A film which never allows you to wrap your mind around it....

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2010)

Martin Scorsese. What Can I say about him. He has created so many great films, including Raging Bull, and the recent The Departed. Here, he covers some new territory, and like I wanted, it is not a film to really wrap your minds around it.
The film plays out in ways that are what you would expect from a regular thriller, yet at the same time, you cannot help but wonder what it will all come to be. What can be said is that the performances are outstanding. Leonardo Dicaprio gives another powerhouse of a performance, showing that when he is committed he gives it his all. With performances from The Departed, Revolutionary Road, and now Shutter Island, he has proved he is one of the best actors working today. Jackie Earle Haley is really great in a small scene he is in, and Michelle Williams really affecting in her role. The whole film cannot be described, but experienced. Throughout the film, I was thinking it has some obvious flaws, and that while I really liked it, I could not love it... and then we get to the twist.
When the twist came, about who Teddy Daniels really was, I was overwhelmed by it. I thought the film should have been given a much better twist. While I can admit in the novel it must have felt shocking, while I watched this twist unfold I must say I was very unpleasantly surprised. Not because it was executed badly, since a lot of the film's earlier mysteries made sense now, but because these sort of twists have been done to death that I would think anyone would stay away from it. But then as the scene with Teddy and Dolores' past tragedy unfolded, I began to have a sense of excitement because, I thought, could it be that the film would do a backflip and this not be the twist at all? Could it be that the final twist would actually be that this given twist was simply not real, and that the island's conspiracy be true? While the scene when Teddy is confessing who he really is and that he had murdered his wife was happening, I was lost. I did not know if this was real or if the real twist would happen. I was really hoping another twist and the real ending happen, because this would be a very tired and overwhelming ending. Then, when the film switched to black, I was like WOW. No answers given. The film played with me, made me first angry, then secretly happy and hoping for the real thing, and then leaves me no answers and to finally guess whether the truth is that Shuuter Island is a conspiracy or if Teddy really is insane. I figured it out! It was all about the execution of it all, and looking back on it now, whichever was the real truth did not matter, because Scorsese had messed with my mind. By this time, I simply fell in love with the film, flaws and all. It did it for me, and looking back on the film, I can say that it may join the ranks of The Departed, and even films like Mulholland Dr. or other lynch films in the future, with rewatches. This is film-making at it's most brilliant, but do not be fooled. While watching the film, you may not think this at all. Trust me.