Originally Posted by
Jean
ok, I have watched Inception
Disclaimer: I totally realize that all the below reflects only my personal flaws, my inherent inability to understand some kinds of films. None of the below is intended to mean that I look down on these films, especially not on my friends' tastes. I really really respect all of the opinions stated in this thread and elsewhere, and in the future I will always try to understand what you like about the films you like. If I failed this time, it does not mean I am going to fail every time. After all, Dogtooth was also recommended by feverish, and it's a movie I loved.
Inception
The film is two and a half hours long, and all these hours I was heroically fighting drowsiness. It took me three sessions to watch, and I nearly dislocated my jaw yawning.
I am sorry, but yes, it was outstandingly, excruciatingly boring.
The aesthetics of the film is that of a commercial clip. I wouldn't wonder if I heard a voice saying, "Now, NEW and IMPROVED", "I'm LOVING it", or "JUST DO IT!": it would fit in perfectly, without breaking the fabric. I hate this type of editing more than anything in movies, so it was the first put-off.
The characters and dialog are both nonexistent; one could argue that they are not really important in such a movie, but that's exactly my [next] main complaint. Worse, to keep some appearances of both characters and dialog, they used all the existing clichés, old and tired. The way everyone (especially Cobb) acts and speaks made me wonder if it wasn't a clever parody. I had to remind myself that Di Caprio can't really be as bad as that - after all, I saw him in The Beach and Total Eclipse, and he actually did some acting, not limiting himself - both here and in Shutter Island - to making generic faces signifying now "sorrow", now "dismay", now "seriousness of the situation".
The story is void of any human constituent. You sure wouldn’t expect me to buy this beaten to death lost-kids thing. It was so poorly executed, with obvious calculation: everyone can relate to this kind of problem, so it can’t help but make the compassionate viewer relate, sympathize and acquire an illusion that some human tragedy is actually present. All that was present is a dishonest exploitation of the theme thousand times developed in thousand films; the callous bears actually howled with laughter when they heard this phone conversation, the kids inquiring of their mummy and Di Caprio making his inevitable sorrowful frown.
The rest of the story is just not interesting. I love dreams and everything connected with them; but there were no dreams here. I fully realize, of course, that introducing any dream-like quality to the visuals would have undermined the main concept.
The story is not developing. At all. Any time you look (I had to fast-forward most of the last quarter or so) it is exactly the same: someone is running on the ceiling, something is collapsing, something is burning, everyone exchanges the same remarks. There is no drama, no conflict, actually, no nothing: only a lot of fuss and special effects. Probably the special effects are real good; I don’t know, neither do I care.
My main problem with all Nolan I’ve seen is of course in full bloom here, too. The story is convoluted without being complex. I’ve already said, and will repeat, since this film confirmed once again what I’ve suspected from the very start: I believe Nolan doesn’t have a story to tell, so he has to conceal this deplorable fact under tons of tricks.
Cinematographically it’s a nonentity. I’ll try to elaborate on this one day in General Movie Discussion thread: I realize that when I say this, people may argue that the visuals are beautiful or the special effects mind-blowing. No, I do not mean the visuals or the SE; I’ll try to make myself clear later. The only truly cinematographic moment in all Nolan (barring some parts of The Prestige, which is in an entirely different league than everything else I’ve seen by him) is that brief sequence in Memento when the guy tries to open the door – but it’s a talk for another day.
One of the most unbearable features of Inception is its atrocious self-importance. It's a film that takes itself very seriously. No giggles, please. If someone can't hear people solemnly say the word "subconscious" without guffawing, he'd better stop watching. (Oh, I would have, but I had promised to make it through...)
The ending, sadly, is stolen from Tarkovsky’s Solaris – verbatim.
The only redeeming feature was that Piaf’s song (her most famous, by the way, and I was very sad when I learned that some people never heard it before and had to google to know what it was). Like the characters, I woke up every time it sounded – only to fall asleep again.
I am sorry for all this, but I’ve never lied to anyone on these boards, nor do I intend to.
I still think it's The Prestige that's really overrated.
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