SHUTTER ISLAND (15, 138 mins) ***
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Sir Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Max von Sydow, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley

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The lunatics are taking over the asylum, or that’s what Martin Scorsese’s impeccably-crafted psychological thriller would have us believe.

But then perception and reality are completely blurred in this 1950s-set mystery, adapted from the best-seller by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone).

In many ways, Shutter Island is an odd fit for Scorsese, who has always punched low and hard on the mean streets of his beloved New York. Here, he is all at sea on the Boston Harbor Islands, concealing some obvious sleights of hand with the plot behind directorial brio.

For all its style, Shutter Island is a largely predictable and pedestrian yarn, elevated by a superior cast. Even a consummate film-maker as gifted as Scorsese undoubtedly cannot polish mediocrity to a golden lustre.

US Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) make the stomach-churning journey by water to Ashecliffe Hospital For The Criminally Insane with a hurricane closing in on the island.

Dr Cawley (Kingsley), who oversees the facility, reveals that one of the patients (Mortimer) has escaped and no-one has any idea how she could have disappeared without trace.

Examining the cell, Teddy discovers a scrap of paper bearing the scribbled words: “THE LAW OF 4. WHO IS 67?”

It’s the first of many mysteries.

As the cops interview the staff including the threatening Dr Naehring (von Sydow), Teddy and Chuck begin to sense that something is terribly awry on Shutter Island.

As paranoia grips the men, Teddy becomes convinced that Cawley and his security team are secretly holding an additional patient hostage somewhere within the hospital’s crumbling walls. Alas, voicing his fears would make the cop sound just as mad as some of the inmates.

Shutter Island is arguably Scorsese’s most mainstream film, and with more than $100 million at the American box office and counting, it may well be his most commercially successful.

DiCaprio’s uneven and unconvincing performance makes sense in retrospect, as do the clumsy special effects, but both prove distracting and stop us from feeling completely immersed in the story. Ruffalo, Kingsley and co fail to make an impact.

Being incarcerated on Shutter Island for 138 minutes is too long and we are glad to escape.