Shutter Island

**_Leonardo DiCaprio’s trip to Fantasy Island_** In 1954, two US Marshals (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) are sent to an island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the disappearance of a patient from the asylum for the criminally insane located there. The lead detective suspects something really fishy going on. "Shutter Island" (2010) is like a combination of “The Shawshank Redemption” and “A Beautiful Mind” with a little “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Being helmed by Scorsese, it’s a top-notch production with a stellar cast, including the likes of Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson and Jackie Earle Haley. The first three quarters are quite good as a slow-burn eerie investigation with the milieu of post-WW2 America and interesting flashbacks to Dachau Concentration Camp. Unfortunately, the last quarter ruins the movie for me. Don’t get me wrong, the ‘twist’ could’ve been done in a compelling, streamlined way, such as in “The Sixth Sense,” but instead everything’s unnecessarily drawn out. For instance, the final sequence between DiCaprio and Michelle Williams is dreadfully dull. Still, it’s a matter of taste. So, if what I described above intrigues you, give it a watch. Many cinephiles hail it. Fittingly, the title, “Shutter Island,” is an anagram of "truths and lies" or "truths/denials.” The film runs 2 hour, 18 minutes, and was shot mostly in Massachusetts, but some stuff in Los Angeles and northeast of there at Hearst Ranch, San Simeon. GRADE: B-