Shutter Island: Great Movie, Meh Ending—Here’s How I’d Fix It

Okay, first off, let me just say Shutter Island is an absolute banger of a movie. Like, Leo? Killing it. The vibes? Creepy AF. The plot? Twisty enough to make you feel like you're on a roller coaster without a seatbelt. But that ending, man... I just can’t get behind it. Don’t get me wrong—it’s clever and all, but it kinda leaves you with this huh? feeling instead of the whoa! we all deserve. Let me explain.

So, if you’ve seen it (and if you haven’t, major spoilers ahead—don’t @ me), the big reveal is that Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) isn’t a detective investigating some spooky asylum mystery. Nope. Turns out, he’s actually a patient on the island, and all this detective stuff is just an elaborate role-play therapy to help him accept that he killed his wife after she drowned their kids. Pretty heavy, right? But here’s the thing: after two hours of mind-bending clues and breadcrumbs, the movie just drops us into this ambiguous ending where we’re left wondering if Teddy accepts reality or if he chooses to be lobotomized because he can’t live with the truth.

It’s deep, sure, but honestly? A bit of a letdown. Like, we’re emotionally invested in this guy for two hours, and then BAM—no closure, just an artsy “let’s make the audience think” moment. I get it, Scorsese wanted us to ponder the themes of guilt, denial, and madness, but couldn’t we have had one satisfying answer? Just one?

Here’s how I think it could’ve been better. First, what if Teddy actually outsmarts the doctors? Imagine he pretends to go along with their little mind game, but secretly, he’s still planning his escape. Like, right at the end, we get a scene where he’s lobotomized (or so they think), but then we see his eyes shift, and we realize, oh snap, this dude ain’t done yet. That would’ve left us hyped for the possibility of him exposing the truth—or at least escaping the island.

Or, and hear me out here, what if the plot twist was... another plot twist? Like, we find out Teddy wasn’t crazy after all. The doctors were gaslighting him the whole time to cover up their sketchy experiments. Maybe the movie ends with Teddy exposing their operation or staging a rebellion with the other patients. I know, I know—it’s cliché, but it’d be so much more satisfying than just watching our boy Leo sit there and give up.

Lastly, what if the ending leaned more into the psychological horror angle? Maybe Teddy accepts that he’s crazy, but the twist is he’s not crazy in the way they say. He’s actually someone else entirely, and the whole role-play was a setup to bury his real identity. It’d keep the mind-bendy vibes while still delivering a fresh take.

Anyway, I’m no Scorsese (duh), but Shutter Island had the potential to end with a bang instead of a head-scratch. What do you think? Should they have gone for a bigger twist, or do you think the ambiguous ending is perfect as is? Let’s argue in the comments because I’m ready.