So Terrible... Why does Scorsese get a free ride for his weak films?

Rating: 2/10 (24 February 2011)

From the opening seconds of this movie, it is dismaying to observe that a) this is clearly going to be the type of movie that hinges on a big twist, and that... b) Scorsese hasn't even been able to disguise that! It's clear in less than 2 minutes that Teddy Daniels (!) is an unreliable narrator; and Mark Ruffalo's character (who has precious little to do) is obviously only there to query Teddy and keep him talking, to relay his viewpoint as a narrative workaround; until the actual truth can be revealed at some arbitrary moment. I got news for you Marty; That is simply not interesting enough, and no amount of flashy technique will help. On top of that the story arc is indecipherable. We're asked to ingest very familiar "startling" developments from the very start, and about every five minutes after that. So none of them seem terribly important.
Scorsese is not assisted in this effort by a thoroughly mediocre Leonardo DiCaprio who can barely disguise his ambition to join the lineage of Scorsese's tough guys; no matter how much he doesn't fit the mold. DiCaprio can barely convince a viewer he's an adult, let alone a tough one. Not since Tobey Maguire appeared in 'The Good German' has an actor been this out of his depth.
Given the pedigree of all involved, you'd think someone would have figured out this stinker had no potential. There is no merit to be found in this pre-digested, overproduced dud. There is nothing to sustain this irrelevant trip through the machinery again. Sometimes in the pursuit of thrills and and innovative imagery in an effort to be interesting, it's a good idea to just stop what you're doing and be interesting.