Spoiler Review of Shutter Island...

Shutter island is an famous thriller film that includes a lot of mystery, tension and suspense. Throughout the opening scenes tension and mystery is created when the marshals Teddy and Chuck, arrive on scene, on the island.

At the start of the film a giant mysterious boat emerges out of the fog and heads straight forward, heading towards island, this is where the main characters Teddy and Chuck are revealed. During the first scene we see Teddy on the boat is portrayed to be ill in some way, this is shown as he holds his head frequently throughout this scene and when arriving in the office he asks for aspirin. The story begins to unfold when the two marshals arrive at the mental institution, and are told why they are there. One of the patients there called Rachel mysteriously disappeared from her room, yet the door was still locked from the outside and metal bars were placed across the window.

The marshals were at the island to find out what had happened to Rachel and how she had escaped. She needed to be found as the reason for her being in the institute in the first place was because she drowned children and set them up around a table like they were still alive. After finding out this the detectives then get straight to work, asking questions and investigating the case. Next the two marshals are seen looking around Rachel's room, when Teddy stumbles across a piece of paper with 'who is 67' written on it, after finding this it makes Teddy think deeply about this...could it be a clue? Whilst the marshals are investigating the case a few different events happen which make the viewers wonder making them part of the story, firstly you begin to wonder why the marshals are denied any access to any records, why the nurse of the missing patient is no longer at the institute and has oh so conveniently gone on holiday at this specific time and lastly why does Teddy receives a note from a patient during an interview them.

We then see the note with the word RUN written on it this adds to the mystery throughout this film and makes you think of the enigma codes attached to this section of the film. Is the patient mental? How is Teddy going to react to this message? What is the patient trying to tell Teddy? And most importantly why is he being told this, why did he receive the message? Teddy begins to get suspicious, he confronts his partner and the head of the facility of the institute but both tell him he is being stupid. Teddy's his illness increases, he begins to get dreadful migraines and starts to have flashbacks. during this point in the film it is not clear why Teddy is having the flashbacks as, all that is made clear to us is that Teddy has lost his wife in a house fire recently. The main flashback Teddy has is a of him and his wife, this doesn't make sense to the audience as they don't understand the flashbacks at this stage of the film but all will be revealed but the end of the film. Teddy suspects that experiments are being carried out on the patients, non the island preventing anyone to exit or come into the island, Teddy uses this to his advantage and starts to look a little deeper into his suspected experiments. The storm disturbs the electricity boards within the institute which allows Teddy and his partner Chuck to enter they forbidden area of the institute...block C, this section of the institute was off limits as it held patients that were damaged and dangerous. Teddy looks around the ward trying hard to find clues to what is happening within the institute. After looking around Block C Teddy comes across a dim light in a cave outside of the institute, he followed it leading him onto a dangerous cliff edge where he then goes to investigate. Teddy arrives in this fire lit cave, he discovers that it is home to a dirty old woman who claims to be the missing patient, Rachel. 

This is when the mystery in the story starts to expand as we see Rachel tell Teddy that she isn't a patient but a doctor, she also clears up Teddy's suspicions about the experiments as she claims that this is the reason she is now stuck in a cave. Rachel explains that if Teddy keeps taking the medication and cigarettes from different people within the institution he will end up staying there as a patient as the people there are drugging him to make sure he doesn't leave. Teddy then returns to the main land flustered and confused, unsure of what to think, but as the migraines and flashbacks got worse and more frequent he decides to take Rachel's advice and stop taking things from other people as this could be what is contaminating him, the reason for his migraines etc. Things only get worse for Teddy from here, nobody believes a word he says, this starts to make him doubt, this is when Teddy tries to run and get away but people start telling him he came alone and he has no partner this causes Teddy loose his mind he doesn't understand what's wrong why he's being told this. Teddy runs away he gets to an old light house where he suspects the institute is carrying out their experiments, he believes that he hasn't gone crazy and will find his partner up her...however he doesn't have a clue of what's going to happen next. This next scene is where the truth comes out, where the drama happens. although it's still confusing the story line for this part is very well thought out, you apply what you find out here to the rest of the film. 

As Teddy goes in to the top room of the lighthouse, the doctor is sitting at a desk, waiting for him. The doctor is calm yet patronising, Teddy is shaking, confused and unsure of what's going on. The doctor tells Teddy that everything he believes isn't reality, he tells him that he is the 67th patient in the institute, his name is really Andrew and he has been there for 2 years. Throughout the film we have known him as a marshal called Teddy but the doctor then goes on to explain that the job of being a Marshal was all just a fantasy, we find out that Andrew has committed a crime so terrible that he can't forgive himself and the truth hurts that much that he has created a new reality, in his mind a better version of himself. Teddy (Andrew) then starts to question the doctor on where his partner is as he can't believe what he has been told, the doctor then reveals Chuck in perfect health and unharmed. He then questions the doctor and starts panicking when Chuck backs him up, is he really mental? Is he patient number 67? Teddy loses his mind he picks up a gun, but doesn't quite know what to do. The worry and hurt in Teddy's eyes is so emotional, it brings the audience to empathise with the character and the audience can feel how upset and confused he is, Teddy then aims and fires at the doctor, however when he looks back he is still alive, this makes us believe that the doctor is right. Teddy then realises this why didn't the shot hurt him, he then takes a look at his gun, he snaps it in half to reveal that it is a toy. The doctor approaches Teddy showing him pictures of his children, he takes the pictures looking at them like he is remembering maybe starting to admit the fact he is mental, he then has another hallucination of his wife and daughter. The last scene then goes back to Teddy sitting outside the institute with Chuck, as if they are marshals again. However Chuck nods to the doctor showing that in fact Teddy (Andrew) is one of the patients at the institution. So to conclude I believe that this film was very successful as a thriller as it interacts with the audience ahs many enigma codes attached to it and keeps the mystery and suspense sharp throughout the film. I thought that the story line was well thought out and I have never seen a film quite like it I think that the twist at the end is very unexpected and creates a strong bond between the characters and the audience. 

Trailer....

I think that this film deserves a 5 star rating as it meets all of the criteria of a thriller film and leaves you with the main enigma code of the story 'is it better to live as a monster or die a good man'