I was Disappointed by Inception

I, like many film goers, critics, and filmmakers believe that Christopher Nolan deserves a lot more credit than he's been given. It seems like that credit has finally come with his massive blockbuster hit, Inception. A film about the mind, memory, and reality...it fits right in with the rest of Nolan's work up to this point, which seems to all rest on the question of how we can trust ourselves if our memory is faulty. Is creating the past harmful? How harmful is it?

You cannot necessarily reduce Nolan's work to this question, but it is one of the most prevalent. Many might become tired with Christopher Nolan's search for uncovering what absolute truth is and what reality really entails. But, as his films Memento and The Dark Knight show, Nolan has an incredible ability to look at various angles of the workings of the mind, looking at different ideas more intimately throughout his film career. With this in mind, Inception feels like his Mind/Memory Magnum Opus, and if that's the case, I'm a little disappointed.

First, let me say that this movie is fun. It's incredibly fun. It's absurdly fun. I haven't had this much fun watching a film in at least a year. While some of the special effects seemed forced and simply looked bad (see: a tornado of French objects exploding), most of the special effects were mesmerizing. The audience literally gasped in awe. Not since Little Miss Sunshine had I seen such crazed audience participation in a film. People were screaming. The intensity of the room was palpable. Through the last 45 minutes of the film, it appeared as if everyone was on the edge of their seats. The credits began rolling and everyone released a deep breathe reminiscent of the ending of a roller coaster ride. For these reasons, I can say that I recommend seeing this film in theatres while people are still going to see it. It is a true theatre film that works best on the big screen. While I think it'd still be fun at home, I think some of the film's hugeness, in both visual style and ideas, would be lost with an at-home viewing.

However, I can only recommend seeing it for the matinee price, or even the before noon price. Of course, it'd be better to see it when you aren't the only person in the theatre, but I have to say that besides it's visual appeal, there is little for me to say that I liked about this film. The mind game in which this movie is based, extracting information from an individuals mind in their sleep, is a joy, but it lacks depth on numerous levels.

To begin, the characters are merely pawns, pieces necessary to carry on the concept of this dream-hunting, which was clearly what Christopher Nolan spent the better half of the ten years he spent crafting the screenplay. There is absolutely no character development and very little depth to the characters. The only exception to this is Ellen Paige and Leonardo DiCaprio's roles, but their depth only goes as far as necessary to understand their motivation for doing what they must in the dream world. DiCaprio cannot be an "architect" of these dreamscapes, for his deceased wife's memory (played by Marion Cotillard) is at the core of his subconscious and contaminates the dreamworld. Ellen is the best mind that DiCaprio's idol (played by Michael Cain) can offer, so she thinks rationally and sensibly.

(HUGE ASIDE: I've read on some feminist blogs that they take issue with the female characterizations in this film. Yes, Ellen Paige and Marion Cotillard's characters bring nothing new to female presentation in film...but I wouldn't say they are bad for women. Paige is the only person that appears to have a mind in this film, and Cotillard's character becomes the villain only because DiCaprio's character does terrible things to her. Experimentation is done on her, and the film makes it clear that she is not in the wrong. Of course, we feel no ill will towards Leo; he just wants his kids back [like Tom Jane in Arrested Development!]. But, the real reason we do not have the slightest of anger towards DiCaprio is simply because his character, like most of those in this film, is terribly underwritten.)

I also found some issues with the dream hunting itself. This film, like many of those that deal with dreams, attempts to make this a somewhat "realistic" depiction of dreams. They suddenly begin, they are often without a middle, and they rarely have an end. Yet, somehow, the individuals within the film that DiCaprio's gang of mind tweakers manipulate never seem to realize that they are dreaming. Aren't we all at least a little aware of our dream state, no matter how real the dream may be? A huge flaw, but one that is also needed for the film to work.

In speaking about this dream issue, one often thinks about the issue of many films; time warp. An hour and a half film can span one day, one week, one month, seven years. Films manipulate our sense of time like dreams do. We also participate in films the way we do film in; the entire scenario is controlled, yet we feel like we are a part of it. None of it is real, but we can communicate with it nonetheless. It often depicts real locations, yet they are entirely fake, manipulated to do things that would never happen in real life. This is the most exciting thing about the film Inception from a critical stand point, in that it is a film that is about film and all of the perils that come with a completed film. It finds all of these issues within the games of the mind and finds a way for them to not only become non-issue, but to become the most exciting part of the film. Embrace the power of film!

However, this brings to mind my greatest issue with the film, which is that this film has nothing to say about our world today. Where The Dark Knight was all about the politically perilous dark world in which we live today, Inception seems to be absolutely about nothing but popcorn sales. While DiCaprio's character is hired by a billionaire to sabotage his biggest competition (in the hopes of getting his kids back, that's all he wants!), there is nary a comment to be made by the power that this billionaire corporate man is planning to by. There is no danger in this film but the danger of one's own mind. In this sense, films like The Matrix and Last Year at Marienbad are better mind games than Inception because they have something to say.

While Inception may have nothing to say, it is impossible for me to say that I didn't have fun. It was an absolute blast watching this film. But to call it smart is an insult to smart movies. The spectacle that is at the core of this film is smartly conceived, and in that sense it is slightly above most summer films, not the instant classic that many have drummed this film up to be.