Inception

What is wrong with Inception? I’ve been thinking about this immediately after the movie ended and I'm still not sure. Something is lacking. It’s not a bad movie, in fact I think it’s good. But something or the lack of something about the movie is bugging me. Walking out from the cinema I wasn’t fully satisfied when I really should be, because the movie was good, the acting was good, the story was good…still I wasn’t satisfied. There is SOMETHING missing..

I first saw the Inception trailer on Star Online and immediately I wanted to watch it because it is similar to ‘Dark City’, a movie I really like (I watched Dark City way back when I was studying in Arau). Then I found out Inception is Christopher Nolan’s and I was completely sold. He is my favorite director, and The Prestige and of course the Dark Knight are my favorite movies of his.

Another reason I really wanted to watch this movie was because of Leonardo DiCaprio. For me he is a brilliant actor and very underrated as well. I’m a fan of his since ‘The Beach’ and I cannot understand how some people still cannot see the brilliant actor that he is. Criminally underrated.

Inception is like the Italian Job or Ocean’s Eleven (or twelfth/thirteen/thousand), the difference is the gang of inception do their ‘conning’ through dreams. Interesting idea, though not the ‘original idea’ some of the critics would like you to believe. Matrix used the idea before and I’m sure there are a few other movies that have used the idea as well. Basically the movie is about messing with people’s minds to get to your goal.

My eyes were glued to the screen for the entire duration of the movie. It was just so absorbing, so intense. It was intelligent and the details Christ Nolan put into the movie was amazing.

I’m not going to say much more about it because the less you know the better. I was just too excited and read quite a few reviews and that turned out to be a mistake.I went into the cinema with a really high expectation; in the end Inception fell a bit short and I can’t help but feeling disappointed. A pity really, I should be happy with the quality of the movie.

Like I said earlier I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what is wrong but it probably the combination of a few things. One certain factor is the sucky seat I had in the cinema. I got the couple seat and I was really looking forward to cuddling with my gf while enjoying the movie but all I got in the end was a serious back pain. Calling the seat a ‘couple seat’ has got to be a cruel joke because we had to stay as far apart as possible just to be comfortable. Seating on it for almost 3 hours was no laughing matter. Such a pain!

The high expectation I had of course didn’t help. Reading the reviews, the words used to describe Inception were over the top. ‘Insanely intelligent, ‘mind boggling concept’, and the most ridiculous ‘the best movie ever’ were some of the descriptions used. To me, the movie is intelligent but saying it's insanely intelligent and calling Christ Nolan a genius because of it do not seem right. He's a genius alright, but not because of Inception. Mind boggling concept? Like I said lots have used the idea before, Christ Nolan merely put his own spin on it. Best movie ever? Sigh, it is not even the best Christ Nolan movie. Definitely not as good as The Prestige and Dark Knight.

The problem is though, most of the reviews I read were from a forum I really trusted and often agrees with when it comes to movies. I’m still scratching my head on this, how can I see Inception very differently from them? Did I miss anything from the movie? Do I not understand it? Am I not intelligent enough to understand it?

Or maybe, since this is a Christ Nolan movie, everybody wants this movie to be so good they failed to see it as it is...

The more I think about it the more I feel the problem with Inception is the storytelling. Apart from the intensity, it fails to connect with me through its characters (except for Dom Cobb). It also fails to go deeper on the conflicts and the problems as it is so fast paced (but at the same time the fast pace carries the intensity very well). Basically the movie focuses too much on Dom Cobb and neglects the rest. It could have gone deeper into the relationship between Fischer Jr and his dad, but it doesn’t. And for Ariadne, hmm, she is so underused to me (again, not going into details here, I don’t want this review to be a spoiler).

So after all my comments, how can I still say it’s a good movie? Well that’s because I keep thinking about it until now, and that’s the mark of a good movie. The intensity stays with you long after you left the cinema. It will keep occupying your mind even after you sleep on it. Inception does all that to me. And the reason I keep thinking about it is the ending. For me, they did the ending perfectly. It’s not just one of those endings where they leave the possibility of a sequel wide open, Inception ending actually dictates the whole story. How you see certain characters and happenings in the movie depends on how you interpret the ending.

By and large Inception is a good movie, one of the best I've seen this year actually. It's just the over the top reviews almost ruined it for me. Although it is not quite the instant classic some made it out to be, I am probably going to give it another watch. I'm definitely recommending this movie to everyone. Go watch it.