An *INSANE* Twist | Shutter Island Movie Reaction

My first time watching Shutter Island (2010)
Early Access, Polls & full length reactions on Patreon: / casualnerdreactions
A psychological thriller that made me question what was real at nearly every turn and an ending that has me immediately excited to go through the film again. The imagery, and the performance were fantastic in Shutter Island! I hope you enjoyed my Shutter Island movie reaction & commentary
Hi, I'm Chris! Welcome to my channel. I react to movies & tv shows hoping to represent what it's really like to experience them for the first time. If you enjoy, you can support me by liking the video, subscribing to the channel, and letting me know your thoughts in the comments.
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Original Movie: Shutter Island (2010)

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Thanks for watching! What do YOU think of Shutter Island? I also just added a brand new $5 tier on Patreon just for movies. Take it for a spin with a free trial today. 🙌 patreon.com/casualnerdreactions

[@shirleyduffer2081]

I saw this in the theatre and remember hearing the gasps at the twist at the end….I hope you were able to back to sleep after this…

[@AudsVids]

This is based on a Dennis Lehane novel. He also wrote Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River. I love his novels. Leo did an amazing job with this film.

[@ScientificallyStupid]

I actually had the fortune to read the book before the film came out and it was incredible. I think it'd still be a great read even after having seen the movie- Dennis Lehane rarely misses.

[@AudsVids]

@@ScientificallyStupid I had read the book first also so was looking out for signs. They did a great job with it. I love the other Kenzie & Gennaro novels too.

[@Lionimia]

Yup, you hit the nail on the head, he chose to became a "ghost" rather than live with the pain of his memories. Some people have doubts and believe that they are actually trying to make him crazy, but if you re-watch the film and pay super close attention, there's lots of little signs, like from the beginning when his "partner" / primary doctor is told to turn over his weapon. He's unable to hand it over properly and instead hands over the entire holster because he's not actually a US marshal, he's just a doctor. There's also a ton of symbolism with "water", which manifests itself as Teddy's fears after he found his children dead in the lake. The scene where he's talking to patients, one of them asks for a drink of water. When she goes to drink it, there actually isn't even a cup in her hands. Teddy blocks it out, because water represents the truth, which he continually blocks out, whereas Fire represents the fantasy he keeps creating for himself - starting from the apartment fire that kills his wife, which never happened. When he's in Ward C with the match lit up, and the entire conversation feeds into his false reality, or when he finds the "real" Rachel in a cave, the fire is present to tell you none of that is real. Lots of people miss those details because they're so subtle, but it definitely adds to the enjoyment on rewatches!

[@dlweiss]

This movie's such a wild ride, and they do such a great job of keeping you guessing about the truth until the very end. Great reaction and discussion! :)

[@bradbarter8314]

Fun fact the actor who played the Warden who only had two scenes (staring him down as you stated as well as both him and Leo in the Jeep together) had played one of the most psychotic killers in film history. That being of the long haired human skin dress making failed sex transition kidnapper Buffalo Bill from the classic movie Horror/Suspense/Thriller Silence of the Lambs (Ted Levine). 😮

[@HuntingViolets]

He was also the lead cop on _Monk._

[@dawnburris6412]

I could never watch Monk because of that! 🤣 I just kept seeing him as Buffalo Bill! I know I should get over it, but it’s that voice!

[@ericjanssen394]

When the one character says “That’s the Kafka-esque genius of it”, that’s Scorsese’s little nudge in the ribs that this is supposed to be a modern spin on Franz Kafka, whose heroes always ended up on weird allegorical wild-goose conspiracy chases, and ended up as just one more nameless victim of them. Scorsese did a much FUNNIER spin on Kafka in 1985’s “After Hours”, about s late NYC date that goes…wrong. 😅

[@lynnie6633]

Loved After Hours!!

[@zegh8578]

This is one of *the* watch-twice movies, where the second watch becomes kind of a different movie - equally interesting!

