Shutter Island Movie Review

Overall: 8/10
Plot/Structure: 8/10
Dialogue: 10/10
Art: 10/10
Re-watchability: 9/10

**This is a spoiler-free review**
First of all, I want to say that I love psychology and I read about it often and have been fascinated by it since I took my AP psych class in high school. That being said, I normally HATE psychological thrillers. What I hate is when they romanticize mental illness, demonize psychology and psychiatry, and give it an overall fantasy feel. The truth is, mental illness is real, it’s not romantic, although it can be a ‘creative’ experience. Ultimately, it’s tragic. What shutter island succeeded in doing is giving the illnesses, and psychology of that era an authentic feel. I feel that this movie has great re-watchability because the quality is in the story-telling and not the plot twists or plot devices. Even though it’s not a perfect film, I still think it’s one of the best psychology-themed movies I’ve seen. That’s all I can say without spoiling too much, so I’ll write a more complete review below!

** Warning: Spoilers below **

I think the movie is ultimately a love story, and this is apparent throughout the film. It’s about a doctor’s love for his patient and the lengths he is willing to go to – to heal him. One of the things I thought would’ve improved Shutter Island is the role-playing was revealed at the beginning. The plot twist served a minor role and it was so gradual it wasn’t really necessary for the viewer to be in the dark. I thought by being in the dark the first hour of the film, I got a poor experience from the movie. I thought the events were too trivial, and a bit random, and I thought Teddy/Andrew was not believable as a US Marshall at some points. Of course this makes sense later on since he’s actually a patient, and a former US Marshall. I didn’t enjoy the first half of the movie until I saw the latter half. This is why I think the plot twist should’ve been eliminated and just explained briefly in a starting scene. (Perhaps the doctors discussing it at the table, and then straight to the ferry scene) I thought the final scene was perfect and it resolved the movie beautifully. Once again, I liked how psychology was accurately portrayed (for that era) and how mental illness was shown in the tragic way it truly is through Teddy/Andrew’s final sane moments.