Inception: A Matter Of Perception?

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2010)

I feel that this was a film filled with big smart ideas that could have easily confused (and subsequently bored) audiences, but Nolan found a way to present visual interpretations of those ideas, as action set pieces using common film language, so that without dumbing it down, I don't think anyone who paid attention left the theater saying, "I just didn't get it". There is actually fairly little ambiguity, except for a "did it or didn't it" ending that is endlessly debatable but ultimately unknowable. While it's true that the beginning of the film is a bit clunky and free-form, once the ticking clock devices are put into play, it settles down into a can't-look-away pace. I felt that they blew certain chances for "wow" reveal moments right at the beginning, and then blew certain chances for emotional pathos at the end, but overall it was thoroughly entertaining and engrossing. I wasn't wowed, but I can see how the mass audience who probably has never read any Philip K Dick or Joseph Heller would be wowed by something so surreal that they actually GET!
There are a few set pieces that steal the show, most notably a zero-g sequence that showcases Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the most calm, collected, talented and professional of the bunch. In many ways, DiCaprio is actually the least interesting and most predictable character in the film, and certain interpretations of the ending may lead you to believe that he's not even the protagonist. But Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy all turn in roles that deftly defy expected clichés. In fact, the ensemble as a whole works well, as at heart, the most charming thing about the film is that it is basically a caper film. Take away the never-explained macguffin fantasy tech, and it's "The Brinks Job" or "Sneakers". It's not as smart, but it hides that deficiency well behind dreamscapes the likes of which have not been seen since the nightmare worlds of "What Dreams May Come". To say much more would spoil an experience I hope you approach with an open mind, enjoy the mini-Bond-film third act, and let the film have the effect it intends.
For a Nolan project, I don't think this is as clever as "Following", as ambitious as "Memento", as character-driven as "Insomnia", as plot-driven as "The Prestige", nor as overall satisfying as "The Dark Knight". But it's a film that I enjoyed more after it was done and I thought it over. For any film that immediately establishes "do not trust what you are seeing is reality" leaves me always suspicious of that one last head-screw, that final Twilight Zone twist. If you don't expect that, and just see it as a caper film that happens to be set in a dreamworld with very specifically laid out rules and boundaries, it's a good film. But I think people are just going nuts over it because after half an hour they thought they were too dumb for it, and then at the end they patted themselves on the back saying, "hey I actually understood all that!" It's not groundbreaking screen writing, but it is very entertaining screen writing, and I for one was entertained.
But unfortunately at no point did I think to myself, "wow, I never saw that coming!" And it's the type of film that should really be full of those moments, the subject matter is just ripe for it. But as I said before, Nolan keeps the ideas in check, set to a clock and set to specific and over-explained rules, so the outcome is never really in doubt. UNLESS you interpret the ending as something that changes at least one big aspect of what they're all up to. Now that, if made an explicit revelation rather than only an implicit possibility, would have been a wow moment - but again, COMPLETELY predictable.
I really do think people are raving over this because it seems like the kind of thing their film-snob friends are always trying to get them to watch ("Dark City", "Brazil", "Solaris"), but they can't get through the first half-hour. This, they easily understand, and feel all the smarter for it. I'm glad for them, and again, I don't think it was dumbed down, I think it was skillfully crafted to not alienate the masses, and I for one was thoroughly entertained. But really, as far as caper films go, there's me being simply entertained by something like "The Italian Job", and then there's me being both entertained AND feeling my brain being better off for having watched something like "The Sting". This was far more the former than the latter. As far as psychological studies in repression, denial and transference, there's the entertaining "Fisher King" and then there's the shattering and haunting "Jacob's Ladder". This was far more the former than the latter. And finally, as far as fantasy sci-fi brain-blowing films, there's the thoroughly entertaining "Matrix", and then there's the thoroughly entertaining AND brain-shattering "Primer". This was FAR more the former than the latter.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the dumb person's smart movie, but I might go as far as to say it's the regular person's genius movie.