Inception.

[Uncle Hank]

Grandstanding won't do it justice, just go see it. Yes Christopher Nolan has shit politics i.e. TDK, but all the Westernized Paranoia is pretty much filtered out. I think it crosses a lot of boundaries and isn't afraid to do it. Really just confident filmmaking all around and it sticks the landing so to speak. The movie stands on its own as do the stars and crew and pretty much every single aspect. And if you really don't get blown away the first time you see it, I will murder you.

[Uncle Hank]

Really? Nobody at all? :(

[praxis1966]

Really? Nobody at all? :(

Saw it Saturday in Imax. I thought it was pretty effin' dope myself. It was everything The Matrix and eXistenZ wanted to be but couldn't. I don't really know anything about Chris Nolan's politics, nor do I particularly care. He's arguably the best big budget guy working today and Inception proves it.

[synthesis]

Fucking awesome.

[Stephen Colbert]

Really quite an astounding movie. Leo is really impressive in both this and Shutter Island, both of which are really more of thinking man's movies than the usual blow-em up type movies. Two thumbs way up.

[RadioRaheem84]

I thought the movie was great. It has probably one of the best conflict/fighting scenes I have ever seen on screen. Joseph Gordon Levitt stole the show.

The only flaw I have to say that kept the movie from being a masterpiece in my eyes was the constant explanations of the plot, premise and philosophy of the film. Sometimes it ruined some of the surprises in the film. They spent a lot more time verbally explaining what they were going to do than just demonstrating it, which took some of the pizzaz out of some of the action. I also would've been more engaged emotionally into Leo's story and the heist had they allowed the movie to flow without all the constant interuptions to explain something. I would've rather have attributed a lot of the abstract concepts in the film to the strangeness of dreams than have to be explained nearly everything that went on to have a more smooth flow to the movie.

Also, going from a sleek hotel suits and tie Matrix-like scene to GoldenEye snow action took me out of the movie for a bit.

But the synchronizing of the three kicks was AMAZING! Loved it. I paid to see it twice just to catch that and the JGL fight scenes.

8.5 out of 10 in my book.

[Invincible Summer]

The only flaw I have to say that kept the movie from being a masterpiece in my eyes was the constant explanations of the plot, premise and philosophy of the film.


Funny, because I felt like they didn't explain how this "shared dreaming" technology worked at all. It just seemed like they all got IV'd into the same machine and BAM! they're all in the same dream.

Also, I wish they emphasized the totem thing a bit more cuz it seems like they could've got into some interesting philosophical stuff with it.

I also felt that the balancing between action/Cobb's life weren't well done. Lots of scenes could have either been extended or cut down to greater effect.

It was definitely entertaining, but I felt it could've been done better (more thinking, less action, for example). It had too much of a "blockbuster" feel to it.

[Tablo]

The only flaw I have to say that kept the movie from being a masterpiece in my eyes was the constant explanations of the plot, premise and philosophy of the film.
This. I felt like they were treating me like a child by explaining every little thing.


Funny, because I felt like they didn't explain how this "shared dreaming" technology worked at all. It just seemed like they all got IV'd into the same machine and BAM! they're all in the same dream.

I'm actually glad they never explained that because if they had I would have done research into it and would have found it to be impossible and would have ruined the movie for me. xP

[Invincible Summer]

Any other hetero-normative males (or otherwise) in love with Marion Cotillard?

[Invincible Summer]

This. I felt like they were treating me like a child by explaining every little thing.


Yeah, lots of the stuff involving projections and the various levels of dreaming, etc could have been "shown" and not "told."

however, for sci-fi type movies, I think that some of the technology needs to be explained at least a little bit... especially since in Inception, the suitcase dream device thing was so pivotal, yet it doesn't even make sense how it works.

The more I think about how the shared dreaming works, and how people interact with the shared dream, the more holes there seem to be.

[Raúl Duke]

I thought it was awesome and arguably the best film this summer.

[ed miliband]

Any other hetero-normative males (or otherwise) in love with Marion Cotillard?

Yeah.

[praxis1966]

Any other hetero-normative males (or otherwise) in love with Marion Cotillard?

Dude, I'm right there with you. I would so do some dirty, dirty things with her...

[Uncle Hank]

The only flaw I have to say that kept the movie from being a masterpiece in my eyes was the constant explanations of the plot, premise and philosophy of the film. Sometimes it ruined some of the surprises in the film. They spent a lot more time verbally explaining what they were going to do than just demonstrating it, which took some of the pizzaz out of some of the action.

