Shutter Island Blu-ray delivers stunning video and audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a
patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for
personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by
hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd
investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects
would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous
criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt
everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.
Remember us, for we too have lived, loved, and laughed.
"Odd and alluring" might be an apt description of Shutter Island, the latest in the Martin
Scorsese/Leonardo DiCaprio (Gangs of New York,
The Departed, The Aviator)
coupling. Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, the author whose works inspired Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone,
Shutter Island plays out as a mystery without much suspense, but never mind that. This
is an exceptional piece of filmmaking that negates the predictability with superb craftsmanship;
exceptionally-designed sets, chilling locales, gorgeous period costumes, wonderful acting,
engaging direction, and all the other intangibles behind the story more often than not take center
stage and help maintain a balance within the film, even when the major reveal becomes fairly
obvious to the point of near-transparency about an hour into the film. A stylish noir with bite,
Shutter Island feels like something of a throwback movie, due in part to the mid-1950s
setting but primarily thanks to Scorsese's ability to work within traditional genre elements while
also bringing to the experience a picture that's as visually stimulating, aurally unique, and
surprisingly gripping as anything else out there, all despite the absence of a more heavily-veiled
mystery.
What secrets await discovery on Shutter Island?
U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo, Zodiac) have been
assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Ashecliff Hospital, a care center for the
criminally insane located on the remote Shutter Island, situated some miles off the coast of
Massachusetts. The missing patient -- Rachel Salando, a World War II widow and a woman
accused of murdering her three young children -- has apparently vanished from the hospital,
through her sealed room, past the guards, in the cold, and without footwear. It's too much for
Teddy and Chuck, and they quickly believe that Rachel may have had help in her escape, a claim
that the institution's head psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley, Species) flatly rejects.
When Cawley further hinders the investigation by refusing to hand over relevant materials, Teddy
and Chuck expand the scope of their investigation to include both the institution and the island on
which it is situated,
ultimately unraveling a complex web of lies, despair, confusion, and pain that prove dangerous
and inescapable enemies that may alter the very fabric of their existences.
To say that the film's predictability after a point is a shortcoming is to miss the greater purpose of
Martin Scorsese's latest masterpiece. By the time Shutter Island gets around to
confirming
one's suspicions as to what's really happening, the viewer's attention has shifted focus from
more conventional "whodunit" plot points to a mesmerizing, heartbreaking, and all-too tragic
examination of a tortured soul.
Shutter Island is a study of the human condition, an examination of the difficulties
wrought
on the mind, heart, body, and spirit through the prism of unspeakable tragedies -- plural -- that
can push a man beyond his ability to cope rationally with what it is that's
wiped out
years of conditioning, fruitfulness, happiness, comfort, peace, and his own understanding of
reality, all replaced by images and painful truths the likes of which no man should ever come to
know.
Shutter Island -- so named, perhaps, for those objects created to allow the passage of
light or block it from penetrating the darkness, effectively reshaping an environment to one's own
specifications, wants, and needs -- is about personal defense mechanisms that overtake the body
and mind, blocking out and letting in just the right amount of information needed to mask the line
between painful realities and promising fantasies.
Martin Scorcese accentuates the themes of Shutter Island by capturing an unwelcoming
visual mood and an unsettling aural atmosphere that both add confusion and chaos rather than
certainty and order to the film. Usually, that would be a death knell in the hands of a lesser
director, but leave it to Scorsese to so precisely balance the overreaching story, its more intense
elements, and its cockeyed technical style to perfection. Marty even adds an underlying humor to
segments of the picture that are neither laugh-out-loud funny nor even mildly amusing, but such
elements stem from little more than a look, a sound, something that's identifiable as a bit off-kilter
but not always obviously so, lightening the picture's burden and dark mood without actually
sacrificing the integrity of the atmosphere. Scorsese also uses traditional genre elements right
down to the most base cliché of them all -- "it was a dark and stormy night" -- to astounding
perfection, using that atmosphere, as well as its after-effects, to accentuate the story's
dramatic and thematic elements. Marty's picture is just as unnerving as The Silence of the
Lambs, but rather than find his tension primarily through characterization and action,
he also creates it out of the film's many confined, confused, and unsure environments that acts as
a proxy for all
that's fermenting behind-the-scenes and to be revealed by picture's end.
Shutter Island's challenging material -- on both physical and emotional planes -- is
handled with a professional ease by a faultless cast that extends from top billing to the last name
on the credits. Leonardo DiCaprio has something of a bad rap in circles for being a teen
heartthrob; he's grown up now, 13 years removed from Titanic, and proving himself to
be a phenomenal actor who's much more than his reputation might suggest. It doesn't hurt that
several of his post-Titanic successes have come under the tutelage of Martin Scorsese, but
the talent shines through in Catch Me if You Can and Blood Diamond, too,
though his directors in those films aren't exactly lightweights, either. The point is that Leonardo
DiCaprio is no
longer "Leo" -- he's beyond the "oh my gosh he's so cute I'm going to buy his poster at Wal-Mart
and plaster it above my bed" phase -- and he has become a legitimate, yea exceptional, actor, one
of
the best of his generation and proving it again in Shutter Island by successfully navigating
what is nothing short of one cinema's more challenging roles of the past several years. DiCaprio is
flanked by a wonderful ensemble cast, with film legends Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow chewing
up their scenes and asking for more, the veterans positively disappearing into their roles and
selling all the major elements and reveals within the picture superbly. Even the tertiary
characters with
little-to-no dialogue excel; they all seem to fit right in and do their parts to create a seamless and
wholly
believable environment, which may be Shutter Island's greatest success and largest
technical irony.
