By: Holley Sinn

Verdict:  Approved!

When it comes to psychological thrillers, nobody did it better than Stanley Kubrick.  That may be why veteran director Martin Scorsese tips his hat to the man who made Jack Nicholson the creepiest man in Hollywood, with his latest release "Shutter Island".  From the score to the long angle shots that make hallways seem to go on forever, this film is an homage to some of cinema's best psycho-dramas.  But it's also a Scorsese original.

Based on the book by Dennis Lehane, "Shutter Island" stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshall sent to investigate an escape on a remote island which houses a mental institution for the criminally insane.  His partner Chuck, played by Mark Ruffalo, is new to the Boston division, but Teddy immediately trusts him.  Ben Kingsley plays Dr. Cawley, the head psychiatrist who is reluctant to provide information on the case and who, Teddy suspects, is performing invasive and cruel surgical testing on inmates.  As the investigation progresses, Teddy begins to have more and more frequent hallucinations and migraines which lead him to believe he has been drugged.

When the missing inmate is reportedly found, Teddy is still not satisfied enough to leave the island.  His focus shifts to a man named Andrew Laeddis who, he claims, burned down his apartment complex in Boston, killing his wife, Dolores, played by Michelle Williams.  Laeddis is supposedly also on the island, and Teddy believes he must find him even though he has no intent to kill him. 

The facts continue to shift, morph and baffle as the story spirals to resolution.  Throughout, a parade of some of Hollywood's greatest character actors make short but memorable appearances - folks like Jackie Earle Haley...Patricia Clarkson...and Elias Koteas.  "Shutter Island" is an examination of the fragility of both the human mind and of our capacity for certainty, even as it pertains to our very identities.  Scorsese enhances the confusion with intentional continuity breaks, indicative of his understanding of both the cracks in the human psyche and film making in the 1950s. 

"Shutter Island" is fully Holley-approved, and is rated "R" for some language and graphic imagery.  It opens today in theaters all over the bay area.