Scorsese's Rubik's Cube

Rating: 6/10 (3 April 2010)

To me, psychological thrillers are endlessly fascinating for the multiple-layered ways they engage with the viewer's mind. They work best when they succeed in accessing the viewer's curiosity and emotional involvement. Think of Hitchcock's Marnie, Christopher Nolan's Memento, Dominik Moll's With a Friend Like Harry, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, and François Ozon's Swimming Pool. Shutter Island ably managed to pique my curiosity, but it did not recruit my empathy for Teddy. The film is a compendium of cold images, albeit beautifully composed and photographed, which at very few instances secured my engrossment by Teddy's predicament.
Watching Shutter Island was similar to attempting to realign Rubik's Cube: a challenging distraction, but ultimately of little lasting value. I believe the viewer's detachment is largely due to casting: although DiCaprio has overcome the boyish charms he emitted in the 1990s, he does not exude sufficient distress for the viewer to care for him. Another actor (Mark Ruffalo or John Turturro, for example), might have met the challenges of the role more skillfully than does DiCaprio.