Most reviews for Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island were not overly positive. In fact, rumor has it that the release date was pushed back because the studio did not want the film coming out during Oscar season because they felt it was not worthy of the Academy Award and wanted to spare the great director the embarrassment of being neglected come awards night. So, what was it that made this film below standard for Scorsese? Was it the subject matter? The execution of the film? Maybe the manipulative twist ending?
Personally, I rather like twist endings. I have always been a fan of The Twilight Zone series and loved the goosebumps that unexpected story twists create. My love of twist endings lead me to a period in my college writing career where I was constantly producing "tricky" little short stories. One of my creative writing professors, a visiting professor and acclaimed writer, cautioned me about these stories, which were clearly not her cup of tea. She told me that people don't like feeling used like that. To me, all movies manipulate the audience, even at the most basic level --that's not really snow, that wasn't the actor jumping from that 60-foot building, etc. Movies operate on the suspension of disbelief. We are being fooled at every moment of the journey and we are supposed to sit back and enjoy the ride. It is a magic show meant to delight and playfully deceive. I remember in an interview one time Jamie Lee Curtis, while plugging Christmas with the Kranks, actually got angry when she was asked about specific scenes and how they were pulled off behind the camera. She wanted it all to remain a mystery to audiences. While I have to admit, I really enjoy extras and behind-the-scenes footage found on most DVDs today, I can understand her point. Are we taking the fun out of movies? Have we gotten too clever for our own good?
With all this said, however, I have to admit the twist in Shutter Island was not overly unpredicatible. I had it figured out less than half way through the film and I'm sure other people did as well. I don't know if this is because in all the coming attractions and hype surrounding the film the phrase "twist ending" was included and I was very actively looking for clues and making predictions. Or, perhaps, being a savy movie watcher who lived through the whole Sixth Sense phenomenon, I have learned to see these things coming and refuse to be manipulated.
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