Quick Review: Shutter Island

I've heard some comparisons of "Shutter Island" to other movies that have a big plot twist (for example, "The Crying Game" or, for a godawful example, "The Village"). So let me say right up front that I didn't quite see the plot twist of "Shutter Island" coming. I had an idea of how it would end but there was a little variation that surprised me. And don't worry, I won't spoil it for you. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play U.S. marshals who are investigating the disappearance of a patient at a mental hospital located on an island off the Massachusetts coast. The head of the hospital (Ben Kingsley) is less than forthcoming about the goings-on at the facility, and then things get strange for DiCaprio's character. He starts seeing visions of his dead wife (Michelle Williams), killed in an arson fire, and has flashbacks to the day his army platoon arrives at a concentration camp at the end of World War II. It drags a bit at times, and the flashbacks to the concentration camp seemed a bit out-of-sync with the rest of the movie. Overall, though, it's an interesting psychological thriller. My grade: B.

P.S. And for those of us who are a bit shallow (including myself), there's a scene in which Leo and Mark are naked except for towels. In Mark's case it sort of looks like this...