*This review may also spoil the Sixth Sense*
The main problem with this movie for me was that it was very predictable that there would be a twist. When Leonardo Dicaprio's character finds out that Shutter Island may be grounds for illegal experimentation, it is painfully obvious that there is going to be a twist since there are still a lot of mysteries. Therefore, there is very little believability to the notion that Shutter Island is carrying out such operations and very little tension. While watching I though of a couple of theories for what the twist might be (thats how sure I was of the twist). Of course it was the least original one that I thought of: Ted Daniels is an actual patient on the island. While that ending is so "out there," I also feel like I've seen it a thousand times. Scorcese builds the entire movie around this twist, which is a disaster because the twist is expected and unoriginal.
A similar movie with a twist, the Sixth Sense, is so much better than this one because it explores a very interesting conflict, but is not so mysterious which makes the viewer unsuspecting of any twists. The downfall to Shutter Island was Scorcese overdoing the mystery aspect. I would give this movie a 4, but I feel that this movie has inflated ratings because no one wants to admit that such a great director disappointed (that's not to say everyone's rating is inflated, but it makes sense to assume that such inflation exists when this painfully predictable movie has an 8.1.)
The main problem with this movie for me was that it was very predictable that there would be a twist. When Leonardo Dicaprio's character finds out that Shutter Island may be grounds for illegal experimentation, it is painfully obvious that there is going to be a twist since there are still a lot of mysteries. Therefore, there is very little believability to the notion that Shutter Island is carrying out such operations and very little tension. While watching I though of a couple of theories for what the twist might be (thats how sure I was of the twist). Of course it was the least original one that I thought of: Ted Daniels is an actual patient on the island. While that ending is so "out there," I also feel like I've seen it a thousand times. Scorcese builds the entire movie around this twist, which is a disaster because the twist is expected and unoriginal.
A similar movie with a twist, the Sixth Sense, is so much better than this one because it explores a very interesting conflict, but is not so mysterious which makes the viewer unsuspecting of any twists. The downfall to Shutter Island was Scorcese overdoing the mystery aspect. I would give this movie a 4, but I feel that this movie has inflated ratings because no one wants to admit that such a great director disappointed (that's not to say everyone's rating is inflated, but it makes sense to assume that such inflation exists when this painfully predictable movie has an 8.1.)
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