Shutter Island – Movie Review

Holy sh*t … now that’s some kind of a movie. Perplexing, frightening, even at times uplifting. This movie will leave many confused … me, I chose an interpretation and I’m sticking with it.

Now, I can’t tell you any plot points … that would risk giving away a wonderful plot with several twists. No point in that. But I *can* tell you that Martin Scorsese makes a heck of a movie.

And the cast in this one is first rate. The three main protagonists are played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley. If any of these actors’ work is unfamiliar to you, let me suggest that you get out a little more. Ruffalo might be the least known, but his work is excellent. The other two are simply stellar. As good as it can possibly get.

Here are the three of them chatting about <spoiler deleted>

Heavy weather is used throughout the movie to maintain high tension and I have to say that it works. You never lose the feeling of foreboding while the weather is pounding the island.

There is also a very strong sense of containment, helped along by the guards being modeled after a paramilitary force. Very well done, that.

I thought this was to be mainly a horror flick … like the one Halley Barry made a while back. Karen started and grabbed my hand a dozen times, as they snap the tension on you frequently enough. But ultimately, this movie if much more complex than that, and there is no gratuitous violence to speak of.

So that’s all I’m willing to show or tell you … I think this is a real winner, and the early returns on IMDB are extremely impressive. Enjoy.

*** SPOILER ALERT *** STOP READING HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE!!!

My interpretation at the end was that he really had reverted, but had a calm acceptance of his fate when he saw the ice pick in the towel held by the approaching orderly.

However, my son and his friends came up with a much better interpretation that goes a long way to explaining the entire movie and is of course much more worthy of Scorsese: He only *pretended* to revert to his old self so that he could get himself the lobotomy and lose the memories that had literally driven him crazy. He was simply unable to face a lifetime of those memories. Excellent …