Inception
(2010)
It was purely coincidental that I happened to have just seen The Matrix last week (the first, good one), but in terms of thought-provoking sci-fi, no film has since equaled the effect of that film (even its own sequels were disappointing letdowns). I harbored no particular desire to see Inception in the wake of the overwrought and nauseating hype that followed its release Christopher Nolan is apparently the new Joss Whedon in terms of absolutist fan adoration and indeed had consigned it to the relatively small number of films Ive decided its just better if I never see. But, oddly enough, I downloaded Hans Zimmers soundtrack and found it to be brilliant. I simply had to see the images that went along with this music (and, well, I had harbored similar reservations about Nolans previous film, fanboy spoogefest The Dark Knight, and been mostly wrong there, so maybe I would be mostly wrong here). Inception follows the story of one Cobb (Leo DiCaprio), a mental agent whose skill lies in the extraction of information from other peoples dreams; he and his team are able to enter the dreams of a subject and direct their subconscious toward a certain end. What one of Cobbs clients wants is not an extraction of information, but an idea planted an inception which is much more difficult (in fact most of Cobbs team flatly states its impossible). Cobb insists hes done it before, and, lured by an irresistible reward should he succeed he could re-enter America and be re-united with his children he gathers up his usual team with one addition a young student named Ariadne (Ellen Page), who will design the architecture of the dreamscape they intend to pull their target into. Of course there are additional hazards people can be mentally trained to resist dream invasion, and Cobb has a dinosaur-sized skeleton in his closet in the form of his late wife, Mal, whom, we learn fairly early on, rages through his subconscious out of control. Nolan layers the story with level after level of dreams at one point we are three or four layers deep in dreams-within-dreams-within-dreams, but the settings are varied enough and the action is conveyed in clear enough detail that it isnt all that hard to follow the three or four plots running simultaneously even though they all feature the same characters. The story is clever enough, and the visuals in parts are very striking not the kitschy nonsense where Ariadne folds Paris over on itself like origami, but rather the navigation of a hotel hallway and elevator shaft in zero gravity, a terrific action sequence at an Arctic base, and an eerily-realized limbo. Much like with Avatar, however, where people oohed and aahed over visuals so amazing they elevated an adequate story to an excellent movie, here much of the dreamland mumbo jumbo is acceptable because, well, it is rendered so damn neat. Nolan understands that movies are a visual medium, and he wraps his attempted brain food here in a nice, satisfying layer of chocolate.
Its a good movie, make no mistake, and it is something a little different; but I hardly felt it reeked of the Einsteinian genius people proclaimed in the wake of its release. It is a smart film, but its nothing as inventive or revelatory as The Matrix, which, while completely new, wasnt especially deep itself (and attempts to graft depth onto it helped destroy the sequels). Nolans story is complicated and demands you pay attention, but I had no especial trouble following it or even seeing ahead to, yes, an attempt at an achingly clever twist ending. And this is where I must step away from any attempt at objectivity because, quite frankly, I hate twist endings, or even the attempts at them. Usually they just screw up what came before, and even in this particular case, where it doesnt, I feel robbed or cheated, because the storyteller abandons his narrative just to prove hes more clever than you and can stay one step ahead. Well of course you can, Mr. storyteller its your story and you hold all the cards. Inception is still a highly enjoyable and clever film despite having to have one twist too many, and I recommend it to anyone who likes to think a little bit while theyre watching a film. I just wish storytellers would understand that sometimes the greatest display of cleverness is restraint rather than showiness. October 30, 2010
