I remember seeing trailers for this movie a few years back, but I don't recall hearing anything one way or the other. The trailers made it look like a solid psychological thriller, so I figured I'd check it out.

The premise is simple enough, a federal marshall goes to investigate the disappearance of a violent inmate at a remote asylum. Of course, things get more complicated from there.

Movies like this usually rely on a big twist at the end that changes everything, but still fits in perfectly with what we had seen previously.

The downside here is that it seems like the movie is telegraphing the twist pretty heavily. It kind of takes you out of the movie because you feel like you know where the movie is going, and thus just wasting your time.

It got to the point where I was hoping that it wasn't the twist. That the movie was pulling a rope-a-dope, intentionally leading you to one conclusion, only to showcase another.

There are parts of the movie where it does a decent job presenting alternatives, but in the end the movie, instead, chooses to split the difference and do a bit of both. The twist that you see coming is indeed accurate, but that's only a part of it, so even if you think you have it in the bag, there is still some mystery left to be uncovered.

The movie assembles a pretty impressive cast. I knew DiCaprio and Kingsley were in there and they're solid. Add to that, Mark Ruffalo, John Carroll Lynch, Max von Sydow, and Jackie Earle Haley and you have a real A-team assembled.

Admittedly, some of the characters are rather stock, but it still works well within the context of the movie.

DiCaprio is, naturally, given the most to do as his past is uncovered and he questions his own sanity, but Kingsley turns in a solid performance as the psychiatrist who runs the asylum. I think his performance is one that most benefits from a rewatch as it is more complex than one might think.

The asylum itself is well suited for this kind of movie. It helps build up a sense of atmosphere and dread as the area is isolated and constantly hammered by storms.

One of the highlights of the movie comes when DiCaprio's character ventures into "Ward C". It's completely dark and full of twists and turns. All DiCaprio has is a book of matches to provide illumination as he ventures through an area full of dangerous criminals. It would have been nice to see more of that kind of tension, but the movie has a lot of other things to cover, so it makes sense.

It should come as no surprise that the movie is filled with surreal imagery. Most of them come courtesy of visions or dreams that DiCaprio has.

Your mileage may vary on this. You could argue that some of it is self indulgent and the movie does frequently fall back on the trick of having a scene and then quickly cutting to DiCaprio jumping out of bed in shock.

On the other hand, it does provide clues that come into play later. Then again, you could argue that this is another instance of the movie making it too easy, but again, that likely varies from case to case.
The movie does run a bit long at almost 2 and a half hours. By and large, it's well paced. Even if the assumption that you have the movie pegged does detract somewhat, the cast and plot are still engaging enough that you'll be fairly entertained.

I'd say this is certainly worth a rental. There's quite a bit to like here, but I don't know if this is a movie that you'll find yourself frequently going back to. It's a well made movie and you might find rewatch value out of going back and looking for more clues, but in the long run I think that this might fall into the same trap as "The Sixth Sense".