I'm curious to know what everyone thought of it. I was looking forward to this film for a longggg time, went into it very optimistic, came out extremely disappointed. Basically, the resolution to the story was IMO unoriginal, and highly predictable.
I enjoyed the first half or so of the film. The mystery of what was really happening on this island had me hooked. But around the halfway point, when DiCaprio's character is talking to George Noyce in the C Ward, I got a terrible feeling. He asks George "who did this to you?" regarding the cuts and bruises on his face, and George says, "you did". I thought to myself "well, that's it, Teddy Daniels is crazy, and the whole story is based on his delusions.... please, don't let that be it".
Unfortunately, that was it. And I just thought to myself, how many times has this been done before? Dozens of films/books have ended that way, where you suddenly find out that the entire story was a figment of the main character's imagination, or a hallucination, or that they had just gone nuts. It really pissed me off.
So the entire second half, I'm basically watching with my fingers crossed because the plot meant to be believed, was actually a million times more interesting than the unoriginal twist that was sprung on us.
The film would have been much cooler, interesting, and ORIGINAL to me, if in fact this prison WAS being used to conduct experiments on the human mind, if they really HAD led Teddy Daniels to the island to f@#$ with his brain and make him a prisoner, if it really WAS all a setup and he would have to fight to escape and expose the operation.
But instead, he was nuts, and had imagined the entire story. Not to mention, I thought it was ridiculous and flat out stupid, that the last couple days turned out to be some sort of theater production where all the doctors on the island decided to play out his fantasy to see if it would cure his insanity. It was just dumb.
what you wanted was a movie that would stump you up until the end, and you didn't get that. it's not the movie's fault that it borrowed from other stories to tell it's own. The movie was fantastic at telling its particular story, and perhaps the best rendition of that type of story written.
Enjoy the movie for what it is, not what you want it to be.
just because you figured it out, (or did you? did you really analyze the last 2 minutes of the movie. becuase it says alot) doesn't make it by any stretch a bad movie. the genious part about the movie was the attempt by Dr. Cawley to remanufacture all of the things Andrew had described to him and invert it upon Teddy Daniels in an attempt to somehow get him to come to terms with his barrier of psychosis he had developed to not deal with the insane amount of guilt he felt for his actions and subsequently his inactions that led him to his present state.
then, once all of this had happened, he says at the very end.
"Is it better to live as a monster, or to die as a hero?" thats some deep sh1t considering he had come to terms with his insanity, and had decided to revert back to it (or did he) so he could be justified in his death, instead of rotting for the rest of his life with this unimaginable (in the literal and technical sense) guilt he had for himself.
AMAZING piece of film and story. i must just see so much more than a plot to be figured out than you, Ehren. lol
so what if oyu had it figured out, just becuase you look ahead to a movie's future doesnt mean you can't enjoy what is happening at that moment, its about the ride, not about if the movie is original in eveyr sense of the word. Martin Scorcese paid an homage to one of his favorite genre's making this film, and it is a masterpiece in that regard.
That would be like saying (and if you do, we are forever on different turf in our interpretations of movies. lmao) that Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill series was a disgrace because it was unoriginal and had been done before. As it had, all of the story elements were borrowed from his favorite films he watched as a kid and growing up.
AND!!!!! that is just MY interpretation of the ending, you could also say that it was all a grand conspiracy to get him to never leave the island, and that he succumbed to the will of Dr. Cawley so that he wouldn't be lobotomized, and then when he reflected back on it while sitting in the courtyard, he decided it was better to be himself, and die like a man, knowing he WOULDNT escape the island like everyone had previously told him, than to pretend to give in to the will of Dr. Cawley and remain on Shutter Island forever and never "blow the lid of this place"
just my .02
and i'm not arguing about it anymore than that. lol
That sentence is what actually made the movie for me - "Is it better to live as a monster, or to die as a hero?". It makes you think twice (or 3x) what he meant by that.
He WAS sane in the end..or so it seemed.
If that last sentence wasn't there, then I would have thought this was a another waste of 2 hours and 18 minutes.
Muddy, it's not about what I wanted the film to be, it's about what it was intended to be. The film is pretty clearly intended to be a mystery thriller, everything about it from the first scene is meant to be ominous and enigmatic. The ridiculous soundtrack, and flashback/dream sequences, were ineffective and barren. They did nothing more than waste time in a disappointing, drawn out film.
