REVIEW: Is Inception This Year's Masterpiece? Dream On
If the career of Christopher Nolan is any indication, we've entered an era in which movies can no longer be great. They can only be awesome, which isn't nearly the same thing.
In Inception, Nolan does the impossible, the unthinkable, the stupendous: He folds a mirror version of Paris back upon itself; he stages a fight sequence in a gravity-free hotel room; he sends a train plowing through a busy city street. Whatever you can dream, Nolan does it in Inception. Then he nestles those little dreams into even bigger dreams, and those bigger dreams into gargantuan dreams, going on into infinity, cubed. He stretches the boundaries of filmmaking so that it's, like, not even filmmaking anymore, it's just pure "OMG I gotta text my BFF right now" sensation.
Wouldn't it have been easier just to make a movie?
But that urgent simplicity, that directness of focus, is beyond Nolan: Everything he does is forced and overthought, and Inception, far from being his ticket into hall-of-fame greatness, is a very expensive-looking, elephantine film whose myriad so-called complexities -- of both the emotional and intellectual sort -- add up to a kind of ADD tedium. This may be a movie about dreams, but there's nothing dreamlike or evocative about it: Nolan doesn't build or sustain a mood; all he does is twist the plot, under, over, and back upon itself, relying on Hans Zimmer's sonic boom of a score to remind us when we should be excited or anxious or moved. It's less directing than directing traffic.
Nolan's aim, perhaps, is to keep us so confused we won't dare question his genius. The movie opens with Leonardo DiCaprio being washed up on a beach somewhere -- mysteriously, there are two little blond children cavorting around, though we can't see their faces. Then some Japanese soldiers drag him into a menacing-looking seaside castle nearby. Then he sits down at a table, opposite some mysterious old guy, and proceeds to eat some gruel. What, you might ask, is going on here, as bits of runny porridge drip from the haggard-looking DiCaprio's lips? You're supposed to be perplexed -- it's all part of the movie's puzzly-wuzzly structure.
Before long we learn that DiCaprio's character is an "extractor," meaning he's a skilled craftsman who can enter others' dreams to draw out valuable information, useful, particularly, in corporate espionage. His name is Dom Cobb -- which is, I guess, better than being called Com Dobb -- and not only does he have the ability to enter others' dreams; he actually builds those dreams, with the help of his number-two man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), plus an architect, who had better know what he or she is doing. The architect working for Cobb at the beginning of the movie (he's played, all too briefly, by Lukas Haas) meets a bad end after installing the wrong kind of shag carpeting in an important dream. Perhaps these dreams need interior decorators, too, to prevent future faux pas, but let's not get off-track.
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And before anyone says it, YES, I KNOW. Me bitching about how people reviewing suck puts me on your level.
To be honest, I wasn't even in disagreement with this review. I'm going to go do arts and crafts now. Or fly a kite. Or whack off. Any of which would be more productive than what I just wasted my time saying.
So it's essentially, "This movie is too complicated for me, so it must suck."
Great logic, guys. Cars 4, anyone?
When someone says this is a masterpiece I get scared. How many checks pens or free sandwiches did they get from the moviemaker? More likely they have joined the ever growing group who likes to say they like something so it raises them a tier in the water cooler smarty pants club. This is a BORING YAWN filling spew. Hmm a very celebrated critc said this was good, Ah I think I like it to, and why yes I need to try the Double Beef mustard green happy burger. The Emperor has no Clothes WAKE UP AMERICA!! Mp3s are not wav quality they have no liner notes, reality tv is lazy crap, And the majority of movies they are making suck!!!!!!!!! Yes this is one of them !
I think Nolan and the other half-talent hollywood assholes might want to show their movies to real human beings with half a brain when they think they're finished. How many sniper fights are interesting? 10-20-50? How long does the elevator sequence need to be? He could have cut 30-40 minutes from this movie and it wouldn't have made a difference, Who are these guys? John Woo's cluster F of a movie (the first Hulk). Michael Bay's crappy Transformer movies. The Dark Knight meanders just like Inception. I would think that when you spend 100 million+ on a movie and make millions as a director the public should expect a clever, well-edited, well written movie, not these overly long (with the same action sequences re done over and over) pieces of S***. CGI has made Hollywood and the public into mindless zombies. OH GEE Zombies, theres another original idea for a movie!
