Hello there, and welcome to my annual “Holy crap I can’t believe this movie got made” review. The movie this time is called Inception, also known as, “Weird vanity project that Christopher Nolan got Warners to pay for because he made them a gajoolian dollars with Dark Knight”
Here’s the relatively spoiler-free skinny:
Leonardo DiCaprio is SO hunky and he plays Dom Cobb. Cobb is the world’s greatest dream thief, which is a little like being the world’s greatest unicorn tamer. He specializes in stealing secrets from people’s subconciousness as they sleep. That’s all well and good, but he’s not the happiest camper, and so he enlists a crack team of agents to help him pull off one last big score, so he can get out for good. Ok. You with me?
What I like about Christopher Nolan is that he makes me think. He always challenges his audiences, and rarely takes the easy way out (Taking the easy way out is also known in the movie business as “A Ratner”). So it makes sense that not only has my opinion of this movie changed several times since I’ve seen it, it actually changed quite a bit as I watched it. As I’m struggling to put together a comprehensive overview of the film, maybe it’s best if I just break it down a bit.
What I liked:
- The movie had some heart. Despite all the techno-gizmo-special effectery, at it’s heart this was a character piece, and the movie never lost sight of DiCaprio’s character arc. At the end of the day, this is a movie about a guy who wants to get back to his family, and we never lose sight of that. This may not seem like a big deal, but one of the criticisms I have of Nolan’s films is how cold the characters can be. I haven’t empathized with a Nolan character this much since Memento’s Leonard.
- Everything to do with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his fight scene/adventures in the hotel. Wow. I mean it. Wow. You need to watch this just for one of the most unique and original fight scenes you will ever see on film.
- The special effects. This ties into the last bit, but it deserves a repeat. The effects are jaw dropping, but still somehow subtle.
- The editing. Lee Smith did his usual break neck job on the editing here. I’m not sure people realize just how integral Smith is to Nolan’s success and reputation as a director. Quite simply, he’s the main reason to watch this film.
- The actual concept of the film, and the hutzpah it took to bring the concept to the big screen. I’ve talked about it before, but big ideas, and the guts it takes to bring those ideas to life are in short supply in Hollywood these days. It’s nice to see directors like Nolan, Cameron, and Blomkamp buck the trend.
What I didn’t like so much:
- The script. More specifically the dialogue. This script has more exposition than a season of Dr. Who. I kept on expecting DiCaprio to pull out a flux capacitor. For some reason I have an image of a Warners exec looking at Nolan after screening a rough cut and saying: “Ok, but what does it mean?”. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for how much this film seems to delight in telling us how clever it is. And it’s not just Dicaprio’s character on exposition. It’s Ellen Page, it’s Michael Caine, it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and pretty much everyone else. I half expected Levar Burton to pop up and tell us that the ship’s graviton generator needed replacing. As a result of all this talky-talky, the film seems very top heavy and unwieldly.
This is one of the main things stopping me from enjoying this film as much as other Nolan classics. While it twists and turns admirably, it also gives away most of it’s key beats ahead of time due to the script’s insistence at treating us like idiots. The reliance on newly created language and half-baked sci-fi terminology seemed overly gimmicky, and really took away a lot of my enjoyment of the film.
- The cast. I blame the script more than the cast, but on paper this was a well-rounded group of actors, and they should have been able to do more with the material, no matter how clunky the script was. Specifically I’m thinking of Ellen Page, who with every successive role seems committed to reminding us just how lucky she was to have had two (competitor) the next year or so.
Leonardo DiCaprio does his best. While he will never be considered the greatest actor in the world, he is one of the greatest movie stars in the world for very good reason, and he pushes through the goofy script with sheer force of will.
To sum up: Right now, you’re being told by a lot of people that this is the best movie of the year. It’s not. But despite the failures of the script, it still has a lot to recommend about it. It’s always great to see Nolan pull out the stops. He’s one of our greatest mainstream directors, and while this may not be the masterpiece he may have been hoping for, it’s still one of the most original and unique films you’ll see this year.
Rating: B-
