Shutter Island

[AndThePickles]

I really want to go out and buy the book, now.

 

[Retroman]

Got to see this fine Scorsese movie on Friday.It's a truly thought provoking thriller full of atmosphere with some nice twists and good performances all around.

DiCaprio was great portraying a man who's haunted by some terrible events in his life while trying to uncover a mystery at this mental institution.

The film is beautifully shot and the score was good too imo though at first it did feel a tad out of place.

9/10
P.S: [BLACKOUT]Didn't see the twist coming but i knew something was up when Chuck aka Laeddis's doctor had trouble removing his gun in the beginning.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Nightmare]

I really want to go out and buy the book, now.

Me too! Wonder how its different from the movie?

 

[-Arya-]

P.S: [BLACKOUT]Didn't see the twist coming but i knew something was up when Chuck aka Laeddis's doctor had trouble removing his gun in the beginning.[/BLACKOUT]

Aha, I wasn't the only suspicious one then.

But actually at first I thought it was just for humor.

 

[Figs]

Got to see this fine Scorsese movie on Friday.It's a truly thought provoking thriller full of atmosphere with some nice twists and good performances all around.

DiCaprio was great portraying a man who's haunted by some terrible events in his life while trying to uncover a mystery at this mental institution.

The film is beautifully shot and the score was good too imo though at first it did feel a tad out of place.

9/10
P.S: [BLACKOUT]Didn't see the twist coming but i knew something was up when Chuck aka Laeddis's doctor had trouble removing his gun in the beginning.[/BLACKOUT]

Spoiler

What exactly tipped you when he had trouble removing his gun? I thought it was just him fumbling a bit.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Spoiler

What exactly tipped you when he had trouble removing his gun? I thought it was just him fumbling a bit.

[

Spoiler

Federal Agents are supposed to be experts at handling their guns, i.e., no fumbling when pulling it out of the holster.

I've read the book, haven't seen the movie. Heard great things and bad things about it.

 

[Figs]

[

Spoiler

Federal Agents are supposed to be experts at handling their guns, i.e., no fumbling when pulling it out of the holster.

I've read the book, haven't seen the movie. Heard great things and bad things about it.

Didn't even think of that. Makes sense with Leo giving him that look like he's thinking "Man, are you serious?"

By the way, nice sig(at very bottom).

 

[Steyin]

I never read the novel and didn't see the film, and don't plan on it after having my roommate summarize it for me after his viewing. Everything he desrcibed was exactly what I had predicted from reading up on this and seeing trailers/clips/whatnot. I called the main aspect of the "twist", and the ending sounds like a cop out to me. Visually it looks nice, but aside from that there's nothing of interest to me now.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

I believe it was Roger Ebert who once said that Scorsese makes movies about places, times and people rather than ''plot movies''. Even though everything in this movie seems to point toward being a ''plot movie'', the truth is that it is very much a movie about a place, a time (Cold War, post WWII America) and a (very much damaged) individual. So, you could call that the ''twist'' if you like. It is not a mystery, it's a psychological dissection of a madman; his fears, traumas, paranoia and delusions.

For this reason, this different perspective, I need to watch this again ASAP. And for the gobsmackingly gorgeous visuals at display ofcourse.

 

[Figs]

I never read the novel and didn't see the film, and don't plan on it after having my roommate summarize it for me after his viewing. Everything he desrcibed was exactly what I had predicted from reading up on this and seeing trailers/clips/whatnot. I called the main aspect of the "twist", and the ending sounds like a cop out to me. Visually it looks nice, but aside from that there's nothing of interest to me now.

What exactly did you find to be a cop out?

I believe it was Roger Ebert who once said that Scorsese makes movies about places, times and people rather than ''plot movies''. Even though everything in this movie seems to point toward being a ''plot movie'', the truth is that it is very much a movie about a place, a time (Cold War, post WWII America) and a (very much damaged) individual. So, you could call that the ''twist'' if you like. It is not a mystery, it's a psychological dissection of a madman; his fears, traumas, paranoia and delusions.

