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"I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?" - Chuang Tzu
Ok, I finally saw Inception the other day, and so there are going to be some spoilers today if you still haven't seen it. Anyhow, I hadn't been going out of the way to avoid it, but the one time I was going to the theater to see it, I ended up going to see Scott Pilgrim a second time. Since then, I had nearly been bombarded with exhortations to see it, about how deep or clever it was, and something called 'the hallway scene' every time the subject came up in conversation. So, I've been watching way over my normal average of movies lately and Inception's number finally came up.
The results? It was pretty good.
My feelings are that Inception's a pretty good action movie with good production values and casting that creates an illusion of depth by building a foundation on pop philosophy. The only characterization provided is for Cobb, and that's pretty scanty. We know that he has a family he misses, and we know that he's obsessed with his dead wife. That's it. We don't know about his relationship with his co-heisters, we don't know about how he feels about being betrayed or about losing a team member. We don't know anything at all about any of the other team mates.
For a movie about dreamscapes, we're treated to curiously little about the internal processes of these people, which I find terribly disappointing. Another disappointment is the lack of any truly interesting dream locations. The movies goes on and on about mazes and labyrinths, and as soon as they're able to can that angle, they do. The characters discuss how someone can create impossible and amazing environments, but the movie never really shows us anything particularly interesting.*
Which I kind of understand. The characterization parts were dropped so that the movie could get the action scenes they wanted in the time they've got allotted. But that also shows you where the priorities are, and as an action movie, its pretty good. The hallway scene was fun. In fact, I would say that it's the highlight of the movie and shows us the very tip of what they could have done with the action movie set in a dreamscape premise. It could have been grand. In my opinion, the settled for merely good.
In the end, the movie possesses exactly as much philosophical meat as the above quote. If you want to think about dreams, read that. If you want to watch an action movie, well, this is still better then The Matrix 2 and 3. But not as good as the original.
PS. The end of the movie presents a cute trick - Cobb spins his top then leaves before he sees the result - is he lost in the dream of being reunited with his family, or is he really back? Well, I thought it was an interesting moment for characterization - seeing his children was more compelling then seeing the results, so at least for the moment, his love of his kids trumps his fear of being stuck in a dream. It also made for a nice last movie moment. It wasn't however, posing us a question because, first, there's literally no way to tell. It's not his token, we can't tell if he's wearing his ring, and we never see the results. That's all a wash anyhow, though, because he's just going to come back later and will be able to see for himself - or at least spin again. The other potential question - the question of if it even matters - has already actually been answered. It does, at least for Cobb. The only thing we're left in limbo about is if Cobb will ever know, but that's not something we have investment in any longer, because the movie ends before it matters.
* Except for just a bit with Cobb's city. But even that's pretty boring. Huge rows of identical buildings? This is what you built with 50 years of god-like powers? Please. Develop some creativity already.
Ok, I finally saw Inception the other day, and so there are going to be some spoilers today if you still haven't seen it. Anyhow, I hadn't been going out of the way to avoid it, but the one time I was going to the theater to see it, I ended up going to see Scott Pilgrim a second time. Since then, I had nearly been bombarded with exhortations to see it, about how deep or clever it was, and something called 'the hallway scene' every time the subject came up in conversation. So, I've been watching way over my normal average of movies lately and Inception's number finally came up.
The results? It was pretty good.
My feelings are that Inception's a pretty good action movie with good production values and casting that creates an illusion of depth by building a foundation on pop philosophy. The only characterization provided is for Cobb, and that's pretty scanty. We know that he has a family he misses, and we know that he's obsessed with his dead wife. That's it. We don't know about his relationship with his co-heisters, we don't know about how he feels about being betrayed or about losing a team member. We don't know anything at all about any of the other team mates.
For a movie about dreamscapes, we're treated to curiously little about the internal processes of these people, which I find terribly disappointing. Another disappointment is the lack of any truly interesting dream locations. The movies goes on and on about mazes and labyrinths, and as soon as they're able to can that angle, they do. The characters discuss how someone can create impossible and amazing environments, but the movie never really shows us anything particularly interesting.*
Which I kind of understand. The characterization parts were dropped so that the movie could get the action scenes they wanted in the time they've got allotted. But that also shows you where the priorities are, and as an action movie, its pretty good. The hallway scene was fun. In fact, I would say that it's the highlight of the movie and shows us the very tip of what they could have done with the action movie set in a dreamscape premise. It could have been grand. In my opinion, the settled for merely good.
In the end, the movie possesses exactly as much philosophical meat as the above quote. If you want to think about dreams, read that. If you want to watch an action movie, well, this is still better then The Matrix 2 and 3. But not as good as the original.
PS. The end of the movie presents a cute trick - Cobb spins his top then leaves before he sees the result - is he lost in the dream of being reunited with his family, or is he really back? Well, I thought it was an interesting moment for characterization - seeing his children was more compelling then seeing the results, so at least for the moment, his love of his kids trumps his fear of being stuck in a dream. It also made for a nice last movie moment. It wasn't however, posing us a question because, first, there's literally no way to tell. It's not his token, we can't tell if he's wearing his ring, and we never see the results. That's all a wash anyhow, though, because he's just going to come back later and will be able to see for himself - or at least spin again. The other potential question - the question of if it even matters - has already actually been answered. It does, at least for Cobb. The only thing we're left in limbo about is if Cobb will ever know, but that's not something we have investment in any longer, because the movie ends before it matters.
* Except for just a bit with Cobb's city. But even that's pretty boring. Huge rows of identical buildings? This is what you built with 50 years of god-like powers? Please. Develop some creativity already.
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From:
no subject
I never saw Inception because I figured it'd be cool, but would it really pose any questions I wasn't familiar with? And I wasn't too big on the visual thrill part (again figured it'd be good, just wasn't interested).
From:
no subject
The hallway scene *was* cool, I just felt like that was the peak when it should have been the first step of the visual slope. You know, if there was an Inception II, where it's Cobb trying to make it back to the real world through layered dreamscapes, I might watch it, though.