Teddy Daniels, the U.S. Marshal played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's new movie doesn't know what he's in for when he arrives on Shutter Island. But he learns soon enough: Here at a government-run hospital for the criminally insane, the world has been turned upside down. There are vicious murderers, imposing guards, and mad doctors -- not to mention ominous apparitions and dangerous thunderstorms. There's also an escaped murderess and a woman in a cave and a suspicious lighthouse. There are mysteries, conspiracies, dark secrets, and suspicious therapies. And above all else, there's no escape. Do you hear? NO ESCAPE!
And we say, "So, what else is new?"
If, like us, you've gotten the bulk of your education from the big screen, you know one thing is true: Islands are bad. Really bad. They're water-bound hellzones, natural refuges for the forces of pain, deception, and death. Here the wildest forces of nature hold sway, scientists flee to conduct their infernal experiments, megalomaniacs forge their plans for societies formed in their own image (and, if we're willing to throw Lost into the mix, the time-space continuum gets royally frakked).
There's good reason for a healthy skepticism that anything worthwhile can happen in a place where the exchange rate is calculated in fish. Just in case you doubt us, here's our list of 10 compelling cases.