Questionable Review: Inception

Since I've been neglecting my blog as of late (despite sitting on a bunch of stuff I should really be writing down), what better way to get back into the swing of things than tackling Christopher Nolan's latest juggernaut of a movie, Inception; a movie I saw whilst on my recent pilgrimage to Las Vegas.

This movie really just kinda snuck into theaters, in my opinion, and managed to garner a ridiculously huge audience through its original premise of "subconscious security". As A Nightmare on Elm Street first showed us, we're never more vulnerable than when we're asleep, and Nolan has taken that idea into what is essentially high-stakes/high-concept crime movie. Does this lead to success, or is this movie far from a dream come true?

SO WHAT IS THIS MOVIE ABOUT?

As I stated before, this move is all about dreams and what occurs within one's own mind. It revolves around Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his shady activities as an agent of the mind and master at the art of extraction which is the act of entering the dreams of another person in order to extract some clandestine information from them without them even realizing it. His expertise draws the attention of energy corporation CEO Saito (Ken Watanabe) who promises to get Cobb and his partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), out of the mysterious trouble they are in if they are able to perform an "inception" job on a rival. Inception refers to the act of PLANTING an idea into someone's head rather than extracting it, something that has been proven to be far more difficult to achieve, and Saito wishes this to be performed on a business rival (Cillian Murphy) so he will break up his father's energy monopoly and allow Saito the upper-hand.

The film then breaks into full-scale "bank-heist" mode as Cobb must assemble a team of specialists to make sure the job goes down without a hitch. Among them are an "architect" (Ellen Page), a "forger" (Tom Hardy), and a "chemist" (Dileep Rao), all essential to building a convincing dream-world. Things start going south almost immediately as the combined complexities of constructing layer upon layer of dream reality are even FURTHER complicated by Cobb's sordid past which makes the operation a fight for the participants' very lives.

SO WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THIS MOVIE?

The very concept of Inception is incredibly intriguing and executed phenomenally well for how complex it eventually gets. You might not ALWAYS understand the greater intricacies of what is going on, but the movie does a good job of slowing itself down to make sure the basics are explained. The dream world itself is also very well done through the use of subtle special effects, and one scene in-particular is pretty incredible in the way it makes a familiar environment feel extremely surreal.

There is also no denying that the cast here is stacked with the highest quality of actors. DiCaprio does his usual great job as the troubled hero of the story, and Page is fantastic playing the audiences' anchor to reality (being the relative rookie and the storyline and the one who truly questions Cobb's motivations). I would also probably mark this as Gordon-Levitt's breakout role, as he does an equally good job of playing both suave professional and comic foil. The rest of the cast is equally strong, with Watanabe in particular putting on a great performance as the cold, yet trustworthy Saito.

SO WHAT SUCKS ABOUT THIS MOVIE?

For as much as this movie deals with dreams and the darker patches of the mind, only a few times does it ever truly get as bizarre as you yourself might recall your own dreams to be. That is a missed opportunity. The mainstream critics as well as the marketing campaign for this movie is really pushing the MIND FUCK aspect of it... yet my mind felt relatively unsatisfied with just how straight-forward the plot is.

Finally, this movie suffers from three of the pitfalls of Christopher Nolan's films. The first is its ridiculous run time. This movie is almost 3 hours long, and it certainly feels that way as the climax drags on and on for far too long; there is only so long one can feel tense before it becomes too much, and this movie's climax is just a bit too much. Secondly, the dialog is a overwrought in places, which leads to some overly dramatic and just flat-out stupid conversations. People don't always spout cryptic shit, Nolan, so stop making them do it. Lastly, the majority of the action sequences are shot like ass. If you have ever seen Batman Begins, you know that Nolan isn't the greatest at staging coherent or even exciting action sequences, and that is the case here as well. Overall, these are just nitpicks, but they do add up to a point.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Oh, Ellen Page. How I wish you'd marry me and make giant fore-headed babies with me. Alas, it shall never happen. That aside, it's actually kinda funny just how young and out-of-place Ms. Page can be in a majority of scenes in this movie. For those that don't know that she's 23 years old, it can make the kiss between here and Joseph Gordon-Levitt seem like pedophilia.

SO WHAT'S THE FINAL VERDICT?

Inception is a good movie. Nothing more, nothing less. It's easy to dig the over-arching idea of it, but its length when placed next to the extent of its plot makes a lot of the film seem like padding. It is greatly pushed up by the strength of its acting performances and its originality, but this is definitely a movie that will likely be recalled as being greater than it actually is. You should definitely experience its unique and complex world at least once, but don't let yourself be lost in delusions of this being a masterpiece.