Shutter Island

Shutter I did, and not in a good way. I was prepared for a Scorsese master piece, but instead was left with pieces of a master. Parts of this film were absolutely fantastic, other parts, left me very disappointed. The marketing strategy for this film was needless to say, brilliant. The images floating around the web and the teaser trailers we have all been clinging to for over a year now, definitely did their job in bringing people to see this film. Maybe that's what makes it so disappointing. The most interesting thing about the film, to me, are the mixed reviews its gotten from movie goers. It appears that this is one flick that you either love, or hate. And what better breeding ground for the average movie goers review? Twitter of course. Some of the mixed reviews I keep seeing in the ol' tweeters den:

All THOSE IN FAVOR OF SHUTTER ISLAND:
"Bravo Martin Scorsese for pullin off that genious movie #shutterisland, it was fucking amazing how every single thing played out so perfect!"

"Shutter Island is a slow, methodical, and claustrophobic thriller... and I loved every minute of it! #shutterIsland"

"#shutterisland you must go. It will mind eff you.. And end up on your top ten fav list. Trust."

"Shutter Island was pretty good. real weird at some points. crazy twist. go see it."

AND THOSE OPPOSED:
"#ShutterIsland ??? DUMB!!!!!! I don't get how people loved it so much? It was so lame...definitley a let down. I want my $6 back!"

"Okay sooo #ShutterIsland NO GO!!"

"Dude. Scorsese's worst that I know of. And one of the worst I've seen in a while. Jesus. #shutterisland"

I definitely fall under the category of those opposed. Everyone's heard tale of a crazy plot twist and ending to the flick, let me just start by saying, I knew what was going on from about 10 minutes into the film and for the next 2 hours and 20 minutes kept hoping I was wrong. I can't say too much here because I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't seen it, but I keep seeing comments on Twitter and Facebook that are insinuating confusion and shock:

"#shutterisland Geeeez!! Speechless.. Too confusing and too shocking.."

(This one came from Tanedra Howard, my girl from SAW VI and Scream Queens, love her, but must disagree) "Tattoo hated Shutter Island & said it was "too much mind" dawg. wht did U think?<-- I agree fully. I had a damn migrane!"

I didn't find a single moment of the film shocking, or confusing. Not one little bit. So when I saw the following comment, it really made me laugh:

"Funny how movies like #ShutterIsland clearly distinguish the intelligent from the clueless on Twitter."

And incidentally, I completely disagree with the following comment:

"The majority of negative reviews for Shutter Island come from people who are too dumb to follow the plot GO SEE IT!!"

I for one was not "too dumb" to follow the plot, I was rather, bored by the plot because to me, it was something that has been done before, nothing shocking, nothing confusing, and I was quite surprised to hear that some people had a hard time following the story. So a comment like the next one, is definitely on the same page as my review:

"SHUTTER ISLAND: Not the best Scorsese.Nothing new.No surprises.Simple.Boring even."

And with all the reviews and what not floating around, I gave my 2 cents to my best friend, and he had pretty much figured out the "big plot twist" based on a single poster for the film:



I may sound like I'm being pretty harsh on the film and its director, but let me redeem myself a little bit here by saying, there were many aspects to the film that I did in fact enjoy a lot. The camera work, absolutely brilliantly shot, I mean come on, it's Scorsese. Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio, I think they both acted amazingly and there were many side characters that supported the atmosphere of the film to a T. There were some definite "creepy" moments in the film, which is always a fun aspect to a thriller. Visually, this film has some amazing imagery. And the writing, neglecting the BIG SURPRISE, was actually quite great. Whether or not I figured out what was going on has no relevance to the dialogue spoken, and it was very well written, much like the book by Dennis Lehane (which is reported to be a huge seller in the Kindle marketplace right now).

All in all, I would have to say that people should definitely see this movie, if for no other reason than to get involved in the debate on whether or not it was confusing, surprising, shocking, wonderful, or whatever other adjectives are buzzing around this film. For me, not a winner. I don't think people nowadays can be caught too much by surprise, I think movies like THE SIXTH SENSE and THE OTHERS kind of smartened audiences a little too much, so now it's hard to pull off a sick plot twist in the end, but God bless Hollywood for continuing to try to outsmart the paying audience!