Inception - Near Perfection
Roughly halfway through the film I had a thought: this is the film I’ve been waiting my whole life for. Preemptive maybe, but even now I still believe this to be true in many regards.
HOWEVER
- Ellen Page. I don’t enjoy anything about her, which naturally detracted from my enjoyment.
- Ken Watanabe. Can he please take the marbles from his mouth? I can never the fuck understand what he’s saying.
- Why would Leo put the sedative in Cillian’s beverage and risk him noticing when the attendant that had been paid off could have been much more sly about it?
- At the airport Leo walks past everyone and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is out of focus. He was in several of the best scenes of the whole movie, I think he deserves focus in his final shot.
- And most importantly, my greatest disappointment: at no point during the dreams did anyone take advantage of the fact that in dreams anything is possible. Yes, the projections turn on whomever changes aspects of someone else’s dream, but for a large chunk of time the projections are all attacking them anyway. I feel like they missed out on fantastically beautiful and creative scenes because of this.
Undoubtedly I’m not unique in my interest in dreams, and consequently films about them, but because of this I was willing to suspend all disbelief for as long as Christopher Nolan required. Arguing logic about dreams is as fruitful as arguing about time-travel. After overhearing a fantastically nerdy exchange about time-travel at Game Stop years ago I can attest that you come off as a knob on either end of such a debate. I wanted to get lost in the film, so I did.
I should point out that I was in an identical position when I saw The Prestige. I’ve always had an interest in magic acts, and consequently films about them. I suspended my disbelief, I wanted to get lost in the film, but something just didn’t work for me. I sorely wish it had. I wonder if it was just my mood that day, because how could a film with Bowie as Tesla be anything but amazing?
I digress, Inception succeeded in so many ways. You need only view the trailer to recognize that the film is a visual triumph. The special effects are as clean as the lines on their finely tailored suits. I am so happy that none of the trailers I saw featured scenes from the snow dream. It’s such a departure from the aesthetics of the rest of the film and it was exciting to have it be a complete surprise. The sound effects never seemed canned, overused or hyper-exaggerated. There’s a scene where Leo wallops a bloke right in the face with something or other and the sound of impact is somehow less intense and dramatic than it would be in any other film thereby making it far more realistic. The violence is so much more visceral and satisfying in its authenticity.
Barring the aforementioned individuals I was enamored with the entirety of the cast. Cillian Murphy got me to watch Red Eye, Marion Cotillard is a delight even in films I can’t stand (Love Me If You Dare…), Michael Caine is always adorable, I never have any complaints about Leo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the most charming actors out there and Tom Hardy assured me that he deserves to take over as Max Rockatansky. Oh, and kudos to Tom Berenger for landing a role in a movie that isn’t straight to DVD.
I’ve always wanted to see a film with equal parts style and substance, a balance of surreality and relatability, both possible and impossible. For me, Inception is all those things.
