SHUTTER ISLAND

When I saw MYSTIC RIVER, another movie based on a Dennis Lehane novel, I couldn't understand the central conflict of the plot: we're supposed to be guessing whether Tim Robbins' character killed that girl or not? At the time, I honestly thought "What, these two detectives [Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne] have never seen NYPD BLUE or LAW AND ORDER?" I could tell right off he didn't fit the profile, didn't have a motive, and what's more, why are they worried about his injured hand when the victim was shot from a distance, and didn't show any signs of contact with the killer? The movie didn't work for me.

Neither did SHUTTER ISLAND, well-made as it is. I don't even want to hint at the plot twist at the end, but I'll say this: most movie-going audiences, especially the younger crowd, will see this coming an hour away. For anyone who's seen MEMENTO, FIGHT CLUB, ANGEL HEART, DARK CITY, VANILLA SKY, IDENTITY, JACOB'S LADDER, THE MATRIX (kinda), or any other dozen less-successful takes on the whole you-can't-trust-your-narrator gambit, SHUTTER ISLAND will seem liked warmed leftovers. Which is unfortunate, since everything else about the movie is first-rate: performances, photography, set design, music--it all worked, but the story is a dud. I take no pleasure in saying that about a Martin Scorsese movie, and though I wasn't blown away by the direction, it doesn't stand out with his usual style, only passing hints.

Let me make two recommendations here. First, the kind of spooky atmosphere they achieved here brought to mind an overlooked movie from 1999, overshadowed by THE SIXTH SENSE that year. STIR OF ECHOES was a restrained supernatural thriller, with that same sense of mounting dread.

As for truly original mind-fuck movies, check out Marc Forster's STAY from 2005. That's as good a twist ending, to a disturbingly surreal movie, as any of the others I've already mentioned. If you haven't seen it, seek it out--and pay attention to the details.