History YMMV / ShutterIsland

* CaptainObviousReveal: [[spoiler:The protagonist who argues with the leader of an insane asylum about a big conspiracy theory is actually one of the patients. Even the fact that his delusions were caused by kids drowning has been used in at least two video games. And in one of those games, the character is question is a detective in a story involving lots of rain. It doesn't help that the protagonist of this movie is terrified of water and the doctor describes the events of the ending twist almost beat for beat under false pretenses near the beginning of the movie.]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Even among those who didn't like the film, almost everybody has agreed that the soundtrack is very good. Of particular note is Max Richter's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVN1B-tUpgs "On the Nature of Daylight"]], a beautiful piece which plays during Teddy's first dream about his wife and his encounter with George Noyce, as well as Creator/GustavMahler's piano quartet during the WWII flashbacks and in the doctor's lounge. The film also uses music by Ligeti and Penderecki, which gained fame earlier in the soundtracks of films such as ''Film/TheExorcist'' and ''Film/TheShining''.

* CaptainObviousReveal: The protagonist who argues with the leader of an insane asylum about a big conspiracy theory is actually one of the patients. Even the fact that his delusions were caused by kids drowning has been used in at least two video games. And in one of those games, the character is question is [[spoiler:a detective in a story involving lots of rain.]] It doesn't help that the protagonist of this movie is terrified of water and the doctor describes the events of the ending twist almost beat for beat under false pretenses near the beginning of the movie.

* CaptainObviousReveal: The protagonist who argues with the leader of an insane asylum about a big conspiracy theory is actually one of the patients. Even the fact that his delusions were caused by kids drowning has been used in at least two video games. And in one of those games, the character is question is [[spoiler: a detective in a story involving lots of rain.]] It doesn't help that the protagonist of this movie is terrified of water and the doctor describes the events of the ending twist almost beat for beat under false pretenses near the beginning of the movie.

** Mark Ruffalo as [[spoiler: the psychiatrist to a criminal with rage issues]] becomes positively hilarious once it's revealed - since Ruffalo is now known as The Incredible Hulk in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse.
** The subject of the plot is a young woman in a mental hospital who suffered SanitySlippage due to the death of a loved one and imagined an elaborate fantasy world for herself - and she's also played by a FakeAmerican actress with Emily as a first name. Are we talking about ''Shutter Island'' or ''Film/SuckerPunch''? [[spoiler: Both movies end with a character getting a lobotomy]].
** Twice more Leonardo Di Caprio would be haunted by visions of his dead wife - in ''{{Film/Inception}}'' and ''Film/TheRevenant''. The former (which came out the same year!) [[spoiler: has him responsible for the death after his wife went mad too]].

* MemeticMutation: Teddy's BigNO after [[spoiler: discovering his dead children]] became used in memes after a while.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebeiX7HIsw8 opening theme]] can be a little over the top, especially when all that's happening is a boat approaching an island. Oh no... waves! DUN DUN DUN!!!! And then it arguably turns into full-blown NightmareFuel when [[spoiler: it plays over the shot of the lighthouse at the very end of the film]].

** Dolores's name is never spoken on screen until the scene where it's revealed to be significant - [[spoiler: an anagram of Rachel Solando]] - making it feel less like the WhamLine it's meant as.
** Teddy[[spoiler: /Andrew Laeddis]] suddenly fainting in the lighthouse after being overwhelmed with realizations should be serious and solemn, but the sloppy way he faints to the floor and Dr Cawley and Chuck's scrambling to pick him up is perhaps a bit too comical compared to the otherwise tense and deep emotional weight of the scene to take seriously. The fast camera zoom out doesn't exactly help it either!

** In the one scene in which he has any dialogue, Creator/TedLevine delivers a gripping CharacterFilibuster on how violence is a gift from God [[spoiler: (which arguably doubles as some variant of TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Teddy/Andrew about what the warden sees as the inevitability of his lobotomization).]].
** Patricia Clarkson as the [[spoiler: imagined]] Rachel, who Teddy finds camped on the island. She doesn't appear past this scene, but provides plenty of Nightmare and Paranoia Fuel (see below).
* ParanoiaFuel:
** [[spoiler:The imagined]] Rachel says that in fifty years, the Ghost project will be operational. The book takes place in 1954. It was published in 2003. [[spoiler: Subverted. There is no Ghost project.]] That we know of anyway.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The novel has been unceasantly compared to Torcuato Luca de Tena's ''Los renglones torcidos de Dios'', a 1979 Spanish novel with a very similar plot (metalheads might have heard about it because it inspired an eponymous song by Music/MagoDeOz in what is considered their best album ever in 2000). Amusingly, when this novel received its own adaptation in 2022, its director Oriol Paulo revealed he was influenced in turn by the ''Shutter Island'' film.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Most people that go into the movie don't exactly realize it was based on a novel.

