As I See It

Movie Review: Inception

INCEPTION, DESPITE AN UNEQUIPPED SCRIPT, IS QUITE BRILLIANT

A certain dialogue in the film ‘Sarkar’ blew my mind the minute I heard it for the first time sitting inside a movie hall. It took less than 5 seconds for that dialogue to create that impact on me, and the rest of the film I was inwardly expanding further on that thought. The dialogue was “Sarkar ek vichaar hai. Ek soch. Sarkaar ko maarna hai toh pehle soch ko maaro”. I just never imagined someone would actually try to implement that on screen in an entirely literal sense!- until I watched Inception last weekend.

In ‘Inception’, a bunch of super-brainy thieves steal ideas from people by invading their subconscious- and to do that they must firstly inject a powerful sedative into their systems and then hook themselves into a slick-sophisticated machine that pretty much fits inside a small briefcase- AND BOOM you’re in someone else’s subconscious with access to their dreams, their thoughts, their ideas and pretty much all kinds of signals that one’s central nervous system manages to trigger. But that’s not the best part- the real deal is what they’re capable of once they’re inside. It’s the ultimate data manipulation heist story which makes even Ocean’s Eleven’s efforts look dumb and rad. Why go through all the trouble when you can hire Leonardo DiCaprio to break inside Andy Garcia’s brains and steal the damn idea!!? Yes! its uber-cool but also soulful at the right amounts- just as director Christopher Nolan likes to keep it. He loves picking up a cerebral idea for a script and add gorgeous looking male characters with a sad past trying to re-connect with their present to it, and then he throws a little bit of action and sci-fi here and there and mixes it up to give you something that you could either absolutely LOVE and be hungover for days or flat-out HATE it and forget about it the minute you walk out. There are no grey shades there!

Do you guys remember the resounding thwacks prominent in many action scenes of Nolan’s previous films “The Dark Knight” and “Memento”? There, it was easy to relate to those action scenes because the conflicts were clearly defined. The problem with Inception is we can never quite tell who or what the conflicts are. At times it seems like there’s a metaphorical representation of thoughts as humans; and then there are times when it seems like the people they’re fighting with in the subconscious are intruders like themselves competing to steal the idea first- it’s plain confusing and the script -which is 90% expository in nature- doesn’t attempt to clear that confusion. Frankly, that’s a bit of a turn-off to see so much of action and not know who exactly they’re fighting.

Leo looks like he never got over “Shutter Island” ‘cos one can easily see traces of Teddy in Mr Cobb. Ellen Page gives herself to a whole new genre and does exceedingly well! Joseph Gordon Levitt is pleasant as always an absolutely adorable eye-candy that he is- only gets better with every film! Marion Cotillard is such a passe as she looks like she’s way too bored playing the damsel in distress and does’t evolve much since her portrayal of a heart-broken celebrity wife in ‘Nine’.

This is a guest post from my dear friend @thenycgirl. She is a Fashion Addict and soon to be an awesome media/marketing and PR professional. You can also catch her ranting at Slice Of Life. Thanks so much girl for doing a guest post.

20. July 2010 by TheNYCGirl
Categories: Movie Reviews | Tags: inception, movie review, thenycgirl | View Comments