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Absolutely! It was so much fun editing, specifically watching Mark Ruffalo’s performance. I tried to keep a lot of those moments in the edit.

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

This is scary-they sent thirty odd ordinary people onto psychiatric wards across America, and were shocked to learn that every single person failed to gtfo of the psyc ward, until they had agreed to medication and that they had whatever problem had been assigned to them by the doctors.

[@ENDTIMEsVideoLibrary]

It's been many years since I saw this, but it was a good movie with a sort of heartbreaking twist that he was actually insane..

[@symmetricat188]

Great review, thank you! This movie is a very rare gem as it manages to hit the perfect spot between mystery & predictability. After a certain mark, you already understand what's happening, but a part of you is still in denial, thus you become a reflection of the main character. A very inspired approach at storytelling & a highly respectful nod to 60's & 70's science fiction. Reminds me of books like Solaris & others by Stanislav Lem, Roadside Picnic & so many more by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Philip K. Dick's work & Ray Bradbury. Stories that force the reader to become part of the story. Brilliant concept, strong dialogue, solid filmography & editing, very sensible cast & one of DiCaprio's most gripping performances.

[@AprilGabrielle]

I love how this is a completely different movie the second time you watch it.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

It really is. Truly made going through the film again to edit this reaction a joy.

[@subversivelysurreal3645]

Martín Scorsese famously directed, ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Raging Bulll’ and many more.

[@donna25871]

Silence and The Last Temptation of Christ.

[@Chilipotamus]

You got the right idea. He didn't regress, he just made the choice to permanently forget via lobotomy because the pain of reality was too much for him to deal with. Love love love this movie and in retrospect, it's a better movie than Inception, which it's often compared to due to proximity of release date.

[@ScientificallyStupid]

I agree, Inception's visual effects were mind-blowing, but I could watch this film over and over- knowing the twist at the end, it's a lot of fun to take notice of the details throughout that show how everyone was in on it. I do think Leo was "cured" at the end, but didn't want to live with the knowledge of what he'd done, or the other traumas he'd experienced over the years.

[@DougRayPhillips]

Some people say they saw that twist coming, well in advance. Not I.

[@MeanyINC]

This is such an amazing film because it’s one of those that’s a completely different watch the second time.. Once you know the twist the performances work both ways.. Truly masterful cinema.. I would LOVE a video reaction second watch.. So amazing.. Also I must say there are many little things you missed with the “unreliable narrator” trope.. Little subtle things.. Watch the patient’s water glass when she told him to run.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

That would be fun, of course since my second watch was when I made the edit not a possibility lol. But oh man I arching Ruffalo was so much fun.

[@JeanIsaac-jk5fp]

I've seen this before but I think another hint that he actually didn't regress is when Dr. Sheehan called out to him while he was walking towards the orderlies at the end, saying Teddy??, Andrew didn't answer him. Possibly trying to let the doctors know that their experiment worked and maybe appreciation for trying to help him. (Not appreciation that now he knows the truth that he feels he can't live with. )

[@kamkelevra]

I'm back to say you picked a very good movie to watch, anything with twists and turns grabs my attention

[@mledda621]

This is an incredible movie. I have seen this previously and thought the experiment didn't work, but after listening to your ideas about the ending I feel like I might have been wrong. Great late night reaction. I hope you were able to go back to sleep.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I definitely went back to sleep 😅

[@bonecold4387]

Shutter Island, Inception and Vanilla Sky are my favorite brain teasers. Vanilla Sky is not as highly rated but I'm still not 100 percent sure of what the overall outcome of the ending was. Prisoners is also up there, not quite the same twists and brain teasing but a top 3 film on my list

[@Javachacin]

Biggest twist - you’ve never seen a Martin Scorsese movie??? Can’t wait for you to dig into THAT filmography! 😀

[@danholmesfilm]

srsly

[@KingOfMakingItWorse]

I was trying to rewrite this as Stutter Island. There wasn’t going to be many changes, but I had to shelve the idea. It was just taking way too long to get through.

