working on multiple levels

Film Review: Inception

Did Chris Nolan save 2010?

It's impossible to talk about this film without putting it into it context.  I can list on one hand the movies released this year that have managed to rise above acceptable or mediocre (Kick Ass, How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3 & Splice, if you are interested), and with half of the year gone, that's just depressing.  Whether Nolan wanted it or not, Inception was released at the midpoint of one of the most disappointing movie years in recent memory, and being Nolan’s followup to The Dark Knight (my pick for best movie of 2008) the fate of the entire movie world rested on this film’s shoulders.  So did Inception live up to this responsibility, or is it about time to write this year off?

I think for the most part, we can breathe a sigh of relief.  Inception is brilliantly imaginative, and more importantly, easily watchable and enjoyable.  Nolan has proven that not only is he completely comfortable handling epic scale and edge of your seat excitement, something he showed us in The Dark Knight, he is more than capable of taking a ridiculously complex sci-fi subject, and present it in a way that can be understood in one screening.  He also managed to do this without compromising the complexity of the film's ideas.  Movies like Primer sacrifice clarity for added complexity, yet somehow Nolan managed to pull off both, and that alone makes Inception a worthy savior of our abysmal Summer.

So while yes, I do think Inception is a breath of fresh air, I think this is merely a great movie, not a timeless movie like The Dark Knight or even obvious comparison films like The Matrix.  Inception is a near perfect culmination of Nolan’s brilliant storytelling prowess, but unlike Nolan’s other films, it is somewhat lacking in character.  Leonard from Memento, the Joker from The Dark Knight, and even Hugh Jackman & Christian Bale in The Prestige all show that Nolan is capable of developing deeply intriguing, complexly motivated characters.  Leonardo DiCaprio is the obvious attempt to give Inception some bit of weighty character development, but his one-note portrayal has less gravity than some of the film's more spectacular effects sequences (If you are more than vaguely reminded of Shutter Island Leo, you're not alone).  This is compounded by a cast of supporting characters who do little more than spout exposition and provide able bodies to progress the story’s devices.  I think Inception proves it’s acceptable to focus on plot over player, but it's disappointing when we know Nolan is capable of pulling off both.

The technical construction of the film, its effects, cinematography, and score are all archetypically Nolan, and the film might as well have taken place in Gotham City as in...wherever it took place-opolis.  I could have done with a little less Zimmer-y of a score, but it serves its purpose aptly once the film gets down to the action.  The effect sequences are more sparsely distributed than I would have hoped, but they are used to complement the film’s ideas in extraordinarily beautiful and novel and ways.  While some might criticize Nolan's choice to so firmly ground his dreamworlds in reality, their vague familiarity play well into the film's plot and Cartesian philosophical quandaries.  

In the end, to bring this review full circle, it’s really the ideas and concepts of this film combined with Nolan’s ability to present them in a way that is broadly approachable that makes Inception such an entertaining film.  Whether you are fan of the complexity of dreams or just a fan of edge of your seat suspense, I can easily say this is the best thing to come out this Summer.  And while it can’t undo the travesty of these past seven months, it does plant the idea in our head that there may be hope for 2010 after all.

If you liked this film, I recommend:

Comments

[Ken]

Great article title for Inception, as I was having the same feeling after I saw it.

One thing that really stood out for me was that multiple times while I was watching the movie triggered very profound or philosophical thoughts about things. The movie didn't just wait for a twist ending or particular moment to raise some good points of thought/discussion. In fact at the end of the movie I was trying to recall one particular thought/feeling I had that seemed very important at the time, but I could no longer remember what it was. I kept thinking and thinking and trying to recall it, but I couldn't get it back. I felt exactly the same as if I had just woken up from a dream, trying to remember the dream as best I could but having it be just out of reach. A very effective movie for me, it seems!

I'll agree about Leo's character, there could definitely have been some more depth. In a way however I'm almost glad that there wasn't. I like that the movie was more about ideas than characters.

Now I have to see it again and see if the old "oh I'm trying to remember some thought from a minute ago, let me go back to **** where I thought of it and see if it comes back" trick works.

**spoilers below?**

Oh and another thought I had was that I would have been interested to hear more about Ellen Page's character. She was more interesting than Leo sometimes. She was a student of some kind that was supposed to be very gifted, and perfect for being a dream architect, however it seemed like she didn't even know that all the dreaming tech existed, so what was she actually doing before and why did they think she would be good at dreaming?

[Ken]

Oh and nice banner