Christopher Nolan's Inception is as much about dreams as Casablanca was about Morocco. Sure, a great deal of the movie takes place in one person's or another's subconscious, but Nolan isn't interested in actually exploring dreams or creating a truly "dream-like" experience for the viewer. For Christopher Nolan, the dream world is nothing more than a device for him to create an action set piece involving a zero gravity fist fight in a hotel hallway. Although, admittedly, that set piece is pretty awesome.
There's a lot to like about Inception. The climax(es) is terrifically constructed, Leonardo DiCaprio gives a fine performance and there are some pretty good action set pieces. There's also a lot that left me wanting more.
The film is essentially a heist flick, with the little twist that rather than a crew of thieves swiping diamonds from an uncrackable safe we get instead a group attempting to plant an idea in someone's subconscious. The particulars of why they are hired to do this is must have seemed so cliche even to Nolan that he spends little more than a minute or two explaining why this idea must be planted. The philosophical, psychological and moral ramifications of what would happen if the crew is successful (what they plan will essentially change the very essence of an innocent person) is not even addressed.
We're quickly introduced to our team: the leader, Cobb, played by DiCaprio; his point man, Arthur, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt; a chemist played by Dileep Rao; Eames, a "master of disguise" if you will, played by Tom Hardy; and the man behind it all, Saito, played by Ken Watanabe. Ellen Paige's character of "the architect", the person responsible for building the dream worlds, is also the audience substitute. She's new to all this, so it's through her learning that we begin to understand the intricate rules Nolan created about his dream worlds, even though some of those rules get tossed in the climax.
Cobb is the only character that's given any real motivation for the job (it's his "last one so I can go straight" deal) and also the only character that's given any sort of development. We learn that he's done an inception before, something believed to be impossible. When we finally discover what that inception was, it is actually a little heartbreaking. Kudos to DiCaprio for doing a lot with quite little. It's just a shame the rest of the movie is so damn cold and leaves you at an arm's length.
It doesn't help that Nolan also approaches his subject matter in such a straight-forward and serious manner that there's practically no room for whimsy, romanticism or even terror. He's the very definition of "workman-like". There's just no real breathing room for these characters to allow them the slightest bit of personality that would make them memorable. One of the things I loved about Nolan's The Dark Knight were some of the minor, throw-away touches some of the character's had that gave them life. It added just that needed bit of warmth to a big tent-pole movie that seemed to be missing here.
The dream worlds are also presented as sterile, joyless and devoid of any sense of terror and dread. They're essentially generic copies of the real world. There are no moments where a character's subconscious takes real control or wreaks any real havoc on the imaginary worlds. We are given a set up that Cobb's subconscious is unstable, trying to undermine his efforts, but the best Nolan seems to manage is a freight train in a really inconvenient spot. Where's the feeling of trying to run but your legs suddenly feel like they're moving through a swamp? Where's that loved one or friend who you realize upon waking was wearing a different face? "It was you, but not," as you would say when recounting the dream the next day. That sort of stuff.
I know it's probably unfair to judge a movie based on what it isn't rather than what it is, but there was so much more potential it seems in this idea that it frustrated me that Nolan didn't let his freak flag fly and really create something mind-bending. For example: There's a scene where Arthur is shooting at security forces in a dream world when Eames comes up to him and says "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darlin.'" Then what does he do? He simply conjurs up a grenade launcher.
No, Eames, I think it's Nolan that needs to dream a little bigger.
No comments:
Post a Comment