(5 out of 5 stars)

Seriously, can we just request Leo and Scorsese work together until one of them decides to cash in their chips and get out of the industry?  Everything they have done since The Aviator has been nothing short of fantastic, and Shutter Island is no exception.

This is a difficult movie to review because even an attempt at that could reveal plot details that would be a “Did you know Bruce Willis was dead in the Sixth Sense” kind of spoiler.  So instead, trust that this is a great movie, and go see it.

Leo is phenomenal.  Man has he come a long way since Growing Pains.  I still think he sucks at accents, and should stop trying to do them, but he portrays genuine emotion from fear to sadness to love to anger.  He will never win an Oscar, and probably doesn’t deserve one here, but his performances are always top notch.

Ben Kingsley is incredibly menacing.  It’s so cool when an antagonist doesn’t have to scream, yell, and swear to make him seem scary.  Kingsley’s subtlety and secrecy are what make him effective.  Mark Ruffalo makes an excellent sidekick.  We even get to see Ted Levine (yes the Ted Levine who played the mangina having Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs) as a really screwed up warden.

Only Michelle Williams couldn’t carry her weight.  She seemed out of place.  In the “One of These Things is Not Like the Other” Game, she was the one thing.  She was like a light hitting second baseman on a team full of power hitters… think Jose Lind on the early 90’s Pittsburgh Pirates teams. 

And Scorsese.  What a fantastic job.  Shutter Island sprang to life, and seemed like a legitimately awful place to be.  He evoked fear without using standard tactics.  No wooshing sounds, no jumping killers, just mood, music, and lighting to create a sense of fear I haven’t felt in a long time.

Shutter Island… more like Shudder Island.