Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, Max von Sydow
Rating: R

Mark Ruffalo (left) and Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island. (Courtesy photo)

The results are always interesting when a major “auteur” goes slumming. The last time Martin Scorsese did so was 1991, when he remade Cape Fear into one of the most stylish thrillers of that decade. Now Scorsese has taken on Shutter Island, a puzzle movie that’s a grim combination of Memento and The Shining. Adapted from Dennis Lehane’s novel by Laeta Kalogridis (Alexander), Shutter Island is an unusual mix of creepy fun and deeply disturbing subject matter. After all, this is based on a novel by the man who wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby, Gone. Man, he must just laugh and laugh while writing these charming goofball stories.

It’s 1954, and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) has been assigned to investigate a mystery at the Ashcliffe hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island. He’s joined by his new partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), in searching for a dangerous escaped patient (Emily Mortimer). Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) seems oddly ambivalent about the case, and Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow) is downright uncooperative. In fact, everyone makes it hard for Teddy and Chuck. As a hurricane cuts the island off from all communication and transportation, a deeper mystery begins to unfold. Are there secret experiments going on here? Is there an unknown 67th patient? Could he possibly be the same arsonist who killed Teddy’s beloved wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) five years ago? The deeper Teddy digs, the more he realizes he can trust no one.

Puzzle movies like Shutter Island tend to divide audiences. A precious few—The Usual Suspects, The Sixth Sense—put their well-crafted characters through such artfully executed mysteries, they satisfy the majority of viewers. Too many others accentuate style or plot over character, and fail utterly. Shutter Island falls somewhere in between, but definitely closer to the good ones. Some will feel punished by the cruel journey; others will see the ending coming. Others will be swept along and blown away by the final revelations. It’s also a movie that should please viewers more than critics—a rare occurrence for Scorsese, who is suddenly peaking as a popular filmmaker.

It’s no coincidence that Scorsese’s peak has coincided with his period of collaboration with DiCaprio. In spite of his insistence on pursuing challenging, noncommercial roles, DiCaprio remains a powerful box office draw. He’s very good as Teddy Daniels, though I can’t remember the last time DiCaprio played a part in which he didn’t spend the entire time wincing. Teddy Daniels is not that far removed from The Departed’s Billy Costigan—serious, haunted, and deeply dedicated to his work. As in that film, DiCaprio is surrounded by professionals at the peak of their games. Ruffalo (You Can Count on Me) plays the straight-shooting Chuck Aule just right. Like many in Shutter Island, Ruffalo is better than he first appears. The same is true of the cleverly cast Ben Kingsley, who plays Dr. Cowley with an unsettling gentleness. Emily Mortimer has been so good in so many varied roles (Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl), I think I’ve seriously underrated her. It’s time for the slight, wide-eyed Mortimer to be recognized as one of the best character actresses in the business. Also good are Ted Levine (Silence of the Lambs) and John Caroll Lynch (Zodiac) as the warden and deputy warden, respectively. Lynch wins the award for most (and only) convincing Boston accent. Von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley and especially Elias Koteas make strong impressions in too small roles.

The upside of Dennis Lehane adaptations is lots of local film work—Lehane is a Dorchester native and Harvard professor, who set all three novels in Massachusetts. The downside is that Lehane’s stuff is so relentlessly miserable. Scorsese’s challenge was to honor the gruesome while making the movie compelling in a more than a traffic-accident kind of way. He failed to do so with 1999’s Bringing Out the Dead. This time he has more luck, even if he doesn’t achieve the complete cinematic mastery of his best films. For instance, the cinematography of Robert Richardson (Inglorious Basterds) is typically first-rate, as is Dante Ferretti’s Edward Hopper-inspired production design. But visual effects are a bit uneven and the John Cage-heavy soundtrack plays surprisingly straight. Shutter Island may be only mid-level Scorsese, but it’s still a fascinating exercise in physical and emotional claustrophobia. Once you survive the experience and get the rewards, it will stick with you. I mean, really stick with you. I can’t quite shake the upsetting mood the film put me in, and at the same time I can’t wait to see it again.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard readers for many years.