[@ENDTIMEsVideoLibrary]

I will suggest to you a movie once again that I suggested before.. The movie is "Road To Perdition" with Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law.. It's a movie about an Irish mobster set in the 1930s, and what happens to his family after somebody sees a little too much. It's an excellent classic adventure - thriller and I think you will want to thank me after watching it.. It's that good! I'm recommending it so strongly because I really like your First Time Reactions and I think everyone will get a kick out of watching your responses.. You did such a great job on another of my favorites.. The Talented Mr. Ripley.. Thanks, friend..

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I’m not totally sure I’ll enjoy it- BUT I will put it on my calendar for early next year so I have can give it a go and see.

[@p0ppyfarr95]

Thank you for reacting to one of my all-time personal favourite psychological horror drama films which is a rarity of Martin Scorsese to direct given his high profile for Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino and recently Killers of the Flower Moon. It took me 3 times to watch the film to see the signs that Teddy Daniels/Andrew Laeddis (cool fictional character names) is not who we thought he is. At the end of the film, his last words “What could be much worse in this place: live as a monster or die as a good man” is an indicator that Laeddis opted out for the “lighthouse icepick” due to the fact he got to the point of no longer handling the trauma of killing his wife for killing his kids and not wanting to regress restarting the entire cutting-edge roleplay all over again. As much as I know that it was all a roleplay: I loved the scene of Dr Rachel Solando in the cave, got a feeling it’s real (yet Dr Cawley brushed it off as fake hallucinations in Laeddis’ mind) as I could see this play a role in the plot of a continuation miniseries that I call “Escape From Shutter Island”. No matter if he was thinking of something in the past that’s true or not - the US army liberation of Dachau (among the early Nazi campsites to appear in the Holocaust) resulted in the soldiers and surviving Holocaust prisoners participated in a revenge killing (execution squad-esque) on the camp guards except those who faced the music in the criminal courts. It did happen in our world. An investigation conducted by US army Lieutenant-colonel Joseph Whittaker was suppressed by US army general George Patton and a Bavaria governor to cover up what Laeddis described as “not warfare but murder [on both sides]”. I do believe Laeddis’ involvement in the Dachau liberation and revenge killings was true.

[@goldenlady3495]

"Well, ya gotta eat, I guess"🤣

[@christinemclaurin2631]

Loved the reaction and your 2:30am voice ❤😊

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Glad to hear, thanks!

[@youngwes79]

Perfect movie to watch at 2:30am.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Agreed!

[@zaynsaftab]

this movie particularly is GREAT for a rewatch :) love your channel btw!!

[@r.j.powers381]

It must be my age and the amount of books I've read and films I've seen but the moment I saw DeCaprio's tin badge I knew this story. So I settled back not looking for any surprises but knowing I was in the very capable hands of an amazing director Martin Scorsese. It isn't hubris, just that the story structure isn't new. But the style is captivating and Leo gives Imho the performance of his career. I was stunned he did not receive the Academy Award for this. Listen to Scorsese talk about his own influences in making this film. He remains a fascinating and compelling director.

[@gamleskalle1]

The Exorcist, the Hulk, The Great Gatsby and Gandhi in the same movie! Yes, please! 😊

[@aylagregg1962]

What a movie, disturbing, relatable, empathetic and superbly acted ❤

[@Hey_Jamie]

I am so happy to see this!

[@dawnburris6412]

Definitely messes with your mind!! Great reaction!! ❤

[@jesterforhire]

Spectacular late night choice! Love so many of your reactions these days….I just need to catch up on some I haven’t watched myself yet. This flick and Scorsese is incredible and you NEED to see more. He’s always a hit. Love to you from Seattle, WA!

[@fjgiie]

YES -good job

[@GuarmaRummy]

If you like this movie, i literally recommend all Scorsese movies. This movie is amazing and it's not even in his top 10. He's THAT good.