I don't know how you could excuse the predictability in this film. If I go to see Transformers, I don't mind the predictability, we all know we're gonna see some robots kick each others azzes, and Shia Lebouff** is going to save the f@#$ing world. Shutter Island is trying to put the audience on the edge of its seat, wondering what is really going, and I found it utterly transparent, and therefore anticlimactic.
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the genious part about the movie was the attempt by Dr. Cawley to remanufacture all of the things Andrew had described to him and invert it upon Teddy Daniels in an attempt to somehow get him to come to terms with his barrier of psychosis he had developed to not deal with the insane amount of guilt he felt for his actions and subsequently his inactions that led him to his present state.
One man's genius is another man's idiocy I guess. This part quite reminded me of The Village actually if you ever saw that movie. Sure, this part of the resolution specifically, I did not predict, because it was so absurd and senseless that no one would predict it.
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"Is it better to live as a monster, or to die as a hero?" thats some deep sh1t considering he had come to terms with his insanity, and had decided to revert back to it (or did he) so he could be justified in his death, instead of rotting for the rest of his life with this unimaginable (in the literal and technical sense) guilt he had for himself.
This part annoyed me as well actually. Really a failed attempt at depth and complexity. I didn't see it coming the WHOLE way, but when he was talking to "chuck" and playing along at first, I GROANED because I knew he was just playing along. Gee, Andrew Laeddis is awfully clever and rational FOR A F@#$ING MENTAL PATIENT. It was just dumb.
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Martin Scorcese paid an homage to one of his favorite genre's making this film, and it is a masterpiece in that regard.
Really? You're calling this a masterpiece? I didn't even HATE the film, I thought it was OKAY. But the fact that some people are actually going so far as to call it a masterpiece, is exactly why I feel so strongly the way I do.
Either way, you didnt like it so much, and i enjoyed it. I can respect your opinion, but i do not share it, and perhaps that is more important than the movie itself. I will admit that i thought the ENTIRE movie, before i even went to see it, that he was a patient, but that didnt bother me or affect my perception of the movie when it was reaffirmed, i still wanted to experience the story that was to be told.
Perhaps someone with more film experience, like Mr. Scorsese himself could explain why i liked it so much. lol oh well.
He has also seen a LOT more movies than i have, a LOT. I have only recently started watching movies like a fiend, so i haven't been exposed to nearly the same library of repeats and foul play that he speaks of.
I suspect the more movies i watch the more refined i will become and the less i will like everything. lol The same happened to me for Xbox games, i used to like everything, and the more games i got, the more i realized how much crap was out there, and i became very selective as to what i enjoyed playing. Now i hardly ever play any games anymore, because nothing stimulates me except for stand-out titles that come along only once or twice a year.
I am starting to understand Ehren's perception of how ludicrous it is that the entire facility would play into Dr. Cawley's game on imagination, by today's standards, and even in the 50's, they wouldn't have allowed that to take place. Too many liabilities. But at the same time, i think that i have this reputation of Scorsese and Leo in my mind, and i didn't want the movie to be a bunk, like so many have stated, so perhaps i just chose to ignore those things, instead of question them. Because reflecting back, i was way more interested in what happened to that girl than how they were going to show me how he was a patient there. I did like the story though, even though it was far-fetched and predictable. I like the whole asylum atmosphere. It makes for a very dark, creepy, and mysterious setting for any movie.
Ehren is one sharp cat, I like the way he thinks and writes. Very well done, and as good as I read all the time on the majors.
Thanks Brad. That is genuinely flattering, as it is something I do consider a passion of mine. I have wondered at times whether or not I may enough ability as a writer to have work published as a film critic, probably on the web, but I wouldn't know how to go about doing that.
I actually like predictability in some genres of film. I WANT to see Rocky win and Rambo cut the enemy up, just like I WANT to see Ironman do HIS thing. In movies with a villain you expect the good guy to win. Now movies like The Departed are just $!#@ awesome BECAUSE of the absence of predictability. The last 30 minutes of that film are just so mentally tasty you could see it 5 times before it sinks in.
Then there are films like The Perfect Storm. You WANT the crew to survive so bad and almost expect them to. It's such an emotional ride that ends in utter flucking disappointment you want to swallow razor blades because of it.
But that's the harsh reality of life ironically. Sometimes the ball lands on red, your high school sweetheart turns out to be a wh0re and your dog only loves you for the bacon treats you give him.
But that's the harsh reality of life ironically. Sometimes the ball lands on red, your high school sweetheart turns out to be a wh0re and your dog only loves you for the bacon treats you give him
Where do i go to submit you for the next Nobel prize in literary achievement?
Because i am moved after reading such masterfully crafted thoughts.
.... 