Yeah, I can definitely see where you're coming from, but I think going to a worldwide audience it'll translate the best with all the explanation of the philosophy, premise, etc. And that's one thing I liked about Inception, it didn't pander to any audience in particular. As I said in the OP it crosses a lot of boundaries in terms of who can/would watch it. I know several people with (what I consider to be :lol:) absolutely abhorrent taste in film that are extremely excited to watch it and some of the same ilk that saw it and loved it. So it's the everyman's film is what I'm trying to say? Not really, but hell, find me one better suited for a worldwide audience.

As for the mandatory Marion Cotillard is sexy as fuck comment, yea. Anyone else recognize the Inception-Cotillard-Piaf connection for the song during the kick?

EDIT: Oh and for those of us who by age can't be considered creepy for liking Ellen Page, she ain't bad (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1326351104/nm0680983) either. :p

[synthesis]

EDIT: Oh and for those of us who by age can't be considered creepy for liking Ellen Page, she ain't bad (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1326351104/nm0680983) either.Apparently she's about two weeks older than me - I just looked it up because you mentioned it - but I'd never really found her attractive until that scene in, I think, the second level of the dream. (Found it. (http://socialitelife.celebuzz.com/bfm_gallery/2009/10/leonardo_dicaprio_and_ellen_page_film_whip_it/gallery_main/gallery_main-leonardo-dicaprio-ellen-page-deception-set-10052009-07.jpg))

Do I just have reactionary tastes, or is anyone else on board with me here?

[the last donut of the night]

inception?

it's that kind of movie you can only watch high

[KurtFF8]

I thought it was an excellent film. I'm sure that Slajov Zizek will have quite a bit to say about it ;)

I didn't really mind the explanations, I enjoy it when films actually try to add a bit of depth.

[Stand Your Ground]

One of the best movies ever. Interesting, suspensefull, actiony, just fucking grand. Four thumbs up. :thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:

[The Vegan Marxist]

Was definitely movie of the year for me! :thumbup1: I couldn't stop thinking about all that shit after I got done watching it. :blushing: lol

[Nachie]

The whole dead wife thing got on my nerves.

I realize that was like... "the plot", but shit.

This plus (500) Days of Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is looking like a seriously awesome actor to keep an eye on.

[howblackisyourflag]

I thought it was a very good film, but it's overrated. Its quite long and the first half has moments that drag on forever. Also, its smarter than the average action film, but thats about it, "Lets make a film set within a dream...in a dream...in a dream...in a dream...in a dream, and maybe the whole thing is a dream!"

[Red Commissar]

I enjoyed the film. One of the better ones I've seen in awhile.

[Uncle Hank]

I thought it was a very good film, but it's overrated. Its quite long and the first half has moments that drag on forever. Also, its smarter than the average action film, but thats about it, "Lets make a film set within a dream...in a dream...in a dream...in a dream...in a dream, and maybe the whole thing is a dream!"
Such a gross oversimplification. [/facepalm] Discounting the elements of the actual concept of Inception, extractions, projections of the subconscious, as well as the emotional journey it takes many of the characters through; that's just mundane, dismissing all those elements. Seeing it a second time really helped me glean information on a lot more of the nuances of the film, thought I'm sure there are many more I missed.

[Robocommie]

I thought it was fantastic. Probably one of the most enjoyable and interesting films of the past few years.

Also, I thought the musical score was amazing, particularly at the climax.

[LOLseph Stalin]

That movie confused the hell out of me so, yea. I didn't like it much.

[Invincible Summer]

I thought it was fantastic. Probably one of the most enjoyable and interesting films of the past few years.

Also, I thought the musical score was amazing, particularly at the climax.

I loved that oppressive "DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN..... DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN"

[Manifesto]

Going to see it Friday.

[howblackisyourflag]

I loved that oppressive "DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN..... DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN"

http://www.instantinception.com/

[ComradeOm]

I found it immensely entertaining. Very well crafted film

[Raúl Duke]

Personally, it's the best movie I've seen this summer. Pretty good. There may be some slight faults in retrospect (intro part a bit long, etc) but when I first watched it I enjoyed every aspect of it.


EDIT: Oh and for those of us who by age can't be considered creepy for liking Ellen Page, she ain't bad (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1326351104/nm0680983) either. On the first photo on the sideshow at she does looks quite pretty...
But during the movie I didn't really think much of Ellen Paige's look per se.

