Inception – The start of something new in Hollywood?
How do you write a review about a film where the trailers kinda sorta maybe tell you what it’s about but don’t? And you then run the risk that if you accidentally mention something that hasn’t been revealed by the trailers and such, then you are potentially going to spoil the whole movie for some unaware reader? Damned if I know tbh, but Ima damn well try!
As you can see, this review has started with lots of questions and I will advise you, there are more to come. You see. that’s what this movie does, it asks questions. Questions that make you genuinely think about the answers, genuinely think about the possibilities and which way it actually is going and which way it could go.
How do you define what genre of movie this is? On seeing the trailers I immediately put it into one of my favourite but most sparsely populated genres; the headfuck movie. This genre of mine has very few movies in there, movies such as Donnie Darko, The Butterfly Effect and Memento. You know the sort, you walk in to watch the movie and ask yourself “What the hell is this movie about?”. You walk out of the movie and ask yourself ”What the hell was that movie about?”.
I sure as hell was asking the question when I walked in, but when I walked out I certainly was not. I had a very clear genre in my head which I’m not sure to divulge with you guys just yet, I will know by the end of this review, maybe you will, maybe you won’t.
Anyhows, first and foremost let me say I will endeavor to NOT tell you anything that has not been said before by trailers about the story.
Let’s start with the Director/Direction. Nolan is quite a well-known name now, having made his mark with Memento (What’re the chances!) and Insomnia, it became apparent that this guy knows a thing or two about 1. writing headfuck movies and 2. directing headfuck movies! But hark! He knows a thing or two about action movies as well it seems. I must admit, I didn’t know his movie history as a director till I just IMDB’d him but I am mighty impressed for sure.
I think, that this movie is his best movie to date in terms of direction. A lot of people who have yet to see it will cry out “THE DARK KNIGHT” but I have to be honest, I think the hype machine bigged it up far more than it really was. This movie on the other hand, is a masterpiece of direction. IT truly is a work of genius, not just in the story or the characters or even the casting, but the total package, and that’s the bottom line when all is said and done. The pacing and building of atmosphere is so masterfully done that I kid you not when I say that the audience in the packed cinema were literally on the edge of their seats the whole time, I heard many large exhales of breath at key points and the most amusing part for me was when the guy next to me uttered “UH OH” at a particularly key point (made me LOL inside). Conversely, BFGirl and the girl sat next to her seemed to be extremely unimpressed by the movie, so much so that the girl sat next to her was asleep at certain points in the movie (she did however, still manage to explain the movie to her seemingly retarded boyfriend even though she was napping!).
I have never felt so tense with the “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT/WILL THEY MAKE IT/OH MY GOD HOW WILL THEY DO IT!?!” scenarios in all my cinema going days. Granted FD2 was my fave experience ever for audience reaction, but it was the SAME reaction, shock. Here, there’s a plethora of responses coming from the audience and it really shows how superlative a job Nolan has done with the pacing and atmosphere of the film.
Now on to the cast, and what a cast it is! Di Caprio is a damn good actor, as are Caine and Murphy. There are no weak links in this cast for sure, even those who you may recognise but aren’t big time (Eames played Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis, for example) are very strong. All are cast perfectly and there are no weak links in this chain. Yes, even Joseph Gordon-Levitt after his ropey performance in GI Joe.
There are elements of this movie that are fairly generic for sure, the problem is I can’t really talk about them? I’ll give 1 example but I promise it will not affect your experience of the movie, I swear! He (Di Caprio) has to gather a team for something and thus ensues the usual naming of the “best of the best” and the tedious task of getting hold of these people. Do these people not keep phone numbers and email addresses or what? surely it would be easier to take advantage of the communications available in todays age? Surely just throwing each other a tweet would be the easy way, it’s would most definitely be cheaper to both their pockets and their health bars!
OK, time to wrap this up. I hope I’ve kept my word and not given anything away that hasn’t already been revealed. I’ve done my best to actually not talk about the film at all and just comment on the aspects of the film as a whole in order to give you an impression of it as opposed to telling you the story and the plot/character advancements. Overall, this movie is very good. I definitely do not think it falls into the headfuck category as strongly as the aforementioned movies of said genre but at the same time, it does reside within it quite competently. The end of the movie prompted lots of groans of frustration and LOADS of conversations about the outcome.
I like the cast and I absolutely LOVE the direction. That for me, is what steals the show. The way Nolan uses his devices to create a movie with such atmosphere and depth is inspiring, especially during this dark age of reboots and remakes. I think it’s fair to say that this man is making his way to standing up with the greats of hollywood movie directors, if he carries on the way he is currently going, his name will be in the same breath as those that paved the way such as Cameron, Coppola, Scott et al.
Moreover, it wasn’ t that surprising for me. I kinda figured out where the story was going and the best thing about it is the fact that this realisation DID NOT spoil the movie-going experience for me at all. And that in itself, is something that does not happen very often in this movie industry.
EL.
As an opposing review I have to add that I wasn’t overly impressed with this film. Kudos to them for not doing another sequel or comic book film, but I did wish they didn’t make the ending quite so predictable.
It’s hard to review a movie when all the elements of a great film are there: good cast, good directing, non-invasive use of cgi etc; and yet feeling completely bored throughout. It was fairly clear where they were taking the story, and I never felt any particular worry for the characters’ fates, I was just trying to force myself to stay awake – not a feeling you want from a film.
Of course I am aware that I was probably one of the few people in the cinema to feel that way, judging by the general atmosphere in there, but when the girl next to you manages to get comfy enough to have a nap and you’re a bit jealous, they must not have got everything right!