Works great as an adaptation and as a movie in general!

Rating: 9/10 (20 February 2010)

I really enjoyed Shutter Island. The movie and the book! The movie follows very closely to the novel, and I was glad to see that the story wasn't changed a lot. Of course there are many details and some elements that couldn't be included, as in any movie based on a book, but the movie had the same creepy and tense feeling as the book does.
If you aren't familiar with the story, however, you're not going to see what most think of as a horror movie. That's not what this is, even though the commercials make it seem that way. You're going to have to think, and you're going to have to sit through a 2 hour and 20 min. movie, less than half of it being action. The good part of that, however, is that it's not some cheap and simple movie that is only there to gross you out. It has a good story, well developed characters, and gives a very disturbing look at fictional yet completely realistic events.
There are many jump scenes, but thankfully they aren't all "false alarms" that we can see in just about every movie. There is a reason for pretty much everything that happens in the movie, which is a result of a great book being made into a great movie.
Overall, I'm very happy with how the movie turned out. The colors and depictions of the island and scenery are great. The story flows for the most part. If you let yourself think about what is actually happening, and become involved in the plot, then you could even consider it fast paced. The acting is also very good.
Some people are going to think that the story and twist(s) are predictable, but even if you figure out how it's going to end, I think most would have to admit that it goes so much more in-depth than most movies made these days. So give it a try, and try to be open minded about it. It's not perfect, but no movie is. It is great in my opinion, especially compared to most all of what they're showing in the trailers for upcoming movies. After reading the book last year, I've been waiting a long time for Shutter Island to come to theaters, and it did not let me down!