Review of Shutter Island (2010) by Connor C — 02 Aug 2015

Shutter Island is at times not for the faint of heart, mixing in a heavy sense of dread and insanity but also keeping a beautiful sense of suspense and mystery. Leonardo DiCaprio, in one of his most disturbing and underrated performances, plays Edward "Teddy" Daniels, a US Marshal tasked with investigating the strange and unexplainable disappearance of a woman in a mental institution on Shutter Island.

In his journey, he is haunted by his service in World War II and the traumatic death of his wife. It search changes to finding a man he learns to be himself, tragically realizing that his wife, a manic-depressive with suicidal tendencies, drowned their three children, then forcing him to take her life, driving over the edge.

The mystery and atmosphere of the asylum create a delightfully terrifying image, but it is Leonardo DiCaprio's performance that steals the show. Full of repressed memories, grief and regret at the horrors he's had to witness and commit, it gives DiCaprio a chance to show off his dramatic chops to great effect, leaving a searing image of a man driven to create an entire world to escape the one in which he killed his wife for killing their children.