Hard 2 believe is not intellectually or morally challenging

Rating: 1/10 (4 August 2010)

Don't get me wrong, Christopher Nolan (writer, producer and director of this movie) is a very, very talented filmmaker. He will undoubtedly make that masterpiece for which he will be remembered. But that's just my point: he hasn't made it yet. The Dark Knight wasn't it and Inception certainly isn't it. Inception is a product of a director who has been given carte blanche. His vision has been put on film without someone ever saying: 'Chris, that's not going to work.' For that matter, Inception should have been Nolan's Heaven's Gate. But Inception will probably make Nolan a even bigger star. He better check his totem I felt compelled to write a review when I found out this movie had a 9.2 rating and a 3rd place overall in the top 250. Let me say: that is ridiculous. To balance the scale, I have rated this movie (a ridiculous) 1. I agree with some posts on the message board of IMDb: complex does not mean intellectual or smart. And for that matter, I don't think this film is very complex. It just asks what most movies do: go with it.
DiCaprio gives a pretty good performance (with leftovers from his role in Shutter Island) as Dobbs, a person who is able the penetrate someone's dream and see or steal his secrets. Recently Dobbs lost his wife and he has not seen his children in a long time. That is because the authorities think he has something to do with his wife's death. Watanabe gives Dobbs a chance to get his life back. He needs to plant an idea (inception) in the mind of a competitor. Like a seed, it will grow. And the inspiration for the idea will seem real.
One of the problems for me with the movie was that the dreamworld felt pretty flat and boring to me. Unlike The Matrix (a inception for this movie), the inhabitants of the other world do not bend the rules of gravity. The laws of physics do apply. That's not a bad decision. But I agree with one reviewer: 'Nolan's dreamworld looks like a mediocre action film from the 90's.' The bad guys walk around like video game characters with an AI set on level Easy. I almost shouted in the theater when Eames went Rambo in the snow scene. I understand the decision. Look at The Cell to see how wrong you can go if you explore the subconscious on film. But still, for me his decision to keep the dreamworld neat and clean is a cop out. Dreams don't look like this. Hopes, fears and experiences mix with (the conception of) the real world and you get a pretty original result sometimes. None of this in Inception. Oh right, the architect is in control. How convenient The whole dream within a dream concept was a little far-fetched for me. Have you ever had one? Probably not. So why, when you have a pretty basic dreamworld go with a concept this unreal? The real world does influence the dream the character's have. But they feel it and are conscious that it is the real world. That's a missed opportunity. A dream influenced by factor's unknown to the dreamer could have made it much more enjoyable for the audience.
Maybe it's just not my cup of tea. Like Nolan's former projects The Prestige and The Dark Knight: I don't get all the hoopla. Yes, these movies (like Inception) are well made. They are original, have refreshing ideas, are technically good and have decent scripts. But they are not the best of the decade. And this one really is not a 9.2. I'd say a 5.5. Barely...