At first, I feared "Inception" as yet another action movie with a mindfuck twist. Reviews from everybody started pouring in, and my fears were confirmed; this film was "amazing", "thought-provoking", "mind-numbing", "complicated"; basically a piece of shit with flashing neon lights. I sighed in grief. Another "Lost".
Weeks went by. The ratings skyrocketed. Fan reaction swelled. A buzz electrified the air. The film was adored by people who thought they would hate it, loved by those who thought they would love it. I sighed in frustration. Another "Lost". Yet, due to my incessant desire to critique all things that are hyped, I found myself being pulled towards the film anyway. I finally snapped, and went straight to the theatre after work one day. I made sure to prepare myself as a critic, meaning under no circumstances would I allow myself to get so sucked into the film that I would stop looking at it with a critical eye. With that prepared, I marched into the theater.
For those of you who are anticipating me saying that my efforts proved fruitless, you will now be disappointed. I never once got totally sucked in. "Inception" is a brilliant movie, enthralling in its own way, and probably the best film I have seen in a very long time. That being said, I hope your disappointment with me is not as great as my disappointment was with this film.
"Inception" is the story of long time dream-invader and all around confused man Cobb(Leonardo DiCaprio) who is hired/blackmailed by corporate head Saito(Ken Watanabe) to invade the mind of even bigger-corporate heir Robert Fischer(Cillian Murphy) and perform an Inception on him. An Inception is when an expert Extractor(basically a professional Confused Man) enters deep into the mind of a...uh...client and plants a foreign idea into that person's subconscious via the client's dreams. If successful, the Inception will be accepted by the subconscious of the client and forever change him. The act of Inception(god, this sounds like a porno) is an almost impossible process, so it is rarely ever performed. During the Inception mission, Cobb is haunted by the locked-up memories of his dead wife, Mal(Marion Cotillard).
"Inception" is soft science fiction trying hopelessly to be hard science fiction. For those of you unfamiliar with those terms, hard science fiction is technologically driven writing, the type of SF that is geared solely towards technology and its influence on society. Most hard SF writers were engineers of some kind before they started writing, therefore they naturally write like an engineer would. They do develop characters and explore themes, but the tech and ideas are always front and center. "2001, A Space Odyssey" is a great example of hard SF. Soft science fiction is science fiction that has numerous romantic undercurrents. "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" and the entire "space opera" sub-genre are perfect examples of this. Soft SF uses science fiction as an excuse to write about other things. The writing is usually about modern day society with a twist. This is what "Inception" was, and is why I found the film incredibly disappointing.
"Inception" has a plethora of big, brain-teasing ideas. Behind these ideas are the technologies that execute them, technologies that are interesting in-and-of themselves. Unfortunately, Nolan never bothers to shine the spotlight on any of them. For example, every single time Cobb and his team jump into somebody's mind, they have to use a mysterious-box-with-blinking-lights. What this box does besides that is never even hinted at. Unless I'm mistaken, the box is never even given a name. Does it contain the built dream they all fall into? Does it save the dreams like a computer?
Another piece of technology that has a serious personal connection with the characters are their totems---small objects which the dream-team(haha get it?) keeps on their person at all times to remind them that they are in a dream. These objects are unique to their specific carriers, and each one is chosen carefully. After their introduction into the film, they are promptly never seen again(save for Cobb's which is used more as a symbol of his guilt than a totem).
The architecture of the dreams gets the biggest shrug of all. In the beginning, Cobb takes on a young design student by the name of Ariadne(Ellen Page). Ariadne's job is to design the architecture of the dreams that Cobb uses to fool Robert Fischer. There is a sequence in which Cobb's partner Arthur(Joseph Gordon) explains the technique behind building a dream to Ariadne. She catches on quickly(as her archetype always does in these films) and is soon an unrivaled expert at the craft(bet you didn't see THAT coming did you?). But after that tutorial sequence is over, dream architecture is swept under the rug and forgotten. The audience sees Ariadne fiddling with cardboard models for one scene and then "shazam, dreamland is ready!" How she transitions from cardboard models to imagination and illusion is never shown, nor how she saves her work for later.
Had the love story never been in the film, Nolan would have had more time to better explore the workings and capabilities of all these different technologies. I don't know about the rest of the audience, but I couldn't bring myself to give a shit about the relationship between Cobb and Mal. Yes, it was touching at times and might even be a tear-jerker to some, but I found the entire love story to be an anvil that weighed the film down.
This is where Christopher Nolan's genius goes sour. From the matrix of memories in "Memento", through the fire of chaos in "The Dark Knight", to the borderless majesty of dreams in "Inception", Nolan has always demonstrated a remarkable connection, understanding, and love for the ideas he presents. He takes pains for them, demands gracefulness, and explores their different textures, colors, and feelings, all while keeping his work smooth and flowing. His ideas are sharp and clear in his mind, and are thus sharp and clear on-screen. They are brilliant by themselves; so why kisses and flowery love stories are more important to Nolan I will never understand. He robs his own work.
Liked it for the rush, disliked it for its choices, understood its message clearly, and am mixed about it overall. "Inception" has brilliant ideas, a delectable setting, and a clever scheme, all of which is then dashed against the rocks of yet another movie love story; in other words, the-same-bullshit-as-usual-that-could-have-been-amazing.
Ciao.
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