“Shutter Island”

“Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?” The first time I watched “Shutter Island” I can honestly say i was terrified. Everything fit that creepy feeling all good scary movies need. Although it is classified as a mystery/thriller I easily think it could fit in the horror section as well.There are many horror movies out there that really just aren’t scary, but this one will have everyone on the edge of their seats the whole time! So,for this review essay I will inform everyone on the actors, the plot, and the complexity that all stimulates the great movie that it is, “Shutter Island”.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays the U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. Leonardo is a highly acclaimed actor who has been in some of the most famous films like the “Titanic” and other amazing movies and almost everyone knows about him. Throughout the movie he is definitely the most important character. By his side is his trusted partner, Chuck Aule, who is played by Mark Ruffalo. Most people probably would recognize Mark from the previous film “The Avengers” where he plays the Hulk. Although “Shutter Island” didn’t win any major awards, it still won a couple low-key ones. For the acting it won a Teen Choice Award for best actor and actress. Also for the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA) Leonardo was nominated for the best actor of the year. There are many other awards the film was nominated for and also won a couple. Some of the other actors/actresses are; Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, and Emily Mortimer. My personal opinion is that all the actors did amazing throughout the whole movie.

At first, Teddy Daniels the U.S. Marshal is assigned a case the government-run island named Shutter Island.The island holds the Ashecliffe Hospital which is a mental hospital for the criminally insane. The case that Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are investigating is the disappearance of one of the patients in there for killing all her kids, Rachel Solando. Lots of details about the disappearance don’t add up as the investigators find out soon enough. Teddy soon starts to think there is some kind of conspiracy going on at the island. Teddy keeps having all theses really weird dreams. Dreams about when he was in the war, or of his wife, who died in a house fire. The dreams seem to be leaving hints as to what is really happening on the island but Teddy just can’ seem to put it all together. Once everything is starting to dwindle down to the end and everyone thinks they know what’s going on, everything changes. It’s this humongous plot twist that I know I was definitely not expecting. Literally it goes down to the last line of the movie for everything to actually make sense. The big plot twist is probably the main reason why it’s my favorite movie and why it would be anyone elses. Every other review I have read online only has good things to say about this 2010 gem of a film and they encourage people to go and watch it.

“Shutter Island” was published in 2003 by the author Dennis Lehane (which the book is equally amazing) so basically all the intelligence of the plot goes to him. Martin Scorsese, the director of the film, just shows everything astonishingly. Some refer to Martin as “the greatest director breathing today”. There’s two hours and eighteen minutes for the viewers to try and assume what’s really going on and for the book, 369 pages. *Spoilers* At the end, when it’s trying to explain what’s going on there is several anagrams to the characters names. The dreams I talked about earlier have big foreshadowing, so pay really close attention to those as well. Teddy starts to question even his insanity, which is quite ironic since he is at the mental institution as an investigator, not a patient. One of the best quotes throughout the book about this statement is, “If you are deemed insane, then all actions that would otherwise prove you are not do, in actuality, fall into the framework on an insane person’s actions. Your sound protests constitute denial. Your valid fears are deemed paranoia. Your survival instincts are labeled defense mechanisms. It’s a no-win situation. It’s a death penalty really.”. For someone, to be able to think of all this, I would assume they have a very colorful creativity. As I was watching the movie, I didn’t even think once about switching some letters in names and seeing the way the characters acted. Some other reviews I read online claim they could guess how it ended based on the trailer, but I highly doubt that. I think Dennis Lehane thought of it extraordinarily good and Martin Scorsese made the movie just like the book. If it were any different, I’m sure it wouldn’t have turned out as good as it is now.

Even for those people who really aren’t the biggest fans of mystery or horror movies, I would still promote them to go watch as I am trying to encourage everyone to. Even if the only reason to watch is because of Leonardo Dicaprio, it would still be amusing! Although it does get somewhat confusing, anyone would be more than happy they watched it. It makes people actually think about what’s going on, other than just watching. From the actors and plot down to the basic core of complexity it all conjugates up to be a fantastic film!