For this reason, this different perspective, I need to watch this again ASAP. And for the gobsmackingly gorgeous visuals at display ofcourse.

I wanted to write a little review but I am having trouble having only seen the film one time. I need a second viewing to grasp everything.

 

[DACrowe]

Me too! Wonder how its different from the movie?

Not that different but a few things that stood out:

Spoiler

-The book opens with Dr. Sheehan in the 1990s writing a vague journal entry about memories of his pal Teddy and then the prologue is Teddy recalling his father, who was a Boston sea fisherman, taking him out on the ocean for the first time and getting sick. His dad decided Teddy was not made of strong stuff and soon after died in a storm on a fishing accident. Since then Teddy has avoided ever going out on the water in fear of disappearing out there.

-There is just a lot more backstory on Chuck Aule. About him having a Japanese-American girlfriend and moving from Seattle due to west coast persecution of her for being Japanese and this being not long after WWII. He is also friendly and two of the black orderlies befriend him and Teddy and it is one of them who tells him to run after Chuck disappears because otherwise he'll never leave the island.

-There is more backstory to who Dolores was.

-After Teddy's first collapse from migranes (which he says he gets about 3-4 times a year) he and Cawley have a long talk about Teddy's past with Dolores and how Teddy has been suicidal every day since she has died. Cawley wants Teddy to seek help with coping with depression.

-There is an entire episode in the book of Teddy trying to get on the ferry after blowing up the car. The ferry is being guarded, so he blows up the car and then swims (against his fear) to the other side of the ferry and climbs aboard, but hears the warden refuse to let anybody leave the island on the ferry until Teddy is found. That is when he talks to Dolores about going to the lighthouse and saving Chuck.

-When Chuck and Teddy take out the bald crazy guy, he is actually almost killing that other guard and Teddy and Chuck save his life (Teddy does not try to kill the patient). The guard is so thankful, even figuring out they are "the marshals," he let's Teddy wander around in the locked off area (where Noice is) while he and Chuck lock crazy dude up.

Stuff added for the movie, that I recall:

-While Teddy tells Chuck about being at the liberation of that Concentration Camp there are no hallucinations of it. The stuff with the SS officer failing to kill himself and Teddy watching him die wit the gun, all the bodies appearing in his dreams and the part especially where Teddy and his platoon kill the SS officers is not in the book. I REALLY, REALLY LOVE THESE ADDITIONS IN THE MOVIE.

-The last line of dialogue in the book, is in the movie. Where Chuck says "We're too smart for them" and Teddy replies, "Yeah, we are. Aren't we?" and then Teddy looks off into the horizon with a surprised sense of hope for what's to come as the doctors are coming to get him.

There is no line about rather dying a hero than living as a monster or implication that he still knows he's Andrew but is choosing to have his brain cut out as there is in the movie. That is the biggest change.

That is all that I remember, hope that helps.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I believe it was Roger Ebert who once said that Scorsese makes movies about places, times and people rather than ''plot movies''. Even though everything in this movie seems to point toward being a ''plot movie'', the truth is that it is very much a movie about a place, a time (Cold War, post WWII America) and a (very much damaged) individual. So, you could call that the ''twist'' if you like. It is not a mystery, it's a psychological dissection of a madman; his fears, traumas, paranoia and delusions.

For this reason, this different perspective, I need to watch this again ASAP. And for the gobsmackingly gorgeous visuals at display ofcourse.

This is exactly what I've been thinking about in terms of the "twist." I think I'll refer to it in that way now. Like I mentioned, it's not suppose to be a "My God, didn't see that coming!" kind of thing. Though that was the case with me, some people say they saw it coming. It wasn't a case of bad filmmaking, Scorsese knew of this, all angles of it. It's the sort of thing you watch the second time and pick up on the things that let you know, and then BAM, it's there in front of you the whole time. It was meant to be seen like that. So it takes more than one viewing to get your head wrapped around the whole thing.

