A Combination of the Matrix, Shutter Island and Memento

Rating: 7/10 (25 July 2010)

I saw this movie with a big group of 10. I would guess the group's rating might be an 8.5, very enjoyable! Personally I was one of the 2-3 least gripped maybe because I've seen too many movies. The 9.3 rating on IMDb is enthusiasm in a bubble. And bubbles do burst. Those mesmerized will vote this film as fun as a roller coaster - pop entertainment but no masterpiece. That said, it is best to compare this as one of the latest rides in Universal Studios theme park rather than belonging in the halls of cinema's greatest films. For pure entertainment, Inception gets a 8.5 in an IMAX theatre so it really helped when they talked about a "kick" and your seat gets a kick. Nolan tends to give us kicks for thought. Comparatively Nolan's Memento is a bit creative and the ending of the Prestige bizarrely entertaining and horrifying. In general, Inception has more firepower than either The Prestige or Memento. Its special effects and editing are exquisitely done and captivates the audience. So it is entertainment on high adrenalin.
As a film, however, Inception is at times awkward and confusing. Perhaps that sets up the audience for the dreams. The reality check was the 747 and the totems the characters used. The script is generic and simple but there are psychoanalytic allegories. One of the screenwriters must have been a chess player since the whole mind game evolves from that and references to Robert Fischer, the prey of the mind criminals, could be mistaken for the American grandmaster. The idea of him seizing his father's empire (the chessboard and the desire to kill one's father, as in the Oedipus complex) is psycho-babble. Inception takes this theme subtly with the implicit use of Ariadne Ellen Page's pawn totem. The characters are all pawns in chess dream.
We always speculate on dream control and whether falling means death. Much of the dream states are unimaginative clichés, however, the layering of them makes it interesting. Leonardo's last movie, Shutter Island, was a better blur between reality and fantasy. We see Inception as an intellectual challenge, but it is more a technical challenge which leaves the characters and the real story undeveloped. What is the real underlying story? I think it is Dorn Cobb's desire to reunite with his dead wife and with his children.
In fact, given the brass top totem is not Dorn's (Leonardo's), but belongs to his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), one wonders at the end whether it is a dream or not. The mind crime was a dream and the reality was an ordinary man traveling to visit his family after his wife dies. Note at the end, none of the characters acknowledge each other. The only person who recognizes Dorn is his father played by Michael Caine. One could argue that they are trying to keep anonymous as Fischer is present. Or perhaps Dorn dreamt up the whole movie and only the end is the real part.
Nolan is a great technical director, the special efforts are great and not overdone, and the movie grips the audience much like a roller coaster. But the script is a bit spotty, the plot perhaps deliberately muddled and the emotional story of Dorn and his wife doesn't quite unfold. None of the actors except Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon- Levitt really make the best use of their roles. Leonardo was solid but he's had better performances. Michael Caine's role is innocuous, but quite charming. Marion Cotillard is effective and plays a significant role but perhaps we could see more of her.
Nolan surpasses Memento but doesn't match up to the Matrix which still holds the lead for mind-bending action-scifi. Regardless, as Alfred Hitchcock raised the mystery to an art form, Nolan pushes the complex sci-fi thriller. In the end, he isn't quite a master as Hitchcock, but he remains one of the finer directors today.