Comments on: REVIEW: Shutter Island http://chamberfour.com/2009/11/13/review-shutter-island/ for readers of books and ebooks Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:49:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Mike Beeman http://chamberfour.com/2009/11/13/review-shutter-island/comment-page-1/#comment-2514 Mike Beeman Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:35:40 +0000 http://chamberfour.com/?p=5108#comment-2514 I saw the movie last weekend. As soon as I sat down I started looking forward to leaning over and braying "The book was sooooo much better!" when the first credits rolled. But I couldn't. I really liked the film. I think it was the way the backstory was handled that won me over. At times in the book Teddy's history, and its inclusion, was melodramatic, clunky, and overly-sentimental -in the movie the backstory was incorporated into the present through Teddy's hallucinations until the divisions between the two blurred. The twist was still super-predictable, sure, but I didn't feel like Scorsese had to choose between satisfying two different stories because he managed to satisfy both. "The book was good, too, but in a different way," doesn't really have the same ring to it, though... I saw the movie last weekend. As soon as I sat down I started looking forward to leaning over and braying “The book was sooooo much better!” when the first credits rolled. But I couldn’t. I really liked the film. I think it was the way the backstory was handled that won me over. At times in the book Teddy’s history, and its inclusion, was melodramatic, clunky, and overly-sentimental -in the movie the backstory was incorporated into the present through Teddy’s hallucinations until the divisions between the two blurred. The twist was still super-predictable, sure, but I didn’t feel like Scorsese had to choose between satisfying two different stories because he managed to satisfy both. “The book was good, too, but in a different way,” doesn’t really have the same ring to it, though…

]]> By: Ethan http://chamberfour.com/2009/11/13/review-shutter-island/comment-page-1/#comment-2434 Ethan Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:49:21 +0000 http://chamberfour.com/?p=5108#comment-2434 I agree completely. Unfortunately, the way the trailer was put together my first thought was "I bet the twist is he's actually a patient." And I thought that because of Cuckoo's Nest. The rest of what I've been feeling you managed to write down, too. The book was written in a way that I don't mind that Teddy's experiences were all made up, and he did a great job of melding the real and delusional versions of the stories together. Unfortunately, I for whatever reason feel like I was robbed of a proper twist. Fight Club and 6th Sense and Cuckoo's Nest (although slightly differently) all did this already. I agree completely. Unfortunately, the way the trailer was put together my first thought was “I bet the twist is he’s actually a patient.” And I thought that because of Cuckoo’s Nest.

The rest of what I’ve been feeling you managed to write down, too. The book was written in a way that I don’t mind that Teddy’s experiences were all made up, and he did a great job of melding the real and delusional versions of the stories together. Unfortunately, I for whatever reason feel like I was robbed of a proper twist. Fight Club and 6th Sense and Cuckoo’s Nest (although slightly differently) all did this already.

]]>