Best Novel to Movie in a While

Rating: Null/10 (26 February 2010)

I've been an avid Dennis Lehane fan for a while now and have read and seen Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. Although I favor Gone Baby Gone because of the questions it raises, I believe that Scorcese's Shutter Island is the best adaptation of a novel in a long time. The sheer creepiness that he captures is amazing. I thought that the movie would be a little too Hollywood for Lehane fans, but I was completely wrong. Scorcese captures every emotion in the book perfectly. The great thing about books is that the mind can produce images of what is going on depending on the reader's interpretation. I feel that this movie digs to the core of Teddy Daniels and Leo does an absolutely amazing job of portraying this character. When the scenes unfolded, I could truly feel the sincerity of the role. I've never been a huge fan of books becoming movies because I feel that it takes away from the creativity and numerous interpretations of the book, but Shutter Island is everything that Lehane writes. Every scene was exactly how I interpreted it to be in the novel and I loved it. The last words uttered by Teddy (Leo) will be haunting to viewers who have read the story. I really think Lehane could watch the movie and just nod his head as if to say, "Yep, that's exactly what I tried to say."