note for him to run. He & Chuck go to meet up with Dr. Cawley & Dr. Naehring, played by Ben Kingsley & Max Van Skydow. They refuse paper work so Teddy begins to think to Dr.'s have a plot of their own. Teddy has migraines so he's been taking pills Cawley's been giving him, aswell as cigarettes from prison. Racheal is found and Teddy wants to leave but a storm is coming, a very violent storm.

Teddy & Chuck wander off to find the truth, they tell each other theories they each have including an old acquaintance of Teddy's George Noyce played by Jackie Earle Haley, telling him of his own time spent on the island and experiments done to patients. Teddy & Chuck are found by the guards who bring them back only for the storm to hit bad. The next morning the electricity is down so they venture off into ward C, the place for the most violent offenders. Teddy is attacked by an inmate and then finds George locked right back up, George is accusing him of being there, and tells him where to find Andrew, the lighthouse. Teddy & Chuck are on their way to the lighthouse when a small argument ensues, Chuck stays behind as Teddy attempts to get into the lighthouse. Damn near impossible he goes back only to see Chucks body at the bottom of some rocks but once he gets down there, Chuck is no longer there. He spies a light in a hole and find the real Rachael, a former Dr who was locked up for questioning the ethics of the experiments. She tells Teddy to not take any pills, eat any food or smoke any cigarettes that are not his own. She also describes the lobotomies conducted in the lighthouse. The two separate in the morning and Teddy is picked u by the Warden played by Ted Levine, he drops him off at the main building where Teddy asks Cawley where his partner is, "You Came Alone". Teddy attempts to escape but visions of his dead wife keep telling him to find Andrew and finish the job, so he finally males it to the lighthouse where there are no patients just Cawley doing paperwork. Teddy has him at gunpoint and tells him of all the secrets & the real Rachael, to which Cawley tells him are just figments of his imagination, Chuck then walks in and tells him he's his shrink, and how Andrew & Rachael are made up characters, only Andrew is Leo's real name and Teddy is his fake. He fires a gun that doesn't work and is shown a picture of his wife & kids, it turns out his wife Delores, Michelle Williams, drowned their 3 kids then was shot by Andrew/Teddy. He comes to a realization that this truly happened and accepts he went nuts.

The next day Chuck walks up and gives Andrew a cigarette, only yet again it's Teddy talking of a conspiracy on the island, it ends with Teddy being walk presumably to the lighthouse. So were there experiments really going on? I think yes, but i haven't read the book to get more info. The score is amazing & the acting is solid, it should also put Rob Zombie to shame since the guiding spirit of a wife completely kicks his guiding spirit of a moms ass. The film also has several WW2 flashbacks of Teddy/Andrew and other soldiers slaughtering nazis. So far it's my favorite film of the year, it's also the best, one of Scorsese's best films and one of my favorites of his aswell.