** [[spoiler:The imagined]] Rachel says that in fifty years the Ghost project will be operational. The book takes place in 1954. It was published in 2003. [[spoiler: Subverted. There is no Ghost project.]] That we know of anyway.
** The reveal is sure to make you think "What if I'm [[spoiler:actually crazy, and my life is a just an insane asylum's role-play game to bring me back to sanity?]]" and that you too could be a [[spoiler: dangerous killer]] and not have the slightest clue about it.
* RewatchBonus:
** Chuck fumbling with his gun a few times acts as {{Foreshadowing}} [[spoiler: for the fact that he's only pretending to be a detective]].
** Likewise, the mannerisms of the first few patients Teddy sees don't seem so crazy once you know that [[spoiler: they've seen him before as a fellow-patient.]]
** When Mrs. Kearns mentions that she finds Dr. Sheehan handsome, Chuck can be seen grinning. [[spoiler: It makes sense, since he's Dr. Sheehan]].
** The real Rachel is barefoot when Teddy runs into her in the cave. But she's inexplicably wearing shoes the next morning. [[spoiler: As 'Rachel' escaped without any shoes, this foreshadows that Teddy hallucinates this entire meeting]].
** Another Mrs. Kearns one. When Chuck gives her a glass of water, you see her making movements of drinking but there's no glass in her hand. And in the next shot there's a glass on the table. [[spoiler: Another bit of Foreshadowing that Teddy is hallucinating]].

** The reveal is sure to make you think "What if I'm [[spoiler:actually crazy, and my life is a just an insane asylum's role-play game to bring me back to sanity?]]"

** George Noyce, a once promising graduate student who became psychotically violent and is destined to spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital (and probably get lobotomized). During his lucid moments, George tries to help Teddy accept reality and avoid the same fate, and is almost beaten to death for it (which doesn't stop him from continuing to try to help Teddy).
** Teddy probably qualifies as well, especially during his breakdown when the truth about "Laeddis" is revealed, and in the final scene where he hints that he's basically faking insanity to allow himself to be lobotomized. While he had his character flaws (he drank to avoid having to deal with his wife's mental illness and his traumatic experiences of WWII), everything in the film indicates that he was otherwise a basically decent man whose life and sanity were destroyed by a personal tragedy.

* TheWoobie: George Noyce, a once promising graduate student who became psychotically violent and is destined to spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital (and probably get lobotomized). During his lucid moments, George tries to help Teddy accept reality and avoid the same fate, and is almost beaten to death for it (which doesn't stop him from continuing to try to help Teddy).

** [[spoiler:The imagined]] Rachel says that in fifty years the Ghost project will be operational. The book takes place in 1954. It was published in 2003. [[spoiler: Subverted. There is no Ghost project.]] That We know of anyway

** [[Film/Titanic1997 Once]] [[Film/TheGreatGatsby again]], Leonardo's character doesn't do well around water. Bonus points for all three movies being set in the past.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Even among those who didn't like the film, almost everybody has agreed that the soundtrack is very good. Of particular note is Max Richter's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVN1B-tUpgs "On the Nature of Daylight"]], a beautiful piece which plays during Teddy's first dream about his wife and his encounter with George Noyce. The film also uses music by Ligeti and Penderecki, which gained fame earlier in the soundtracks of films such as ''Film/TheExorcist'' and ''Film/TheShining''.

** In the one scene in which he has any dialogue, Ted Levine delivers a gripping CharacterFilibuster on how violence is a gift from God [[spoiler: (which arguably doubles as some variant of TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Teddy/Andrew about what the warden sees as the inevitability of his lobotomization).]].

** Teddy[[spoiler: /Andrew Laeddis]] suddenly fainting in the lighthouse after being overwhelmed with realizations should be serious and solemn, but the sloppy way he faints to the floor and Dr Cawley and Chuck's scrambling to pick him up is perhaps a bit too comical compared to the otherwise tense and deep emotional weight of the selcene to take seriously. The fast camera zoom out doesn't exactly help it either!