Who Is Patient 67?

Martin Scorsese has been absent from traditional films since winning his much deserved Oscar for directing 2006's The Departed. There was much speculation on what he would do to follow it up. Not many would have suspected him to choose an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel Shutter Island. He did so and gave us what I believe is 2010's best movie so far. Not saying much since we're still in February but I think this movie will have staying power.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels who, along with his new partner Chuck Aule, is sent to investigate the disappearance of convicted murderer Rachel Solando at Ashecliffe Hospital on Shutter Island. It's an island surrounded by fog in Boston Harbor. A place so far away from civilization that a person who even manages to escape outside of the hospital is bound to not make it beyond the frigid waters. Once there, Teddy and Chuck start to realize that not everything is as it seems.

This is one of those movies where you are asked to simply sit down and let yourself be taken on a trip. To be guided by one of the greatest director's who ever lived. Scorsese is having so much fun with this movie. He knows it's pulp entertainment with no real underlying message. And that doesn't bother him. He embraces it fully and throws every filmmaking trick into the movie. Cinematography, editing, score. All are up to his high standards. We are watching an A level director and A level actors relishing a chance to make a B level story. And he filled it with amazing supporting actors. Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, John Carroll Lynch, Ted Levine, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Hayley, Elias Koteas and Michelle Williams. Half of these people in one movie would make it amazing, all of them in one movie makes it great.

But one of the problems this movie is going to have and is already having is that it all hinges on the ending. Don't worry, I'm not going to give it away but it's one of those endings that throws audiences for a loop. An ending that encourages some to watch it al over again or causes some to walk away from the movie and never desire to talk about it again. There's very little middle ground. This ending in less talented hands would be so cliche but Scorsese is able to present it all in a way that doesn't insult us and doesn't feel the need to grab us by the hand and walk us through all the clues. They're all there. We just weren't looking.

It's a thriller, pure and simple. A thriller made with love and respect to all the B level thrillers to which it pays so much homage. It's bleeds atmosphere and dread. It never lets us get comfortable. And it loves doing so.