MovieChat Forums > Shutter Island (2010) Discussion > I wish there was no "twist"

I wish there was no "twist"

posted 4 years ago by Thaisticks (3284)
8 replies | jump to latest

I cannot watch this movie a second time because of all the things that had to "just happen" to sync with the doctors' "cure" plan, like his just happening to find the role-playing nurse posing as Rachel in an almost inaccessible cave, and many other "events." I enjoyed it up to the "twist" and really wish it had been a straight-on mystery-thriller about a pair of detectives searching for an escaped patient from a dangerous loony bin. I don't know how that would have turned out but I think it would have been a more satisfying movie than this quite unbelievable one.

[–] redban (6776) 4 years ago

I don’t believe he found Rachel in that inaccessible cave. I believe he hallucinated. The doctors knew he would hallucinate her in that way because his hallucinations go in a loop, repeating over and over and over again.

It was a good movie.

[–] Thaisticks (3284) 4 years ago

"I don't believe," "I believe." I hate movies that make you try and figure out what happened and what was a dream. No guts.

[–] redban (6776) 4 years ago

Ambiguity is a quality found in many works of art, not just film. (eg - Henry James “The Turn of the Screw”). It’s meant to make the reader think / engage with the work instead of passively taking in details.

The evidence points to the fact that he hallucinated her. It was in an inaccessible cave. No proof that she existed. No else saw her except Andrew / Teddy. The odds are slim that a nurse can become a survivorman, braving all those elements and successfully hiding from trained law enforcement personnel on a tiny island. She also promoted the outrageous cigarette theory.

[–] Lord Rake (4535) 4 years ago

Turn of the Screw did it a lot better, in the end I don't think it is declared either way. But in Shutter they tell the audience that he is a mental patient. The Shining "film" is another good example of leaving things ambiguous without explaining everything. The twist in this film was more like Sixth Sense or Fight Club.

I agree with thaisticks, a good twist in this film would have been that the doctors are crazy or there was a partial conspiracy. Maybe muddy up the lines of reality, but instead everything is written off as "well he is crazy so everything shown to you is his hallucination."

[–] christomacin (4730) 3 years ago

an ever better twist would have been to have Teddy actually be a projection the German officer who killed himself, a persona he created in the afterlife to deny his guilt in the liberated camp, and the Kingsley character is actually God and the Army guy is Satan fighting to claim his soul.

[–] Zinger (2440) 4 years ago

He was actually a cop being drugged. Watch it again.

[–] whackandblight (7) 4 years ago

This is what I'm talking about! (this is/was "Thaisticks" but I cleared my browsing history and could not regain my old name). I googled "Shutter Island explained," and there are so many theories out there it's ridiculous--I realize in other art forms there are disputes as to meaning, but rarely disputes as to what is on the face of things actually presented to the reader/viewer.

[–] asd6644 (0) 4 years ago

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