'Cine'cism

“Shutter Island” has backed me into a corner. 

Martin Scorsese’s new film is a brilliant combination of the film noir, psychological mystery and horror thriller genres, and yet it is most certainly not a masterpiece. To notice such flaws is proof that the film is primed to be one of the most talked about and polarizing movies of 2010.

However, to discuss it in any context is to discuss the ending, and to do so would eliminate much of the film’s mystique. 

Here I am, having seen the first film in four years from the greatest living American director, and I can’t write a word about it without ruining that which makes it interesting or, for that matter, worth seeing in the month before anything of quality actually comes out of mainstream Hollywood. 

It begs several questions about the state of film writing and the nature of spoilers. Our generation is the most receptive to spoiler alerts, knowing just how to detect them (as if SPOILER ALERT wasn’t obvious enough), just how much they entail and just how important they are. A text of any sort doesn’t warrant a spoiler alert unless there’s something worth spoiling, so if you are one of the few people yet to see “Avatar,” it won’t be a surprise to know the bad guy dies.

But as receptive as our generation is, we are also the most sensitive. Few other demographics are as eager for information without having it all. Withhold content and I’m losing readers; reveal the big twist and I’ll end up with a mess of disgruntled e-mails.

Ever since the growth of the Internet’s public, individualized sphere, college students more than anyone are of the mind-set that the opinion that matters most is their own. In terms of any film, even an obviously bad one, no one can tell someone how you feel until you’ve seen, or suffered through it, yourself.

So what am I to do? It was not just the conclusion but the entire third act of “Shutter Island” that forced me to drop half a star from its grade. The ending played to me as a disappointing anti-climax that simply reiterated past plot points and emotions, doing so in a linear, banal format. Should I just ignore it and wait until next Oscar season to debate its merits?

In actuality, I might not have to wait that long. “Shutter Island” is performing immensely well at the box office, taking in $14 million on its opening night alone ($41 million for the weekend) and selling out showings in Bloomington. And before long, millions will have their rabid, extensive, elaborate and over-analyzed views about the film littered on IMDb. From there, “Shutter Island” will probably attain an instant cult status, rendering it impervious to any actual criticism. 

Sorry to spoil the outcome.