DMG
Inception
Janell took me out to see Inception last night. I loved it; she thought it was just okay.
It has all the things that make for really great science fiction. At its heart, it's about a story of love, hubris, loss, and redemption. Layered on top of that is a tale of grief, betrayal, and finding one's way as an adult. And all of that is wrapped tightly through a roaring sci-fi action suspense thriller that kept me absolutely enthralled for the whole show.
This was everything that I wanted from The Matrix and didn't get.
Director Christopher Nolan likes to play games like this, which is fun. But what really gets me is that he always plays fair. You have all the clues you need. So I'd love to dig into this movie on DVD and figure out a few of the puzzles he leaves as exercises for the audience.
Readers' Comments
What do you think about what he did to the Asian guy in the end of the movie? It was exactly what he did to his wife. He convinced him that he wasn't in the real world, that he was dreaming and to kill himself to wake up. Seems like a problem to me...
Also, what about the whole beginning? They get caught and their architect is torn to pieces while they get on a private jet with the guy they were trying to steal from? Seriously. Is the whole thing a dream or just bad writing?
I definitely thought that they got in the chopper pretty nonchalantly. Initially, I chalked it up to them knowing they didn't have much of a choice. But the more I think about it, the more I think the scene just wasn't clear. Saito beat up the architect to find Cobb and Arthur, but wasn't ever going to do anything beyond that. Saito said "I can't speak for Cobol Engineering" just to remind them that they had made a powerful enemy that he could protect them from.
Now that I've seen it again, I really appreciate how much exposition and story is crammed into this movie, and I think a few scenes must have been cut to the bone to keep the movie from becoming an unwatchable, four-hour trip down the rabbit hole. I think the scene with Saito and the helicopter just has to get through what would normally be a three- or four-minute scene in about 40 seconds, and all that's left is the absolute core of the scene: Saito found them, the old architect is out of the picture, now they work for Saito, and their job is to plant an idea in a young heir's brain.
I agree that the private jet didn't make much sense. Maybe it was Saito just trying to convince them of how powerful he was, and how much easier their lives could be if they stayed with him. No clue. It bugs me, but not enough to wreck the movie.
Yeah, there's a certain amount of trust in the writers implicit in my thinking, but Christopher Nolan's other movies show careful attention to detail, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm sure a lot of this will be explained in the "director's cut" DVD. And if not, it's still a hell of a fun ride.