Brilliance distorted

Rating: 5/10 (18 July 2010)

While I risk angering everyone caught up in the fervor surrounding this film, I have to say that I was left unsatisfied. The visuals are great but Nolan simply tries to pack too much information into too long of a movie, and mediocre (at best) dialogue does not help to lift the story. As a stand alone idea the film is brilliant, but this idea is only bogged down by the writers and the limited room for the actors to explore their roles. First off, DiCaprio is acting in a role that is far too similar to his previous part in Shutter Island, and he has no room to show his acting talent as he is constrained to situations where he must look constipated with mental pain and answer the frustratingly dumb questions from Ariadne (Paige). (Is that supposed to be Adriane? Arachnid? I was never really sure why no one could have normal people names) This is in no way the fault of Paige, DiCaprio, or any of the others forced to conform to a script that sounded more like a cheesy Jerry Bruckheimer action film than the mental candy that it is being made out to look like. (Lines like "assemble your team!" come to mind) My biggest problem, though, is the seemingly infinite collection of small faults in logic, personality of characters, and setting. The viewer must take many leaps of faith, excusing many holes in the plot and the way the plot is constructed. Once one of these holes in uncovered, and it inevitably will, because you leave the theater thinking, all of the others suddenly become very apparent. None of the characters have a personality, they are simply there to do the bidding of Nolan; unexplained, and unmotivated. We have no connection to the setting (or any of the settings) because they have no importance to the story. These events could be happening anywhere, and the backdrop just seems like an excuse to say "look! you're in a dream! did you know you're in a dream? what about now?" With a confusing structure, poor script, inhuman characters, and no motivation for anything (the viewer is told when to be more interested by the booms from the soundtrack), Inception is an idea that has been polluted by the desire to create an awesome summer blockbuster. Nolan dances around his brilliant idea, which in itself drives this movie up to a 5/10, but he never touches it, and too afraid to ask one probing question to the audience with any sort of clarity, choosing instead to pose a plethora of confusing questions that only serve to dilute the films core; a center which it pains me to say is pure genius.