re: the ending of Shutter Island - discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted by Blue Velvet

Apple butter toast is nice

Member since Nov 2009

20112 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:11 am to Baloo

quote:
i think it was very long and very slow

Yes

quote:
without much worry over the character

Posted by Feed Me Popeyes

Baltimore, MD

Member since Apr 2008

2104 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:12 am to Baloo

quote:
See, and I completely disagree. I don't think there is a twist at all. It's never intended as such. For all the people complaining about the trailer, its not like the "Who is 67?" note came late in the movie.... it's the first 30 minutes. You should have already been on alert.

The issue is not that Teddy is a patient, but how the whole things reveals itself. I think those comparing it to Hitchcock have it right. It's not a "shock twist" but the long, slow reveal.

winner

quote:
And if you want a twist, it is in the last lines. "Teddy" is healed, but decides to have a lobotomy anyway. A completely sane choice, so he can live "as a good man"

Yep, and anybody that says they saw this coming just from seeing the previews is a liar

Posted by Tiger Ryno

#WoF

Member since Feb 2007

107469 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:13 am to SlowFlowPro

quote:
and i never felt any suspense while watching

yes. you have icewater in your veins broahseph.

It was suspenseful for me. I loved the urgency created throughout the movie. If i had a bone to pick it was sometimes the flashbacks or delusions went on a bit too long and broke the suspense, but they were necessary to understand the war going on in this guys mind.

Posted by SlowFlowPro

With populists, expect populism

Member since Jan 2004

465111 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:14 am to Baloo

quote:
It was nothing BUT worry over character.

not to me, esp when i realized he was for sure crazy (sealed with the interview with the chick they found)

quote:
Like it or dislike it, this was clearly a character study of the main protagonist.

but once you KNOW he's crazy, you know this is either a dream, psychosis, or some set up to "crack" him

the only outlandish plot device i could think of while watching this was the german doctor trying to get him to admit to his war crimes...but if he's crazy now, then it is just a revenge flick and he likely admitted that shite

Posted by Tiger Ryno

#WoF

Member since Feb 2007

107469 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:14 am to Salmon

quote:
without much worry over the character

Yes. only about 125 minutes of worry over the character. Clearly not enough.

Posted by SlowFlowPro

With populists, expect populism

Member since Jan 2004

465111 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:18 am to Tiger Ryno

i wasn't worried that anything would happen to him, especially after i was sure he was crazy

4 ...

Posted by Tiger Ryno

#WoF

Member since Feb 2007

107469 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:23 am to SlowFlowPro

bro you obviously figured it all out lock stock and barrell. why didn't you just get up and walk out after the the first 15 minutes when you nipped it in the bud?

You can't tell me that the movie didn't create suspense as he was fighting his way through Block C and fighting the naked dude and talking to the Noyce character who told him it was all fake. what about when he attacks the guard and swims across intot he lighthouse and breaks in?

What about those scenes with ted levine? I thought they did a wonderful job. Sure, you are on edge about Teddy from the first shot of the movie. Its obvious things aren't right with him and they aren't trying to hide it. You are putting too much empahsis on the "reveal" that he was crazy. The movie isn't about the reveal or the fact that some can figure out he was crazy.

Posted by Salmon

I helped draft the email

Member since Feb 2008

85366 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:24 am to SlowFlowPro

quote:
especially after i was sure he was crazy

Which of course you figured out way before anybody figured it out.

I have no idea how you "for sure" knew he was crazy after the interview with the chick who thought he was her husband.

Posted by Blue Velvet

Apple butter toast is nice

Member since Nov 2009

20112 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:25 am to SlowFlowPro

I knew he was crazy before the movie started so I spent the whole movie hoping he would snap out of it. When he talked to Jackie Earle Haley's character in the cell in Ward C and he told Leo that it was him who had beat him up and that he would have to let his wife go in order to move on, it was extremely gripping.

If you thought he was sane you should have been rooting for him to escape, if you knew he was insane you should have hoped he would snap out of it, if you are SlowFlowPro then you felt nothing at all.

Posted by Tiger Ryno

#WoF

Member since Feb 2007

107469 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:25 am to Salmon

Brah, it was so easy to see right though that. he had it figured out during the opening credits before they got off the boat.

Posted by Ed Osteen

Member since Oct 2007

58817 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:39 am to Blue Velvet

quote:
if you are SlowFlowPro then you felt nothing at all.

Posted by SlowFlowPro

With populists, expect populism

Member since Jan 2004

465111 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:39 am to Salmon

quote:
I have no idea how you "for sure" knew he was crazy after the interview with the chick who thought he was her husband.

it wouldn't serve any other purpose in the movie

Posted by SlowFlowPro

With populists, expect populism

Member since Jan 2004

465111 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:40 am to Blue Velvet

quote:
if you knew he was insane you should have hoped he would snap out of it,

this doesn't happen

Posted by Blue Velvet

Apple butter toast is nice

Member since Nov 2009

20112 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:44 am to SlowFlowPro

quote:
if you knew he was insane you should have hoped he would snap out of it,

quote:
this doesn't happen

Um, I'm pretty sure everyone that knew he was insane probably wanted him to take the advice of the two doctors in the scene at top of the light house when they told him to snap out of it. It was assumed Ben Kingsley's character was a "bad guy" (obviously he was in Leo's mind) until you realized Leo was insane, at which point you hoped Kingsley's wild, role-play method would have worked.

Posted by SlowFlowPro

With populists, expect populism

Member since Jan 2004

465111 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:46 am to Blue Velvet

i didn't care by that point

what emotional investment do i have in a character who is 180 degrees from what the previous 4/5 of the movie presented?

it's not the same character

it's as if they introduced his twin brother, who still wanted to be called his brother's name out of respect. and his brother told him everything about the situation, so there wouldn't be that awkward, "getting to know you" phase.

Posted by Blue Velvet

Apple butter toast is nice

Member since Nov 2009

20112 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:58 am to SlowFlowPro

quote:
it's not the same character

?? Yes it is. That's kind of like, um, the point.

quote:
i didn't care by that point

quote:
it's as if they introduced his twin brother, who still wanted to be called his brother's name out of respect. and his brother told him everything about the situation, so there wouldn't be that awkward, "getting to know you" phase.

Posted by ISDSTiger

Member since Sep 2006

5071 posts

Posted on 2/22/10 at 11:59 am to SlowFlowPro

quote:
what emotional investment do i have in a character who is 180 degrees from what the previous 4/5 of the movie presented? it's not the same character it's as if they introduced his twin brother, who still wanted to be called his brother's name out of respect. and his brother told him everything about the situation, so there wouldn't be that awkward, "getting to know you" phase.

we mortals would call that a "multi-dimensional" character. it adds depth and makes the character "likeable". The opposite of this would be Cameron's characters in Avatar.