Martin Scorsese’s (The Departed) latest release; the mystery/thriller Shutter Island; tells the story of a United States Marshall (played by Titanic’s Leonardo DiCaprio) who enters the remote Shutter Island and it’s mental institution, in order to search for a missing patient; but gets a lot more than he bargained for when every new piece of information seems to contradict the last, every member of staff clearly hides something from him, and the truth may not only be shocking and inconvenient, but better left hidden.
Read the full movie review online here.
Picture:
Shutter Island’s picture quality (which comes by way of a full 1080p transfer) is simply fantastic, as the print itself is practically flawless; exhibiting no unintentional noise, scratches, or other blemishes, doesn’t appear to have been digitally manipulated, and has only the faintest level of grain which helps to give it a fully film like appearance.
The level of detail is exceptionally high, with the tiniest nuances on everything from clothing and facial pores really standing out, as do the well rendered textures, and the amazingly crisp backgrounds; which all converge with the the excellently rendered colours, to provide the image with a real sense of depth.
Scorsese’s colour palette is fairly warm for the picture, and the contrast is always spot-on despite the image often ranging from overly dark and foreboding scenes (which showcase the film’s vividly deep blacks, and impressive shadow detail) to slightly more lively, and infinitely brighter ones that all contain a brilliant level of clarity, and consistently natural looking fleshtones.
In short, Shutter Island’s video quality is a true example of what Blu-ray should look like, and while there aren’t too many breathtaking action sequences, with flashy slow-motion elements, to really make it the go-to demo piece, it represents the source in the best manner it possibly could, will not disappoint it’s fans in any way, and has no real faults to speak of; meaning there’s no real reason it shouldn’t be the next movie you see being demonstrated in home-cinema showrooms across the country.
Audio:
Likewise the audio track (a masterful DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix) is just about as impressive, as while there may be some spaces where fully enveloping multichannel ambient effects are absent, they are present for the majority of the features, and bring all sorts of noises; from rain to birds, a thunderstorm to a light breeze, lapping waves to chains, and everything in-between; to the soundstage with a level of precision and accuracy that has to be heard to be believed; as every single bit of background noise, no matter how small, has been placed in exactly the right spot, and leveled off at exactly the right volume, to really bring each setting to life in a wholly realistic sounding way, and completely immerse the listener in that environment.
The sounds used are also always exceptionally crisp, and brought to fruition with solid dynamic range that causes no instances of distortion, and are complimented well by the bass; which is both weighty, powerful, and often fairly malevolent. In fact the only thing that lets the mix down, is a couple of instances of drop-out, where the dialogue becomes a little muffled and difficult to understand due to the presence of some more prominent ambient effects (something certain listeners are bound to pick up on, despite the fact that it would be difficult to hear people when standing in a violent thunderstorm in real life), but that fails to drag the mix as a whole down, as its extremely rare, and not overly noticeable; meaning that the audio quality on the Shutter Island Blu-ray is, like the picture, stunning, completely immersive, utterly enveloping, and guaranteed to please.
Extras:
In terms of supplemental material, Shutter Island does appear to be somewhat lacking upon first glance, as it comes bundles with nothing but two featurettes, that consist of a making of (entitled Behind the Shutters); which actually proved to be rather compelling, and a cut above most similar bonus features, as it moved beyond simple promotional material, and tedious set decoration features, to talking about how Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio first found the script, listening to the author recanting, in detail, how he came about writing the original book, Scorsese’s tips to his actors (including letting them look as bored as he knew they felt after several hours shooting one scene), and a discussion of how the movie will appear upon second viewing (examine specific scenes for example); and a feature called Into The Lighthouse; which is basically one giant psychological discussion/ documentary, featuring James Gilligan (the former head of Bridgewater mental institution, and psychiatric consultant on the film) and the principal cast discussing the various disorders their characters had, and the effects that had on portraying them, and a brief look at the morals of lobotomizing psychiatric patients, and the way in which the film represents the warring schools of psychiatric thought, and recreates a 1950’s institution.
The making of does contain a good deal of praise (getting flung in every direction possibly), although it is largely deserved in this case, and overall it proves to be a thoroughly informative, and exceptionally interesting feature, that is helped a great deal by the inclusion of in-depth interviews with every major contributor involved (director, author, producer, and majority of the cast).
The same is true of the Lighthouse feature, which is an extremely interesting discussion, and will prove a worthy watch to just about everyone (especially if they have a passing interest in psychology), however it’s a shame that there aren’t a couple more short featurettes included; possibly detailing the recreation of an old-fashioned asylum, the 1950’s setting, and the concentration camp scene; but what is most obviously lacking is a decent audio commentary, as it would have been invaluable to hear the opinions and thoughts of both Martin Scorsese and his prodigy Leonardo (it was interesting to hear him talk about using Leo in so many films during the making of) whilst some of the more important scenes are playing.
All in all the features that are included are well made, informative, and extremely interesting; but are not to be watched before you see the film, as they completely give away the whole finale, and the biggest twists in the movie (including providing a pretty detailed breakdown of the climax and literally telling you the fate of the main character, and what his final actions in the film mean); although there should have been more of them.
The Bottom Line:
If you’ve read the movie review, you already know that Shutter Island is a brilliantly suspenseful thriller that all but demands at least a second viewing; and not only because the twists will then make more sense, but because it’s such a well made and well acted film that it’s easily deserving of multiple re-watches; and as the picture and audio quality of the Blu-ray release are both so high, and the extras, whilst lacking in quantity, are both interesting and informative, this is bound to be one of this summer’s best Blu-ray releases, and one that would make a decent addition to any collection.