You're literally the biggest sack of shit the world has ever seen.
What the fuck are you talking about? Christopher Nolan's movies are highly popular/ rated by the public audience. Do you think that just because one narrow-minded person (yourself) doesn't like a film the whole rest of the world thinks it's shit to? No. This, as well as all the other Christopher nolan films are top class.
Maybe she should stick to reviewing Disney movies like Tangled. That seems to be more her speed.
Props to your comment.
If u find this movie difficult, you should watch MEMENTO. hahahah 😀
I ask myself: Most people who _HATE_(!!!!) the movie Inception watched it until the END. Why the f***? When I _HATE_ a movie, I dont watch it till the end, i would stop the movie and watch another one, or turn the TV off...
So why do you watch the movie until the end? My guess: --> You watched the movie until the end, because you tried the WHOLE MOVIE, to UNDERSTAND the movie. But in the end you realized, that you are too dumb to understand the movie, and that's why you *HATE* the movie, because it reveals how dumb you are! And please, dont watch memento, you wouldn't understand ANYTHING, anyway, trust me. And believe me, you are missing a lot, some of the best movies hollywood got. Trust me. Only movies where you have to use your brain, but I know, that's hard for most of you americunts.
Wow, this... do you have to be so abrasive when you are commenting on something? Maybe people watch the whole movie to give it a chance? More to the point you can't really criticize something unless you actually have watched the whole thing. There is no need to insult people even if you are internet you know?
I found there was a serious lack of dramatic tension in this yawner. Everything about it is so contrived. A never ending stream of new rules of the dream are continuously fed to the audience, supposedly to build a modicum of suspense. The problem is, shortly after each rule is revealed Cobb formulaically turns around and tramples them.
As soon as the Cobb's totem was explained, it was clear that the movie was going to end with that little top spinning. Watching the rest of the movie was to determine whether or not I would care (nope).
It would have been more suspenseful to watch season 8 of Dallas in reverse.
Your right, Lindsay! That grammaticle error SHOULD negate everything he just said! I agree! I should hope that you never slip up, lest you're words be rendered invalid.. I do have trouble with those "yours," just disregard all of that..
I fell asleep during Inception and dreamed that I was in Christopher Nolan's dream 10 years ago to stop him from writing Inception. This movie succeeds because makes average people feel smart. Before your enormous brain grows beyond the capacity of your slightly less enormous skull, consider this - of the 20-something million people who have seen Inception and declared it a mind-blowing masterpiece of epic proportions, about 3/4 of them will tell you, "you just didn't get it" or "it must have went over your [puny brain]", when challenged with an opposing opinion on the film ... which is fascinating, considering even the most basic statistics course makes it clear that by definition, most people are "average" when it comes to pretty much anything. So I ask, what is more likely - that over 75% of the viewing audience is of above-average intelligence? Or maybe, just maybe, that the film itself is simply average? Like pretty much all of Nolan's films, this one forgot to make us care about the characters' plights before asking us to invest in the absurd world created for them. I might have been able to look past the cold, sterile, uninspiring plot, had the film succeeded in cultivating anything resembling a truly dream-like atmosphere. But somehow, a film about dreams, that takes place in a dream within a dream within a dream, manages to feel constructed and calculated, lacking any of the surreal, dream-like emotion and randomness of an actual dream. Inception tried to capture all the awe and wonder of a dream, and weave it into an emotionally charged, mind-bending story about the nature of reality. Unfortunately for Mr. Nolan, The Matrix did all this and more over 10 years ago. Bravo.
The Matrix completely plagiarizes "Dark city" if we're quibbling about originality. However it appears to suit some, to imagine original movies enjoyed both their conception and timely demise with the making of the matrix. Just saying
Hi. Me again. I just read everything else that wasn't the last sentence of your comment.
In response. Calm down mate. It's just a film. You sound much cleverer than us average sorts. There there
"considering even the most basic statistics course makes it clear that by definition, most people are "average" when it comes to pretty much anything"
Wow. Your stats teacher would be cringing right now.
"considering even the most basic statistics course makes it clear that by definition, most people are "average" when it comes to pretty much anything."
Wow. Your stats teacher would cringe upon reading that statement.
