'Shutter Island' nothing to shudder about

Martin Scorsese’s newest film is something he rarely makes: a suspense thriller. Despite some major problems, “Shutter Island” sustains a sense of dread that keeps the adrenaline flowing.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a federal marshal who has been sent to an island insane asylum to find an escaped murderer. He’s accompanied by a brand new partner (Mark Ruffalo). On the island, the marshals meet with the asylum’s chief psychiatrist (Ben Kingsley). The doctor is warm yet evasive, as if he’s hiding something.

Whatever the doctor’s secrets are, everyone knows except DiCaprio; all the inmates he questions have been coached, and no one will reveal what has happened on the island. It doesn’t help to ease his mind when an inmate scrawls a single word in his notebook: “Run.”

The next section of the film plunges into the depths of paranoia and insanity. DiCaprio even begins to have hallucinations of his murdered wife and the starving bodies he liberated from Dachau.

Scorsese’s aesthetic sense is present around every darkened corner — unorthodox crane and aerial shots stylize the film, giving the impression that someone is always watching from the shadows. The desaturated colors suggest the island has never known a sunny day.

Unfortunately, the constant sense of unease that’s created by these elements is sometimes too much. Lighter moments would have offered some contrast and made the horrific parts even more devastating.

Some will also complain about the ending. Yes, it’s been done before, but there really isn’t a logical way around it, and the film takes great pains to throw in plenty of clues leading up to the end which will only be caught on a second viewing.

“Shutter Island” finds Scorsese more concerned with making a simple genre film than high art, but that doesn’t stop it from being a superior thriller.