Shutter Island reveals yet another astonishing Blu-ray from Paramount. This 2.35:1
transfer displays the film's dark noir-style imagery to near perfection, capturing the visual spirit of a
bygone era but with the impeccable detailing, depth, and clarity afforded to productions of a more
recent vintage. Shutter Island works via a unique visual style whereby it's dark and
foreboding here, brighter and livelier there, but never does the transfer fail to handle the varied visual
schemes with equal parts detail and color reproduction. Even the darkest, dingiest frames in the film
sport incredible textures and low-light shadow details. Black levels are tremendous, deep and strong,
and never at all too bright. On the flip side, brighter daytime scenes and several well-lit interiors
deliver marvelous color reproduction; whether the green grasses and multicolored flowers about the
island or several more flat but no less handsomely-rendered interiors, Paramount's transfer never
misses a beat in any environment. Similarly, detailing is nothing short of exceptional; viewers will
note the finest of nuances on clothing; wrinkles, lines, pores, and hairs on faces; and the rough
textures of the various interior and exterior surfaces. The print is as pristine as they
come, sporting nary a scratch nor speck of dirt. A thin veneer of film grain covers the screen to add a
wonderful film-like texture to the presentation, and only a few minor instances of background banding
mar this otherwise lovely transfer. This is what home theater is all about, and Paramount proves yet
again that they're committed to delivering the finest filmic transfers to the Blu-ray market. Job well
done.
Paramount injects Shutter Island with a wonderfully-realized DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless
soundtrack. Though Shutter Island lacks a more pronounced, heavy, and loud sound
presentation, it nevertheless delivers a potent, seamless, and engaging listen that splendidly
compliments the picture's layered nuances and overreaching plot lines. The track proves its worth
mere moments after the film opens, setting the stage for what is nothing less than a superb
environmental recreation that captures almost every sonic nuance with incredible precision. As a
vessel sails towards Shutter Island, listeners will enjoy the sounds of gently rolling waves splashing
through the soundstage. A foghorn -- or is it part of the music? -- blares away form what seems
like a great distance. Chains rattle about the inside of the ship. The environment comes to life in a
way that few other tracks capture, precisely placing every nuance at just the right spot and at just
the right volume to truly recreate this, or most any other, setting in the film. On the island,
listeners will enjoy singing birds, a slight breeze, a gentle rain, and later, a driving thunderstorm, all
of which are implemented with an astonishing level of precision. A string of gunshots in chapter
seven prove one of the more prominent and potent moments in the track; shots pound through
the stage, echo about the back speakers, and the sound of the clips springing out of the Garands
are crisply
realized, even under the deluge of high-caliber devastation. The picture's unique score --
comprised completely of prerecorded material by Robbie Robertson -- is wonderfully implemented;
whether the lighter classical notes or heavier, foreboding tones, Shutter Island's DTS track
handles all with ease. Unfortunately, dialogue is occasionally muffled and/or drowned out by music
and effects during a few scenes, particularly early on, but it presents no real problem during the
bulk of the picture. All told, Shutter Island represents another seamless and high
quality listen from Paramount.
Shutter Island comes to Blu-ray with but two extras. Behind the Shutters (1080p,
17:10) features interviews with cast, crew, and Author Dennis Lehane, all speaking on the themes of
the
story, the work of Director Martin Scorsese, the cast's preparations for their roles, the picture's music,
and the film's elements of duality. Into the Lighthouse (1080p, 21:11) takes a closer look at
the film's
construction and the way it weaves deeper psychiatric elements into the story, the actors'
understanding of the film's darker elements, set design, psychiatric care in the 1950s, and more.
Shutter Island is a "strange" movie, but not in a Terry Gilliam "strange" sort of
way. No, Shutter Island is a work of art that seems to deliberately fail to conceal its secrets
early
on so as to more efficiently tackle the larger issues at hand, namely an examination of the human
condition at its most distraught, confused, and corrupted. Reinforced by captivating performances and
what is nothing short of a technical masterpiece of sight and sound, Shutter Island excels as
a story not necessarily of mystery, but of remorse at the sight of a world destroyed by the sometimes
inescapable evils around
it. Paramount's Blu-ray release of Shutter Island is another technical stunner from the studio
that delivers some of the most consistently marvelous Blu-ray presentations on the market. Boasting
first-class picture and sound qualities but falling well short of the more substantial supplemental
collection the film deserves, Shutter Island nevertheless comes strongly recommended on
both the strength of the film and the wonderful Blu-ray presentation.
Amazon's third Lightning Deal for today, starting 12:40 p.m. PST, includes two Blu-ray titles:Shutter Island for $12.99 (67% off MSRP); and The Hannibal Lecter Collection (comprised of Manhunter, The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal) for $17.99 (74% off MSRP). ...
Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that it will release Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island on Blu-ray on June 8. No edition details or special features are available at the moment. This psychological thriller, based on a novel of the same title by Dennis ...
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