A layer cake of twists, turns and excellent film making.

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2019)

From the opening shot of Shutter Island, you can tell it's going to be a very special film. A genre that was once extremely popular, noire style mysteries have made their way out of the spot light. It's the exact kind of well executed period film I've come to expect from director Martin Scorsese. I have seen this film four times over the last nine years, and as is the case with many "twist" movies, you catch something new on every single watch-through. This illustrates one of my favorite features of this film, the fact that you're distracted from what you believe will be the twist. I experienced it my first time through--you're so busy looking for what's happening that you miss what isn't. I remember thinking how laughable Mark Ruffalo's performance as a 1950's US Marshall was. "I can't believe they picked this guy." I remember saying to my father as we watched in the theater. Every word out of his mouth was overacted and lacked real conviction. Over the course of the movie he eased in to it a bit and became less ridiculous, but I was still annoyed by that detail--until the end of the movie. I mean, what a perfect direction choice. Ruffalo's character Dr. Sheehan isn't a Marshall, and he's certainly not an actor. He's just doing the best he can based on what was on TV and in movies at the time. I love this detail, and feel it's often overlooked. Many cinematography choices and small details they chose to include perfectly add to the unhinged dreamlike reality of Teddy's that we are being told this story through. Regarding the ending, there is a lot to unpack. When it first came out we all debated his ending sanity. Maybe he as still crazy, or maybe he just didn't want to "live as a monster." Over the years it's become more and more apparent that there is no room for debate; he walks to his lobotomy fully sane and aware of his past actions. His memory is a curse, and he would rather it be gone completely and lose himself all together than have to live with the violent and sordid fate of his family. This is an expertly crafted movie that I feel like is sometimes harshly judged because people fail to see that the twist they "saw coming" isn't really the purpose of the movie, there's something much deeper here.