Review of Shutter Island (2010) by Stephen F — 25 Aug 2014

Probably my least favorite movie from director Martin Scosese, but then again, it has a lot of competition to live up to. This has the advantage of being something quite different from what Scorsese normally makes, so I applaud him for testing new bounds.

Scorsese shows off his directorial prowess by creating such great ambiance and atmosphere that gives a strong emotional connection to the movie. Where the movie falters for me, however, is the ending.

Most people who don't watch a lot of movies will feel that the ending was mind-blowing and completely changed the outlook on the movie, but for an experienced movie watcher, this ending was all the predictable.

After about an hour and a half of the movie, I could predict that there was some twist ending involved since Teddy wasn't making much progress in the investigation, and once you realize there's going to be a twist, there are only a few paths a movie can go down from that point on.

I watched Fight Club not long before seeing this movie and they have similar twist endings, but Fight Club made it much more of a surprise, with a stronger, in depth look at the main character. Fight Club also gives you a new perspective when you watch the movie for a second and third time, while Shutter Island doesn't offer a new experience on repeat watchings.

It is atmospheric to watch and entertaining enough, but it doesn't offer an ground-breaking work in the thriller genre and will be considered a flop compared to the rest of his films.