Be Very Wary of Your Reality in Shutter Island

When I first saw the trailer of "Shutter Island" last year, I was in a tizzy! Martin Scorsese - one of the greatest living directors of all time - with Leonardo DiCaprio in a thriller? Are you kidding? It's nothing short of an event! And for all the right reasons!

Writing even a movie capsule about it gives a lot of its story away thus I shall limit it here: U.S. marshals Teddy and Chuck (Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, respectively) are sent to an island off the coast of Massachusetts where a facility exists to incarcerate violent crime offenders who are mentally incapacitated! A criminal has escaped and no traces of "her" has been found. But Teddy has more personal reasons for his visit. His wife and children were killed by someone who's in Shutter Island! Unfortunately for the marshals, the management and staff of the facility seem to be hiding something. They suspect that sinister activities are being performed on the patients. Just when they are to call off their investigation, a hurricane lashes out, trapping them in the island. Will they succeed in uncovering the secrets that cloak this island?

A hint? This is a Martin Scorsese film and essaying predictions or jumping into conclusions isn't as easy as watching a Star Cinema movie, that's for sure. LOL

Peppering this gritty thriller is an amazing cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine, my favorite Patricia Clarkson (of "Cairo Time") and Michelle Williams. The setting is as sinister as the convolutions in the story, and there's the brilliant use of a hurricane to create an atmosphere of paranoia, claustrophobia and isolation! Leonardo DiCaprio is downright intense; when was he not? And I giggle every time I see Mark not because he's bad, but because he's as cute as ever - ohmygosh! Pardon the lady in me. ;->

Leonardo DiCaprio - intense as usual.

Mark Ruffalo - a marshal or a doctor? He was once diagnosed with a brain cancer - which turned out to be benign. After a brain surgery, he was completely healed although he is suffering from a minor facial paralysis due to the operation - that's where he gets this very sexy lopsided grin. ;->

Mark Ruffalo, who stands 5'9", understands the idea of patience. He worked as a bartender in New York for 9 long years - where he was said to have auditioned for some 800 roles - before luck finally came.