[@momof3plusdsg]

I didn't catch anything the first time. I just tend to immerse myself in the story and not engage my critical thinking - I hate spoiling things for myself. So the: "why are you wet, baby?" line, sent chills down my spine!

[@gacchan]

Great reaction, Chris. I'm sure you've seen Inception with Leo as well, but if not, that should be added to the list. This movie is so much fun. Watching you watch movies with twists is great :D

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Oh yea, Nolan movies are all films I’ve seen many times over.

[@geraldherrmann787]

To line up Shutter Island, watch IDENTITY from 2003.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I think I watched Identity first actually and the suggestions there are what led me to shutter island. 😅 Here's a link to that reaction :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/np2uf5J9o8eLorM

[@lukebarton5075]

Scorsese is a brilliant director. You should watch more of his films.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I really should, down the line I definitely will.

[@warner13faulk28]

Scorsese is a genius. You have a lot to choose from.

[@HuntingViolets]

Wow, it's 2:47 when I am starting to watch this.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Timing is key. 👏

[@jeffs.s.]

Interesting how less than 30 minutes into the movie you say: no one seems to be taking this investigation seriously! 😅

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I had no idea HOW true.

[@josiea.3855]

If you liked this and Identity, you should watch A Cure For Wellness!! It's a little more far-fetched than these, but I REALLY liked it as someone who liked both of these movies too!!

[@OgSleep]

Great reaction

[@desmondpowell3205]

Directed by MARTIN SCORSESE!!!!!!!

[@KonicKicks]

You’ve never seen a Scorsese movie?! Omg! Ok… you need to jump into the Scorsese filmography! If you liked this… oh man… you’re gonna see some of the best films ever made! Mean Streets, Good Fellas, Casino, The Departed, I mean on and on! Please get into this & post your reactions!

[@aeon4901]

You definitely need to do more Scorsese movies!

[@CasualNerdReactions]

One day it’ll happen!

[@Cifer77]

I think you're guess is how it really happened. However.... I like to think he really was still a Marshall right as the movie started, that he was brainwashed and manipulated by the staff (including his new partner), into thinking he was a patient. Which turns the ending into.... he realized he couldn't win, he had been beat. He fully embraced their lies, was hallucinating, but still saw a glimpse of truth, and decided to end himself instead of living on as a patient and resisting. Essentially giving up.

[@cowsmooloud]

Great reaction. MIssed nothing.

[@botz77]

Tried twice. Never finished it. But I did know the ending already, so that may have ruined it for me. I was seriously bored by it.

[@dlweiss]

Yeah, I bet knowing the ending takes away all the uncertainty, suspense, and mystery, and that's like the number 1 thing this story uses to create tension and keep you connected to the characters. Bummer you had the ending spoiled!

[@AprilGabrielle]

That sucks you had the ending spoiled.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

Oh yea wow, a huge part of the intrigue is the questioning and then rewatching to see what you missed. Knowing in advance kind of sucks the air out of the room.

[@symmetricat188]

It's not about the ending, it's about the journey. Knowing what's gonna happen makes it even more excrutiating. The story told is not about the final twist. It's about watching yourself wince in denial, just like the main character does.

[@dlweiss]

@@symmetricat188 While I agree that the "journey" is also important, this genre of storytelling (mystery/suspense) does also gain a significant amount of power from the unknowns and questions. So I can sympathize with a spoiler letting some of the energy out of viewing.

[@retrotero76]

Never seen a Scorsese movie before this? What the...!?! Good news is that you started with one of his weakest efforts.

[@CasualNerdReactions]

I’ll have to do more of his films next year for sure! Maybe I should keep it going, start with the weakest and work my way up 😅

[@Zorros2ndCousinTwiceRemoved]

I would reserve that assessment for The Departed. An unpopular opinion, I know, but it baffles me to this day how he got an Oscar for that trainwreck.