For the life of me, I NEED to see this again. Ugh, it's killing me!

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Yeah, I can't wait to watch it with a different set of eyes. I can imagine that those introductory scenes with Ben Kingsley are especially ''different''. I think I'll go and see it again next week, for this week I need to go see Sherlock Holmes and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Yes, it's a tight schedule.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I hope you like Holmes, I don't think you will though, but nevertheless I hope you like it. Just be open to the whole action element, but there's still a mystery and great visuals from Ritchie.

And yeah, Kingsley's scenes now probably have a different perspective now.

 

[MiniBond]

absolutely not what you can expect from this type of movie and even the trailer t:t: great nonetheless....

 

[Figs]

Hahaha

Even the tagline in that poster, "someone is missing" is different than what you would expect before seeing the film. After having watched it, the tagline has a whole other meaning.

 

[-Arya-]

The trailer is so misleading. I half expected a ghost story.

 

[MiniBond]

Hahaha

Even the tagline in that poster, "someone is missing" is different than what you would expect before seeing the film. After having watched it, the tagline has a whole other meaning.

the whole movie has another meaning, that's why I got to see it again....t:t:

 

[Figs]

the whole movie has another meaning, that's why I got to see it again....t:t:

Definitely.

I just love how the tagline

Spoiler

is really talking about the real Teddy being the missing person since what's there is a fictional alternate Teddy made from his own mind.

This film so far is my favorite of the year and looking at a lot of the other films I want to see, which are more action oriented, I have a feeling this will easily be in my top 3 at the end of 2010.

 

[MiniBond]

Definitely.

I just love how the tagline

Spoiler

is really talking about the real Teddy being the missing person since what's there is a fictional alternate Teddy made from his own mind.

.

yep....really great[BLACKOUT] though I couldn't help but think about sixth sense at the end [/BLACKOUT]

 

[Doctor Jones]

Man, Inception has alot to live up to now for me.

 

[Big Daddy]

I'm going to see the movie again this weekend now that I know the twist

 

[DACrowe]

It makes all the difference when you are watching the characters like Cawley and the guards not with suspicion but knowing and Teddy's dreams are all the more sympathetic at what they are really getting at.

 

[Crook]

Additionally even though its not like this in the book from what I've heard. But that final shot of the "lighthouse" kinda makes me wonder....maybe the conspiracy was right, and he was not insane. To me that is the point of the movie, aren't we all insane? But yea I loved the film. The more I think about it the more I loved it.
[/SPOILER]

But anyway Solidus just put the whole film in another perspective for me.

Spoiler

It's question of real insanity. Are we all insane? Living in a world of what seems to be sane. It also branches out into more general question of our existance and world. How we percieve sanity. Also "insane" people. To them, insanity is sanity. They think everyone else is insane, that's why they do what they do. It's possible.

Can you guys elaborate on these points further, specifically with how the movie is presented? I get the obvious part with Teddy's perspective being messed with throughout the entire movie, but it seems you've both taken that further as a sociopolitical commentary of sorts. To be honest, I just did not get that at all. Not to undermine the many layers this film has, but I think this particular point is analyzing the film a bit too much. At best, this was a psychological deconstruction of Teddy, and we were simply along for the ride...at a certain point.

Actually, my crowd seemed to hate the film. People were talking throughout, I heard a few smack their lips when they revealed the "twist", etc.

Meh, why is it with every movie that features some sort of twist/reveal, I always find the general audience seems to dismiss the entire movie and decide to focus on that alone? This film was so much more than a twist at the end. It actually used the reveal as a means of intertwining entire characterizations and subplots. Whomever said this was right, to a lesser director this could have easily been a turd. But Scorsese is a master of film for a reason, and imo he brilliantly handled this material.

