Not All It's Cracked Up To Be

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2015)

Like Avatar, we have with Inception paper-thin characterizations with groundbreaking special effects. Interestingly, both films concern consciousness while dreaming.
Avatar held us to the false-choice premise between good and evil, and carried out its mission by making the bad guys completely unlikeable, and cowardly in many respects, while at the same time creating a magical Lion King-like symmetry that scratched some primal desire to start all over again, preferably in a jungle setting among American Indian-type lifestyle. Nothing complicated, and the simplicity held until the end.
Inception, on the other hand, asks us to believe that Cobb (DiCaprio) cannot find any other way to get back to America except through the sheerest of cliffhangers which involves putting all his compatriots at risk, of whom only the newest and most ignorant seems to care about her own safety, which is also sacrificed for some unknown reason, as we are held by the filmmakers to also sacrifice ourselves to Cobb's pathos rather than to the caper itself.
This is the main weakness of the film: that Cobb couldn't simply buy his way home, through the various means of the rich, such as private jets and private airports, which do not undergo immigration checks as we, the lower classes, must endure. That Saito had access to such wealth and transportation only adds to the heavy sighing one must yawn while being kidnapped through this terrible screenplay.
Meanwhile, the altruistic Saito also grates on my nerves, as we are to believe this ruthless businessman is also so very generous in his offers, brave in joining them, and important to save.
The wisecracking Brit had to little to impart except as a foil to the urbane Arthur, and Arthur honestly did not add much more.
Michael Caine in a thankless role, and Ariadne, who was puffed up from the start as the next level of architect, is no more than an impulsive wide-eyed ingénue who does more to move the plot with her interference in personal issues than in her skills.
There is little chemistry between the characters, as we are never given the chance to learn about them, which is the more amazing since this film is 140 minutes! The use of Mombasa as a location was gratuitous, and Saito's ability to get Cobb out of a jam at the last minute completely jumped the shark.
The interaction of Cobb and Mal is without very much depth or pity, and therefore I felt little for their love or loss. Mal's suicide was unnecessary, her psychiatric ploy not within the realms of how things work in reality, and even the mind trick which Cobb says he planted in Mal's head is confusing and ultimately stupid. In fact, Mal's inability to distinguish, and the ease with which she dropped away, causes me to revile her for the shallowness of her understanding. I am to believe that after 50 years alone in a world of their own making that Mal cannot know what Cobb did even after he confesses? It made her insane? I should care? The effects in the film are mind-boggling. That's all I can say. Cinematic high.
I can't say this film rates an 8.8 or even an 8, but the effects at least take it from trite 6 (including the James Bond ripoff ski scene) to a passable 7.
Enjoy!