Inception!
Just came back from a midnight showing of Inception, which was really great!
Inception follows a team of extractors, people who enter other's dreams in order to take their secrets, as they try to do what is thought to be impossible: implant a new idea into someone's subconcious. Because most of the film takes place inside a series of dreams, the imagery and technique of the world has to be pulled off perfectly, and Nolan definitely manages that. Both the concept of this dream hunting and the execution are pretty much pitch-perfect; there are, of course, rules that must be followed, and even the dream worlds have their own logic and physics. The action is also intensely compelling, not a surprise from Nolan. But of course, just like there's a reason behind every dream (even if we don't know what it is), there's a story behind Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Dom Cobbs, which leaks into the dream scenarios and threatens to jeopardize the mission.
The concept and execution are fantastic, but I do warn that parts of Cobbs' backstory are (unintentionally) reminiscent of DiCaprio's character in Shutter Island, but even so, Nolan's stakes are much higher. The threat still seems a tiny bit cliche, but in the whole of the film I don't think that really matters. I do wish that we got insight into some of the other characters though; Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns in a great performance as the researcher/point man Arthur, including having the best fight scene in the entire film. Then again, there simply really isn't time because the last two acts of the film are so tight that adding anything else would throw off the intense pace it has.
The one thing I definitely wasn't happy about was the ending; I still can't tell if Nolan wanted to play with the oldest cliche in the book, or if he's honestly playing it straight, but either way, it's just kind of like, really?
Regardless of most of the things I just said, don't wait to see Inception. Seeing it in the theater really enhances the world-building experience, and besides, it's pretty awesome, especially if you're a Nolan fan.
Inception follows a team of extractors, people who enter other's dreams in order to take their secrets, as they try to do what is thought to be impossible: implant a new idea into someone's subconcious. Because most of the film takes place inside a series of dreams, the imagery and technique of the world has to be pulled off perfectly, and Nolan definitely manages that. Both the concept of this dream hunting and the execution are pretty much pitch-perfect; there are, of course, rules that must be followed, and even the dream worlds have their own logic and physics. The action is also intensely compelling, not a surprise from Nolan. But of course, just like there's a reason behind every dream (even if we don't know what it is), there's a story behind Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Dom Cobbs, which leaks into the dream scenarios and threatens to jeopardize the mission.
The concept and execution are fantastic, but I do warn that parts of Cobbs' backstory are (unintentionally) reminiscent of DiCaprio's character in Shutter Island, but even so, Nolan's stakes are much higher. The threat still seems a tiny bit cliche, but in the whole of the film I don't think that really matters. I do wish that we got insight into some of the other characters though; Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns in a great performance as the researcher/point man Arthur, including having the best fight scene in the entire film. Then again, there simply really isn't time because the last two acts of the film are so tight that adding anything else would throw off the intense pace it has.
The one thing I definitely wasn't happy about was the ending; I still can't tell if Nolan wanted to play with the oldest cliche in the book, or if he's honestly playing it straight, but either way, it's just kind of like, really?
Regardless of most of the things I just said, don't wait to see Inception. Seeing it in the theater really enhances the world-building experience, and besides, it's pretty awesome, especially if you're a Nolan fan.