Shutter Island
Ok, so I'm a few months late to the party, but I just watched Shutter Island and had to post about it even though it's after 3am. Fair warning: this is going to be spoilerific.
I hated this movie. I can't believe I'm saying that about a Scorsese/DiCaprio film. But I hated this movie.
I hated this movie because it was painfully, painfully obvious. I knew how it was going to end within the first hour. And considering it's a 2 hour and 10 minute film, that left more than an hour of film for me to suffer through as it became more and more painfully obvious that I was right. I think that, had I not predicted the ending so early on, I actually might have enjoyed this film. It's aesthetically pleasing and I've been a DiCaprio fan since fourth grade. But knowing where it was headed left absolutely no "psychological thriller" in it for me. What I saw was a blatant attempt at a psychological thriller, a lot of decoys to try to keep the audience guessing, but the PAINFULLY OBVIOUS signs that we were dealing with a paranoid schizophrenic. Signs like the fact that a patient CALLS TEDDY "LAEDDIS" IN THE FIRST HOUR and that HE IS WEARING PATIENT CLOTHING FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE FILM and that EVERYONE HE MEETS FILLS HIS HEAD WITH CONSPIRACY THEORIES (which is the HALLMARK symptom of a paranoid schizophrenic). Granted, my psych major background might have played a role in ruining this film for me; I know a paranoid schizophrenic when I see one. And maybe if I didn't, I would have spent more of the film guessing and less of the film going *facepalm,* "He's Laeddis and he's schizophrenic!" But at the same time, I feel like anyone with any knowledge of "psychological thriller" films should have seen the ending coming? I mean, really. This film is SHAMELESS when it comes to horror film cliches - the island, the stormy weather, the big scary asylum, the dangerous cliffs, the creepy doctors, the scary music. There is absolutely nothing in this film that doesn't scream, "This movie is trying really, really hard to fuck with your mind." And when you know a movie is trying to fuck with your mind, it's a lot easier to see through the facade. Especially when it's as thinly veiled as this one. After all, the setting was an insane asylum with air tight security. The main character has very obvious hallucinations and goes on paranoid rants about a government conspiracy. And we're not supposed to figure out that he's a patient?! Seriously, Scorsese?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! Harper's Island kept me guessing more than this. And, as much as I love those writers, that is not a compliment, Marty.
And for the record, I like horror films. I like psychological thrillers. I even like a good dose of cliche every now and then (read: Harper's Island). What I don't like is a film that pulls out every cliche in the book and then fails to surprise me. Cliches are fun, but only when they're the red herring. When the cliches point you to the ending instead of diverting you away from it, they're completely ineffective. And this film was a bunch of cliches screaming, "TEDDY'S CRAZY! TEDDY'S CRAZY! TEDDY'S CRAZY!" I'm actually kind of insulted that Scorsese thought I wouldn't see right through the veil ("I" meaning "the audience" as I don't have paranoid delusions that Mr. Scorsese ponders what star_lace will think before he makes a film) .
All along, I was secretly hoping that I was wrong. I was hoping that the movie wanted you to think Teddy was a patient when in fact, he wasn't and that they really were trying to make him crazy to keep him from exposing their secret. THAT would've fucked with my head. THAT would have shocked me. But this ending? So predictable. Boringly predictable. Pedestrian even.
I never, ever thought I'd dislike a Scorsese/DiCaprio film. Ever. But, while visually enjoyable and skillfully acted, this film fell flat. Very flat. It was like watching a bad version of The Sixth Sense, the version where you know Bruce Willis is dead the entire time (or, if you're my mother, the actual The Sixth Sense because you blurt out "He's dead" in the first ten minutes of the movie).
Upon finishing the movie, I immediately read some reviews. Remembering the hype surrounding this film, I knew there must have been others who hated it as much as I did, critics who called it out for its complete lack of psychological thrill, for its utter disrespect of its audience who, surprisingly, have brains. Imagine my shock when I read things like, "You may read reviews of "Shutter Island" complaining that the ending blindsides you," a Roger Ebert quote. To which I respond: SERIOUSLY?! It appears that yes, the ending did blindside many, dare I say most, people. That to me is the real shocker here. Not the ending. Maybe I've taken one too many psych classes. Maybe I've seen one too many films. Maybe I've taken one too many psych classes and seen one too many films. But there was nothing in this film that I didn't see coming from a mile away. And for those who argue that the true shocker here isn't the fact that Teddy is Andrew Laeddis but the fact that he chooses to "die as a good man," I think you're giving the film too much credit. It definitely wants us to buy into the government conspiracy theory or at least question it. It wants us to take Teddy's side. It wants to psychologically thrill us. And that has nothing to do with Teddy's final statement. It has to do with his identity. Which is no real surprise at all.
