Really? !***!SPOILERS!***!

Rating: 4/10 (4 March 2010)

I've heard a lot of folks talk about how shocking the ending of this film was. I've read a few reviews to the same effect. All I can say is . . . really? Have any of you folk what didn't have the whole thing figured out within the first fifteen minutes ever seen any other, "what a twist", movies?
I'm actually really disappointed in my fellow man. I'm even more disappointed in Mr. Scorsese. I mean with all the movies that this man has seen and made, well, his expansive knowledge of all things cinema is one of the things you know about him. How could he have failed at subtlety so tremendously here?
Okay here's why I'm so disappointed. A year ago I read part of the book. I got to the point where Daniels and Aule (DiCaprio and Ruffalo respectively) first enter ward C where all the real crazies are kept, got bored with it and never picked it back up. I swear to all that is sacred and holy that I had no idea the story was even going to have a twist at that point. If I had, then maybe I would have kept reading just to see how far I'd get before figuring it out. At any rate, by the same point in the film I had long since had to stifle the urge to shout out in the theatre, "He's crazy! He's a f***ing patient!"
Mr. Scorsese's decision to insert the hallucinations so early in the film, for me anyway, just immediately screamed, the man is a loon! And I mean really, these hallucination scenes are the only way that the movie differs from the book--up to the point which I can actually speak for that is.
I'm sick of Hollywood treating us like we're all stupid, taking us by the hand and walking us through each little step. The worst thing is, in hearing the public's reaction to this film I suppose I've found most of us actually need it. My own cousin, as well as reviewers on this site, took issue with, The Wolfman, because it was too subtle in spots, lightly touching on small sub-plot elements, asking you to use your imagination to answer a few questions here and there. I mean we're talking, The Wolfman, was too cerebral for these people.
Just thinking about how many times I've read reviews where the reason a person doesn't like a film is because it didn't answer every single one of their bloody questions, makes want to kick a kitten. Sometimes you don't even have to use your imagination in these cases! Sometimes all you need to do is actually think about what you've seen and heard for a minute before saying you don't get it.
I can't wait to have kids so I can raise them to believe it's COOL to be smart and read books, think for yourself, imagine.