“Inception”: could it beat “Toy Story 3″ as the movie of the summer?
Even though I think the title of this article is both apt and a good question, it’s also a sad reminder of how DISMAL and AWFUL this summer movie season has been so far: sure big blockbusters like Twilight: Eclipse and The Last Airbender made some cash, but these big blockbusters are also some of the worst movies ever (we all know how I feel about Airbender). The brightest spot out of the entire movie season–including the winter/spring season, which included the forgettable Leap Year–is Toy Story 3. It succeeds everywhere these forgettable movies failed, and then some. It not only succeeds in giving us a coherent, interesting and exciting plot, great special effects, pathos, and an actual pulse in the story, but it also injects a health amount of vulnerability and downright scariness when the toys deal with that creepy monkey toy (fantastic use of 3D here) and something we all have to deal with–the finality and mandatory nature of death. We forget that we’re seeing toys; we start to think of them as human beings who have to learn, like the rest of us, when it is time to let go of the past and look to the future, no matter what it might hold.
Now, we’ve come to the point of the summer season when Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated Inception has been released. We all know about Nolan’s wild success with his Batman franchise, so it’s only natural for movie-goers to expect a lot from Inception. So far, it seems like it’s living up to the hype:
As engrossing and logic-resistant as the state of dreaming it seeks to replicate, Christopher Nolan’s audacious new creation demands further study to fully absorb the multiple, simultaneous stories Nolan finagles into one narrative experience.
Escapism is the goal of the summer season—indeed, maybe of cinema in general—and Nolan has honored that pact considerably while also asking much more of us.
The mind-blowing movie event of the summer arrives just in time to hold back the flow of Hollywood sputum that’s been sliming the multiplex. Inception, written and directed by the visionary Christopher Nolan, will be called many things, starting with James Bond Meets “The Matrix.” You can feel the vibe of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner in it, and Nolan’s own Memento and The Dark Knight. But Inception glows with a blue-flame intensity all its own.
But, there are also some negatives. The movie is around 89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (not the cool 100% Toy Story 3 held until certain unmentionable “critics” wrote inane reviews). The thing that makes Inception cool and inventive–using the dreamworld to pull off heists and con-games–is exactly what makes the film impossible to understand for some people. In short, the film is its own worst enemy. Examples:
One of the things that made the original Matrix, for example, so much fun was that Keanu Reeves’s character seemed as perplexed by what he was seeing as we were. That doesn’t happen here. Dom’s been there, done that. He gets no joy from what he’s experiencing and, even if we are supposed to feel his terror, pain or regret, those emotions don’t reach off the screen as easily as do the eye popping effects.
That’s the idea, at least. With his inability to let actors occupy a scene together, Nolan couldn’t pass Pathos 101, and here he’s trying graduate seminar stuff.
Have you seen the movie yet? If so, what do you think about the movie? Could Inception be explained better, or do you think it’s fine just the way it is and is the reigning champion of summer?
[...] to this review: Also, a ton of reviewers have fallen down the middle with this film. Read this to see what I mean. In any case, if you’ve seen the film and fall into any one of these categories, perhaps this [...]