Directing legend Martin Scorcese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo & Ben Kingsley provide one of the most spectacular twists of all time in this atmospheric mystery thriller. “Shutter Island” is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
There are movies that just immediately pop into your head when you hear the word twist: “Fight Club,” “The Usual Suspects,” or much of M. Night Shyamalan’s filmography. But “Shutter Island” is definitely one of them – if you’ve seen it. If you haven’t, you can easily catch up now: “Shutter Island” is currently available as a subscription on Amazon Prime Video:
But before we get into (spoiler-free) what makes the 2010 mystery thriller’s twist so legendary, here’s the plot for you.
THIS IS WHAT “SHUTTER ISLAND” IS ABOUT
US Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his colleague Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent to Shutter Island, an island blown by stormy winds and home to an institution for mentally disturbed violent criminals. Teddy and Chuck are supposed to find out what happened to the missing patient 67 (Emily Mortimer).
But this is not so easy, because the employees of the facility, especially the head doctor Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley), are not very cooperative. During the investigation, the investigator duo comes across more and more inconsistencies that raise a terrible suspicion…
THAT’S WHY “SHUTTER ISLAND” AND ITS TWIST ARE SO GREAT
First of all, “Shutter Island” would work as a gripping psychological thriller even without a twist. Because directed by Martin Scorsese (“Taxi Driver”), the film convinces on all craft levels. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers his usual intense, multi-layered performance, and in Ben Kingsley he has an equally opaque antagonist, but the almost even bigger star is the setting.
The lousy weather, the commanding imagery of triple-Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson, and the many oddly behaving inmates (and employees) of the asylum all add to the atmosphere of this prison enclosed by stormy waves, making it easy to put yourself in Teddy’s shoes as an outsider who ends up in this inhospitable environment.
That there is a twist is just the icing on the cake that makes “Shutter Island” go from a good film to an outstanding one in my eyes. We don’t want to spoil the surprising twist here, of course, but it’s this kind of twist that makes you see the entire events with different eyes and makes you extremely want to watch the thriller another time – which is totally worth it. Because the twist easily stands up to a second viewing and sharpens your perception for numerous details that you didn’t even notice the first time. What makes the whole thing even more exciting, however, is a smart little change compared to the book.
While the novel “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane provides a very clear resolution of the events, the directorial maestro Scorsese deliberately leaves the ending vague, so that you almost have to see the film a second time to form your own opinion about which of the two possible scenarios is actually the right one.
“Shutter Island” is a film that keeps you riveted in front of the screen for over two hours and keeps you busy for quite a while even after the credits roll. You should not miss the Scorsese thriller.