My take:

Man, as both a Lehane and Scorsese fan, I have been waiting for this movie forever. While Shutter Island was never one of my favorite Lehane novels, it seemed like a perfect marriage with Scorsese, a director always looking for a genre to unleash his pulpy sensibilities onto.

I was not disappointed.

This was an absolutely stunning movie. The visual composition of all the sequences, but particularly the disturbing ****e that happens in Teddy's head, was haunting, unforgettable and tragically gorgeous. While I loved the film adaptations of Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, this one just gets the constant pessimmism(sp?) of his books and sense of societal decay.

I thought the cast was astonishing. DiCaprio constantly proves why he is one of the best actors of his generation when he works with Scorsese and it is a crime that he likely will not get a best actor nomination next year because Paramount threw this gem out in February (for The Lovely Bones of all things). And let's not forget Ben Kinglsey, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, etc.

Scorsese took a straight forward psychological thriller and used Hitchcock to realize it visually as I might expect, but the use of surrealist Kubrickian techniques made the film far more unnerving and suspenseful than I thought.

As for the ending

Spoiler

Having read the novel, I obviously knew it was coming. In the book it seemed fairly obvious about 1/3 through what it was going to be and that is also the case in the movie. Or so I thought. I'm pleased to see that Scorsese took all the red herrings and buried the audience under them, leaving many confused.

That is perfect for first viewing. But many I notice disliked or even hated the movie because of the ending. It does such a good job preparing you for believing the government conspiracy theory, because Teddy wants to believe it so. The story upon revisiting, and I felt this when watching the movie, is actually quite moving in how Cawley and Sheehan are trying to help Teddy. While I felt little suspense when the guards are looking for Rachel Solando, I feel the tragedy and weight of Teddy's suffering in every frame.

You get to live in Teddy's head and you want him to survive this funk and get out alive. He has almost no chance. But you're rooting for him to do so. And the real power of the ending is not the twist but the flashback of when Andrew found out what Dolores really did. It is utterly heartbreaking.

Oh and I liked the two big changes from the book. First all the Holocaust stuff was new and brilliant. But more importantly is the ending. In the book Teddy unequivocally regresses to being Teddy before he is lobotamized. In the film, it seems he knows he is Andrew but is choosing to let it happen so he doesn't have to live with the guilt and memories of what he did. That is utterly poetic. And even more heartbreaking.

I loved it.

This is not Scorsese's best movie. But it is one of the best psychological films in years because it isn't about the twist or the plot. It is really about a man's humanity and how it is affected by his past violence and his own mental stability.

Bravo.

9/10.

Must see it again.

QFT. Not even going to bother writing a review, this sums up my thoughts well.

P.S: [BLACKOUT]Didn't see the twist coming but i knew something was up when Chuck aka Laeddis's doctor had trouble removing his gun in the beginning.[/BLACKOUT]

I really loved the first few hours after watching the film, where you look back and retrace the first clues leading up to the end. It's strange how almost in-your-face the puzzle pieces were, and you still couldn't quite piece them together in the right place until Marty showed it to you.

 

[Figs]

Meh, why is it with every movie that features some sort of twist/reveal, I always find the general audience seems to dismiss the entire movie and decide to focus on that alone? This film was so much more than a twist at the end. It actually used the reveal as a means of intertwining entire characterizations and subplots. Whomever said this was right, to a lesser director this could have easily been a turd. But Scorsese is a master of film for a reason, and imo he brilliantly handled this material.

I know a few people that thought the movie sucked and I didn't even need to ask them why. I've already been hearing more than enough of, "it wasn't scary" or "that was stupid". A lot of the time it's because a damn good amount of the general audience seemingly like to be force fed and want things played out straight. When you throw a curveball like that especially with the very last scene, I can imagine a good amount of them being upset about it.

Spoiler

As far as I'm concerned, I don't think the majority of people who hated this film(primarily the ones that make up the general audience) actually got the final ending.

Too many people like to turn off their brains now days.