Although Marion out-right annoyed me and this prevented me in thinking she was sexy in any sense.

On the edit, are you saying she's underage (and only people below, 21 or 18 can therefore like her?) or what? Because her IMBD states she's like a 22 or 23-year old Canadian, like 2 years older than me. During the movie I actually thought she was around my age and it seems I was right.

[howblackisyourflag]

Such a gross oversimplification. [/facepalm] Discounting the elements of the actual concept of Inception, extractions, projections of the subconscious, as well as the emotional journey it takes many of the characters through; that's just mundane, dismissing all those elements. Seeing it a second time really helped me glean information on a lot more of the nuances of the film, thought I'm sure there are many more I missed.

I disagree, the only character to go on any real emotional journey was Cobb, and even with him the ending was left ambiguous so who's to say where his journey ended up?

[Raúl Duke]

Now that I think about it, Marion looks a bit like this Italian girl I met in Florence.


the only character to go on any real emotional journey was Cobb

I've noticed this...and it makes me wonder about the other characters.
Paige's role seems more like to play a certain role in Cobb's emotional journey as she keeps telling him to get over/face his problem already.

[Uncle Hank]

I disagree, the only character to go on any real emotional journey was Cobb, and even with him the ending was left ambiguous so who's to say where his journey ended up?
So you're saying Fischer Jr. didn't go through an emotional journey when his entire perception of everything changes? Admittedly it was influenced but still. And Saito, I can't imagine being stuck in limbo for however long didn't toy with his emotions. Several smaller emotional journies were to be had as well, I would have to say even being involved with the project at all would toy with your emotions.

[kalu]

"Inception" was phenomenal, and the action had a solid thematic fit. Even in terms of the technical aspects (wow, Eames never gets shot, even when fighting twenty guys), this was forgivable given that the action took place in a dream, thus further lending the movie a nice surreal quality. Typically, that stuff bugs the crap out of me, though come to think of it, if most fight sequences were filmed according to the laws of real life, most action movies would end pretty quickly...oops, Bond is dead. Now what?

The technology used to enter the dream was nice and simple, allowing the viewer to focus on the plot and characters. I honestly don't care to know all the "realistic" details of how you would enter someone's dream, or whether it's even possible; it's an interesting idea, just get there ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is also a good example; put a salad bowl on a dude's head and called it a day).

In terms of the actual themes, Cobb's story drew me in--I really felt a sense of emotional struggle, and the "guilt" theme wasn't contrived--while the supporting characters, though obviously not the main show, integrated well into Cobb's story arc to give it a nice "plural" feel. To concur with others, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is shaping up to be an amazing actor. After seeing him in "(500) Days of Summer", it was quite unusual and interesting to see him as a hard headed point man. I loved the permanent scowl on his face. Eames was also a nice sidekick, and the dry humor fit perfectly. Sad though Michael Caine didn't have more of a role.

Finally, the "philosophical" elements were interesting, without thumping me on the head. I liked the inclusion of optic illusions as limits to the real (or in this case, dream world), and the totem was an interesting concept. The movie in general just had a lot of interesting little ideas to ponder, like the notion of a kick (hypnic jerk). In contrast, I kind of got the vibe that even in the first "Matrix" totalizing over-explanation or over-emphasis on philosophical elements occurred, like Neo's carrying around a copy of Baudrillard, meeting the Buddhist monk-child ("there is no spoon"), or Morpheus's constant blathering about "what is real." Inception just gave the viewer the story, it's her job to work out what she wants to take away from it, which I very much appreciate; though there are of course going to be reviewers (like on IMDB, sigh) who fall head over heels into mumbo jumbo pseudo-intellectual discussions about "what is real." Can't help that, but the movie itself is worth bearing even the contrived talk it inspires.

We as viewers should demand more "smart" movies like this from Hollywood.:lol: Who's going to see "Dinner for Schmucks"? *raises hand* :blushing:

[RotStern]

It was awesome, the scenes with the tall fucked up buildings reminded me of a book I wrote about a couple deeply in love in a post-apocalypse world. xD

[Uncle Hank]

On the edit, are you saying she's underage (and only people below, 21 or 18 can therefore like her?) or what? Because her IMBD states she's like a 22 or 23-year old Canadian, like 2 years older than me. During the movie I actually thought she was around my age and it seems I was right.
Just for clarification, it was a joke, about the being creepy thing. And a bad one at that. Apologies. :mellow: I have no problem with any size age gap in relationships as long as it isn't an abusive one where one or both are simply taking advantage of each other, ya know? So it wouldn't even be because of the age gap. And even in abusive relationships if there's clarity on the situation and both parties can assess the it as such, I'm not one to judge. If that makes any sense, which in my current state of mind, I'm not sure it does.

