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I just watched the trailer for Martin Scorsese's upcoming thriller/horror/suspense/police/star-vehicle Shutter Island and all I can think of, once again, is just what the heck Scorsese sees in Leonardo DiCaprio. Here was one of the greatest directors of all time (his films of the past ten years have seriously cut into that reputation) who turned time and time again to Robert DeNiro who turned in some of the most memorable performances of the 70s and 80 and early 90 for Scorsese. Marty knows how to wring the best from his actors as is proven by the fact that nearly every actor who appeared in a Scorsese movie turned in his greatest performance.

Except for Leonardo DiCaprio.

I really cannot get at what Scorsese see in this guy. I understand that there are plenty of people who also seem enamored of DiCaprio, but I am not one of them. In fact, I can't recall a single memorable performance by Leo. My wife assures me he was brilliant in Gilbert Grape, but most of you know my feeling about actors playing mental defectives so I won't go into all that again. One thing I do know for sure: with the exception of Marky Mark Wahlberg, Tom Cruise, and Matt Damon, no other actor in a Scorsese movie has been as horrifically mediocre as DiCaprio. Only Leo's greatest fans could argue that he has blossomed under the once-sure hand of Scorsese. While Gangs of New York had a lot going against and only one thing going for it, Daniel Day-Lewis, much of the blame for the failure of that film must certainly be laid at DiCaprio's feet. He simply does not have the acting chops to go up against Daniel Day-Lewis at his best and hold his chops. For most of the movie, DiCaprio looks like he's scared not of Bill the Butcher, but of Day-Lewis. As he should be.

I haven't seen The Aviator so won't comment on it, but the disaster that is The Departed contains what is unquestionably the worst ensemble acting ever seen in a Scorsese movie. Scorsese is currently developing a movie about Frank Sinatra and DiCaprio seems to be at the top of his casting list. Then there's Shutter Island. In the first place, Shutter Island seems to include the same lighthouse used in the god-awful CBS series Harper's Island, so get prepared for lots of jokes about that. (It doesn't help that the plot of Shutter Island is about a crazed murderer running amok on an island, either. Did Scorsese not know that Harper's Island was being made? I would have at least changed the title and definitely not included the very same framing of that lighthouse so prominently in the trailer. Who the heck would ever want their film being compared to the quite terrible Harper's Island in any way?) In the second place, DiCaprio's performance in the trailer is nothing less than unintentionally hilarious. He's all bug-eyed during the horror scenes and he's all frown and serious-eyed during the non-horror scenes and pardon for me suggesting that Shutter Island may well go down in history as the single worst movie ever made by a legendary directors. Of course, trailers can be notorious misleading, but it would be a huge surprise if this mess turns out as good as The Dark Knight, which featured an equally awful trailer. Then again, I never expected much from UP and judging from what I've read of Oscar contenders coming up the junction, I'm already ready to state that UP was the best movie of 2009.

I have never been pleasantly surprised by Leonard DiCaprio, however, and I don't expect the situation to change with Shutter Island.

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February 19th, 2010 by sudonkrt