This wasn't at all what I expected from Scorsese/DiCaprio and I can only hope their next project takes them off the teetering edge of this slippery cliff and plants their feet back on solid ground.
I hated this movie. I can't believe I'm saying that about a Scorsese/DiCaprio film. But I hated this movie.
I hated this movie because it was painfully, painfully obvious. I knew how it was going to end within the first hour. And considering it's a 2 hour and 10 minute film, that left more than an hour of film for me to suffer through as it became more and more painfully obvious that I was right. I think that, had I not predicted the ending so early on, I actually might have enjoyed this film. It's aesthetically pleasing and I've been a DiCaprio fan since fourth grade. But knowing where it was headed left absolutely no "psychological thriller" in it for me. What I saw was a blatant attempt at a psychological thriller, a lot of decoys to try to keep the audience guessing, but the PAINFULLY OBVIOUS signs that we were dealing with a paranoid schizophrenic. Signs like the fact that a patient CALLS TEDDY "LAEDDIS" IN THE FIRST HOUR and that HE IS WEARING PATIENT CLOTHING FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE FILM and that EVERYONE HE MEETS FILLS HIS HEAD WITH CONSPIRACY THEORIES (which is the HALLMARK symptom of a paranoid schizophrenic). Granted, my psych major background might have played a role in ruining this film for me; I know a paranoid schizophrenic when I see one. And maybe if I didn't, I would have spent more of the film guessing and less of the film going *facepalm,* "He's Laeddis and he's schizophrenic!" But at the same time, I feel like anyone with any knowledge of "psychological thriller" films should have seen the ending coming? I mean, really. This film is SHAMELESS when it comes to horror film cliches - the island, the stormy weather, the big scary asylum, the dangerous cliffs, the creepy doctors, the scary music. There is absolutely nothing in this film that doesn't scream, "This movie is trying really, really hard to fuck with your mind." And when you know a movie is trying to fuck with your mind, it's a lot easier to see through the facade. Especially when it's as thinly veiled as this one. After all, the setting was an insane asylum with air tight security. The main character has very obvious hallucinations and goes on paranoid rants about a government conspiracy. And we're not supposed to figure out that he's a patient?! Seriously, Scorsese?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! Harper's Island kept me guessing more than this. And, as much as I love those writers, that is not a compliment, Marty.
And for the record, I like horror films. I like psychological thrillers. I even like a good dose of cliche every now and then (read: Harper's Island). What I don't like is a film that pulls out every cliche in the book and then fails to surprise me. Cliches are fun, but only when they're the red herring. When the cliches point you to the ending instead of diverting you away from it, they're completely ineffective. And this film was a bunch of cliches screaming, "TEDDY'S CRAZY! TEDDY'S CRAZY! TEDDY'S CRAZY!" I'm actually kind of insulted that Scorsese thought I wouldn't see right through the veil ("I" meaning "the audience" as I don't have paranoid delusions that Mr. Scorsese ponders what star_lace will think before he makes a film) .
All along, I was secretly hoping that I was wrong. I was hoping that the movie wanted you to think Teddy was a patient when in fact, he wasn't and that they really were trying to make him crazy to keep him from exposing their secret. THAT would've fucked with my head. THAT would have shocked me. But this ending? So predictable. Boringly predictable. Pedestrian even.
I never, ever thought I'd dislike a Scorsese/DiCaprio film. Ever. But, while visually enjoyable and skillfully acted, this film fell flat. Very flat. It was like watching a bad version of The Sixth Sense, the version where you know Bruce Willis is dead the entire time (or, if you're my mother, the actual The Sixth Sense because you blurt out "He's dead" in the first ten minutes of the movie).
Upon finishing the movie, I immediately read some reviews. Remembering the hype surrounding this film, I knew there must have been others who hated it as much as I did, critics who called it out for its complete lack of psychological thrill, for its utter disrespect of its audience who, surprisingly, have brains. Imagine my shock when I read things like, "You may read reviews of "Shutter Island" complaining that the ending blindsides you," a Roger Ebert quote. To which I respond: SERIOUSLY?! It appears that yes, the ending did blindside many, dare I say most, people. That to me is the real shocker here. Not the ending. Maybe I've taken one too many psych classes. Maybe I've seen one too many films. Maybe I've taken one too many psych classes and seen one too many films. But there was nothing in this film that I didn't see coming from a mile away. And for those who argue that the true shocker here isn't the fact that Teddy is Andrew Laeddis but the fact that he chooses to "die as a good man," I think you're giving the film too much credit. It definitely wants us to buy into the government conspiracy theory or at least question it. It wants us to take Teddy's side. It wants to psychologically thrill us. And that has nothing to do with Teddy's final statement. It has to do with his identity. Which is no real surprise at all.
This wasn't at all what I expected from Scorsese/DiCaprio and I can only hope their next project takes them off the teetering edge of this slippery cliff and plants their feet back on solid ground.