movies: inception

Three things I came away from Inception thinking...

Firstly...in the following order, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy... yum!

Secondly... if you're going to make your story revolve around an emotional core, make sure we can actually connect with it and give a damn... because you didn't, and I didn't...

Thirdly... I don't know what I expected, but I think it was more than what was actually delivered.

And it's not that I didn't "get it"... the movie is a fricken onion... it has layers definitely, but unless I completely missed the point of everything, there wasn't anything that happened that was especially hard to follow, it seemed somewhat linear really... this leads to that which leads to that which leads to the other thing which leads to the other other thing which may all... well, that gets a little esoterically spoilery, so...

One thing that did bug me were the ideas that didn't go anywhere... there are at least two I can think of off the top of my head that are specifically mentioned and shown, but they're just left seemingly abandoned on the shore. Or maybe not... maybe I didn't get that bit.

But it's certainly not something that I feel like I need to see again to confirm any theories or gain a deeper understanding of... I feel like I got out of it whatever was "get-able"...

It's a little hard to discuss the movie though without getting more spoiler heavy than I usually like to get, but I will say that I wasn't particularly surprised by any of it... nothing came as a great shock or big reveal, and the one "great revelation" was something I saw coming a mile away. But I will admit that I'm never sure whether that stuff is supposed to be obvious or not.

While the plot may not have really impressed me overall, the cast did... not only because it was stocked with The Hotness... but because they did an exceptionally good job. Sadly though, Leo has spent too many movies being all intense and emotive because he now appears to have the Grand Canyon permanently situated between his eyebrows. And if I'm being honest, it was the combination of him and Marion Cotillard which left me a little cold, but again, I think that was more about the plot and the script than it was about either of their performances.

Possibly the person who impressed me the most was Ellen Page, even though when I think about it now, she didn't really seem to have a lot to "do", but there was just something about her... although whether it's because she's the lone female in this essentially "sausagefest" movie or not I don't know.

Also in the negative column is the "Bourne camerawork"... it's mostly noticeable during the action scenes, but both Ma and I commented on having a slight headache when it was all over, which I think was more about the shaky camera than any part of the plot.

The effects are beautifully done (there's a whole "freefall" sequence that I'm still unsure about how they pulled it off), although there aren't anywhere near as much of this whole "universe bending" Matrix-style stuff as the trailers make it out to have.

The movie is also something of a slow burn... with a 148 minute run time it only really feels like it's ramping up in the last half hour or so.

And it is enjoyable, especially as the scenarios play out and things begin to ramp up, I was definitely engaged and with the characters all the way, even if I wasn't particularly engaged with their emotional motivation... but somehow it just suffered from me going into it with high expectations... I just expected more...

yani's rating: 3 weighted talismans out of 5