Shutter Island

With Martin Scorsese directing and a cast of Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley, Shutter Island has all the ingredients of a great movie. Set in the 50s at a prison for the criminally insane, two U.S. Marshals (DiCaprio and Ruffalo) are tasked to an Alcatraz-style island to investigate the escape of an inmate who has disappeared without a trace. The tone of the film is amazingly dark and chilling with themes of concentration camps, Nazi medical experimentation, and secret government projects. The sinister feeling of the movie holds your breath from the beginning and carries you to the edge of your seat with fantastic jumps and scares amidst a hurricane-level storm. If you are lucky enough to watch this movie you will be thrown to the floor with a truly original plot twist that will leave you replaying the whole movie in your head.Highly recommend8/10Can watch once a year during the rainy season.

I'm a fan of Dennis Lehane, the author of the book, and was thrilled when I found out that Shutter Island was going to be made into a movie with such a renowned director and talented cast. I still remember reading the book for the first time and calling my husband at work -- he'd all ready read it - just to say "wow" and to discuss it with another person. I think I'd figured out the big bad secret by the end, but loved how the author pulled it all together.So, when I saw the movie I did so from a "knowing" perspective and so my experience was actually vastly different from someone who hadn't read the book. If you're unfamiliar with it, I think it's easy to go in and think that the ease or difficulty with which you figure it out is the point -- and it's not. Because I knew, I got to enjoy the execution of the story and the acting and directing choices that were made and could only be noticed either if you have the knowledge or in retrospect. I had extra moments of delight because I could think, "Oh, I see what he did there! What a great reaction shot under the circumstances!" The movie rewards your understanding what's going on. So, even for the people who figured it out and were perhaps disappointed, it's worth another viewing with complete understanding. I also loved that one of the extras on the bluray discusses this exact thing.The movie is atmospheric, Scorsesian, and Hitchcockian. The story and direction compliment one another. I think, at its core, this is a very human stories about both the limitations and the limitlessness of the mind and heart. The protagonist, Teddy Daniels, remains a complex and compelling figure. Dicaprio clearly respected that complexity and committed to bringing it to his performance. The rest of the cast also does a stellar job and it is impossible to single anyone out, because they were all up to the challenge.I absolutely recommend this movie and this author. So, even if you don't buy the movie but are a reader, you might want to check out more from Dennis Lehane.

Good movie and you should watch it if you haven’t already

My rating is more of a 4.5Thanks for reading!𝑪𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 - 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔.𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒌, 𝑵𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔Shutter Island is a 2010 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Laeta Kalogridis, based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel of the same name.Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Deputy U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island after one of the patients goes missing. As the investigation deepens, Teddy realizes he will have to confront his own dark fears if he hopes to make it off the island alive. Mark Ruffalo plays his partner and fellow deputy marshal, Ben Kingsley is the facility's lead psychiatrist, Max von Sydow is a German doctor, and Michelle Williams is Daniels' wife.While 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 and the facility featured in it are fictitious, Boston harbor - where author Lehane is originally from - would provide inspiration for the original story’s context.Home to a collection of social institutions - prisons, psychiatric centers, and the like - Long Island in particular was established in 1893 and remained operational until the mid 1900s. Despite there being no evidence of surgical interventions (like lobotomies) being performed at this institution, it was no stranger to allegations of abuse or mistreatment: with some accusations of staff knowingly poisoning patients with strychnine and withholding much needed medical attention.𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 ‘s source material highlights a claustrophobic environment ; it’s bleak, laughably small when compared to Scorsese’s set design, and depends on the tight knit nature of its components to drive the tension for readers in a complimentary fashion. This same island and its notable landmarks - specifically, the lighthouse and specified wards - have an imposing (yet elegant) aesthetic in this cinematic adaptation: mirroring 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 in terms of the palpable discomfort and highlighted sense of isolation plaguing its protagonist(Sort of a #funfact, even though some of the locations were created using CGI, one of the more important filming locations was actually Medfield State Hospital, which was the first Asylum established for mentally ill individuals in Massachusetts that was founded in 1892. It has been closed as of 2003, but it’s grounds remain open to the public)Speaking of its protagonist, Teddy Daniel’s personality is given a facelift of sorts, with Scorsese and screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis emphasizing attributes likely to draw sympathy from viewers as opposed to aversion. In line with Lehane’s bibliography, the original version of Daniel’s is morally ambiguous (though, at times, glistening with ill intent), and could be perceived in some ways as worse than the patients he searching for: both with permission and for his own chance at vigilante justice. Vindicated by an intermittent veil of moral righteousness (and confidence in what is right and wrong), and yet complicated by a montage of obviously traumatizing experiences, 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 is the gift that keeps on twisting: both predictably and exclusively in tandem.Fast paced in comparison to Lehane’s writing, 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 is meticulous in not letting audience members linger in uncertainty for too long by reducing the deduction time needed for specific motifs (In example, a note) while maintaining the integrity of the overarching plot. I can only say in retrospect that the presence of Daniel’s delusions (or, what could most accurately be described as nightmares and intrusive thoughts) insist upon themselves: acting as could be party favors and taking away from the 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 of the final twist as opposed to reinforcing it.There is, however, a sustained strength in 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅’s largest deviance from the book it is inspired by: a final question that delves into the relationship between perception and perspective, and moreover, the extent in a which a moment of mental clarity can offset a history clouded by hallucinations, culpability, and judgment. This makes each viewing vastly different as they relate to the conclusions viewers might draw, and differs substantially from Lahane’s closed (and definite) ending.One of the better book-to-film adaptations to date, 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 has bragging rights as a well developed thriller that makes Lehane’s material complex without needless patronizations. Compromised in some ways - as some surprises are less obscure than others - Scorsese’s charm is preserved through his inclination towards ambiguity in its final stretch: surmounting, as an actual shutter might, rigid control over what viewers can see, and only pliable influence over what viewers might feel.