Shutter Island (2010) ****

Martin Scorsese returns to the thriller genre for the first time since Cape Fear in a cat and mouse game on a small island on the outskirts of Massachusetts that houses a federally funded mental institution. Leonardo DiCaprio once again serves as Scorsese's 21st century DeNiro, starring as Teddy Daniels, a Federal Marshall sent to the island with his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) to investigate a disturbed patient that has vanished from her cell and essentially disappeared without a trace. As their investigation continues, Teddy becomes more and more paranoid over something bigger than a missing patient that may be going on at Shutter Island, especially when dealing with the less than enthusiastic head doctors (Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow).

The first thing I will tell you is that Gimme Shelter does not appear in this movie. Sorry. The funny thing about Shutter Island is that this is Scorsese trying to step out of his own shoes and try on someone elses, the closest being Alfred Hitchcock. From the opening ferry ride the film is bleak with this atmosphere of impending dread that every character wears around them like a neck tie. This is a real thriller in every sense of the word, right down to its orchestrated score that leaves shivers down your spine.

DiCaprio once again shines under Scorsese's tutelage, as does the rest of the cast. Ben Kingsley gets another notch in his belt with his laid back role of a head doctor that isn't quite telling Teddy everything. The addition of Max von Sydow as a former German doctor hearkens back to the days of Father Merrin, leaving more gloom in the atmosphere that wasn't there before. It's almost as if Scorsese was casting people known for dark and decadent roles to add to the atmosphere. Jack Earle Haley (A Nightmare on Elm Street and any film that needs a creepy sex predator) and Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs) serve the same purpose as Sydow.

Beautifully shot, Shutter Island serves as Scorsese heading for the ditch as Neil Young would say. It's a great thriller that goes above the normal thrillers of today by actually being a little smart and using the atmosphere to create dread instead of endless corpses lying all over the place. This isn't a happy movie by no means, it's a gloomy affair that delivers what it promises. It may not be one of Scorsese's greatest (that's hard to do) but it is heads above the rest.