To be honest, I wasn't even in disagreement with this review. I'm going to go do arts and crafts now. Or fly a kite. Or whack off. Any of which would be more productive than what I just wasted my time saying.
You can tell how frustrated the reviewer is with the fact that her weak brain couldn't handle this movie by how low of a score she gives it. The lowest I would give Inception is a 7/10, yet to make yourself feel better you have to give it a 3, what would you have given a worse movie?
Wow. This review was brilliant. I wonder how much time these fanboys would spend playing keyboard warrior if they could actually get females to talk to them or if they were able to put down the bag of doritos once in a while.
This film struck me as embarrassingly facile - I can see how it is designed to make the viewer feel they are clever for understanding something complex - for me it is an emperor wearing no clothes kind of experience that fans truly think if you didn't like it you mustn't understand it! In reality the film is unbelievably dull and clichéd. I think it is the kind of film I would expect teenage boys to think is really cool and, like, really clever.
This kind of review makes me rethink the legitimity of your website. Even if you didn't like Inception, the visual effects, the symbolic effervescence and the great performances of the film deserve a better note than this.
When I watch a classic and don't like it, I don't say it's a bad movie. It's not because it's not according to your taste that it's not good on its own.
I thought this website was cool for about 2 seconds, now I've seen this and I realise the review or writting by any no name who doesn't know a thing about cinema...
This review is blasphemy. Everyone that is ignorant enough to say this was a bad movie has lost a lot of respect. Nolan should at least be praised for attempting to capture this realm of fantasy and I believe he did a good job at it. To all of the naysayers, I would love to see you do a better job with this plot theme because you simply can not so please take your negative comments elsewhere because they are unintelligent and just wrong.
I love this film! I was surprised to see this review and the comments on this page.. I thought it was an interesting idea, I loved the action scenes, and I loved the characters too - Especially Ellen Page, and, of course, Leo. This is a movie I never tire of watching. Nolan made a masterpiece!
Jeez, if one girl can write such a negative review about such a great, successful movie and publish it then this site cannot be legitimate or be taken seriously.
Right on! That Com Dobb comment pissed me off
HAHAHAA!!! The more people that continue to see this film and fall in love with it, and the more that it withstands the test of time the stupider and more shitty this review looks. Hope you feel good about writing a shit review about a great film.
I love all the negativity towards this movie. It's clear as day that it's because you just don't get it. The movie is one big misdirection. You think it's just a thriller with a lot of cool special effects and weighty dream rules, but it is soooo much more complex than that and is quite simply the most brilliant, intricate, and complex films that has come out in over a decade.
Every review from this "critic" should be considered invalid because of the score she gave it (3).
Apparently, Inception is only VERY SLIGHTLY better than Piranha 3DD (2.5)!
And Battleship, with Rihanna's oscar worthy performance, is apparently almost twice as good! (5.5)
My personal favorite, her 6/10 rating for the craptastic Snow White and the Huntsman.
Its fine to have problems with Inception and say its not a great movie.
I even AGREE with some of the problems she pointed out!
However, to put this movie on par with a SEQUEL to a movie about prehistoric piranha's going on a rampage is just ridiculous.
I would have been fine if she'd said "Inception isn't a masterpiece, but its still a good movie.
I would have been fine if she'd said "its an average movie"
But I cannot abide a critic that spitefully degrades a movie just to get attention. Any decent critic would at least have the professionalism to point out the pro's and con's of movie.
That was amazing. I think everything you said was correct. Well put please be consistent.
Well written Mr/Mrs Please be consistent. Actually all needs to be said. Thank You & period!
Really? 3/10? In my opinion, people who cant even fully understand the movie (which you so obviously don't) shouldn't be allowed to write reviews about it. And making fun of The Dark Night? You do know that both The Dark Night and Inception rank quite highly on many "Greatest Films of All time" lists, right? While you make them both sound like giant action flops, they are two movies that actually challenge your brain and make you think, which you are apparently unable to do. My biggest problem with this review is that some people who don't know better will actually listen to it, and you are depriving them of the chance to watch two amazing movies while you promote movies such as the remake of The Three Stooges (8/10). Have fun pretending to be a reviewer.
Is Stephanie Zacharek a reviewer ? Dream on, she is just an attention whore, hahaha.
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