Shutter Island

Powell and Pressburger by way of Giallo, Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" lays open bare post-WWII trauma in ways that films that directly recreate the war fail to do. Much more than just a narrative about the failure to move on from the war, this is obsessed with the notion that the human mind will bend over backward to make that trauma more palatable; even if that means concocting a fictional universe within one's brain.

The Leonardo DiCaprio-starring thriller originally released in 2010 and was less of a hit than the other high-budget film that came out that year, "Inception." It's funny to see so many critics dismiss this as a lesser work from Scorsese, as it displays a technical and narrative bravado that few can achieve. It's lush with color, revels in the murkiest details and is genuinely a terrifying film. That's why I'm happy to report that the new 4K Blu-ray release of "Shutter Island" from Paramount Pictures is the best it has ever looked outside of a theater. And while the special features are just carried over from the original Blu-ray, this is a must-own for fans of the film and Scorsese in general.

It's 1954 and U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) is on his way to Shutter Island, an island off the coast of Boston. There lies Ashecliffe Hospital, a facility for the clinically insane. In short: he's there to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), a patient who fled one night. Teddy has some personal reasons for wanting to take the case. Now, his new partner U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) must investigate the disappearance and soon uncover a web of lies within the staff and doctors of the hospital. Teddy is also experiencing disturbing visions and a hurricane messes up communications on the island, throwing him deeper into despair.

Teddy has a recurring vision of the bodies of dead men, women, and children at Dachau. The bodies are frozen in ice spilling out from a train car. It's genuinely one of the most terrifying images ever produced when it comes to Hollywood depictions of concentration camps. The same goes for the line of Nazis that Teddy helped murder during WWII. In one long dolly shot, blood and viscera are blown everywhere as U.S. soldiers execute every Nazi in sight. It's not meant to be some triumph for the story. Rather, it plants the seed in both Teddy and the audience that the horrors seen during WWII are bound to reappear, whether they be in the physical or metaphysical realms. One of Scorsese's greatest strengths is being able to take a story that's not internal in its terror and imbue it with something that will leave you thinking about those images for years.

The biggest triumph of the new 4K transfer is that it doesn't take anything uniquely filmic out of "Shutter Island." There's still a level of film grain and isn't focused on making something vivid that wasn't already. The film plays with colors and shadows in incredible ways, and you can immediately see from the opening shot that great care was taken in preserving that. Special features include:

� "Behind the Shutters"
� "Inside the Lighthouse"

"Shutter Island
Paramount Pictures 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray & Digital
$29.99
https://www.paramountmovies.com/movies/shutter-island