[praxis1966]

Don't get me wrong, I like her as an actor, but every time I look at Ellen Page all I can see is forehead.

[Apoi_Viitor]

I think it was a 7 out of 10. I mean, it was by far the best big-budget movie I've seen in ages. My criticisms of the movie are basically at its Hollywoodization (lol), that it has a pretty standard "MC must assemble an unlikely team for this seemingly impossible situation" plotline, the relationships between the characters were also Hollywood generic, and finally that there was a little too much unnecessary violence.

Also, I felt that the movie could've been deeper/more thoughtful - I can't really describe myself, but the movie seemed to swim around, but never completely dive into the ideas that it presented. Likewise, I thought that its presentation of the human mind was too rational and simplistic.

I'll stop myself at there. I didn't really praise the movie in my comments - but it definitely is worth seeing, despite my qualms I truly enjoyed it.

[Invincible Summer]

Also, I felt that the movie could've been deeper/more thoughtful - I can't really describe myself, but the movie seemed to swim around, but never completely dive into the ideas that it presented. Likewise, I thought that its presentation of the human mind was too rational and simplistic.

Yeah this is exactly how I feel.

It was very entertaining however. But I think if they delved more into the philosophical issues it wouldn't be marketed as a summer blockbuster.

[x359594]

A contrary view (from the World Socialist Website):

Inception: But where are the ideas?

By Kevin Martinez3 August 2010

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Inception
During the summer, the average filmgoer will be bombarded with a good number of stupid and dull films ranging from the clichéd romantic comedy to the latest superhero sequel, and worse. Along comes a film that at first glance makes one hope, “Maybe this will be different.” British director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) has made a new film that seeks to be that, an oasis in the desert. Upon closer look, however, Inception is just another mirage.


The story concerns a team of corporate spies able to travel inside a person’s dreams to obtain valuable company secrets on behalf of very wealthy clients. Part-science fiction, part-heist movie, Inception’s main protagonist is Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), an “extractor,” who is offered one last job before he will be reunited with his children and able to put the memories of his recently deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) behind him.


Cobb is prevented from seeing his children because he is accused of murdering his wife, although in fact she committed suicide. A rich industrialist, Saito (Ken Watanabe), offers to take care of this problem if Cobb accepts this final assignment. His mission is to enter the subconscious of the heir to a rival corporate head and implant an idea that will break up his dying father’s company.


Accompanying Cobb on this potentially dangerous mission is his friend Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a forger named Eames (Tom Hardy), a young student Ariadne (Ellen Page), who can design buildings and more in the dream world, and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who specializes in powerful sedatives required to help the team remain in deep sleep.


How it’s possible to enter someone else’s unconscious, let alone inspire an individual to do something against his or her will, is never fully explained by Nolan, but no matter. Audience members are simply asked to go along for the ride and leave a good portion of their logic in the lobby.


Nolan explains in the film’s production notes, “Once you start examining what the dream experience might mean, it invites people to think about their own dreams and what they reveal. It raises interesting questions about how we assess the nature of our own reality.” This is one of those amorphous statements, so popular with a particular type of artist at the moment, that could mean almost anything. “Interesting questions”? Yes, but along what lines?


In any event, for a film that proposes to investigate our sleeping state, Nolan plays it pretty safe with his imagery. There isn’t a hint of the influence of surrealism or psychoanalysis that one might expect to encounter in an artwork dealing with the dream environment. Tellingly, all Nolan can offer are images of city blocks being raised to the sky, magic mirrors and other optical illusions. This reviewer, for one, feels sorry for people who dream about nothing but trendy clothes, upscale hotel bars and various banal settings.


The media has made much about Nolan’s artistic innovations and how he is always incorporating the latest technology and special effects into his movies. Indeed, many of the action sequences—whether it be Cobb escaping enemies on foot in Mombasa, Kenya, or a scene where a freight train is unleashed in downtown Los Angeles—are no mean feats.


From the technical side, Inception is well edited and crafted. Sorely lacking, however, are genuine emotion and thought. The characters are not seriously developed; they lack the depth necessary to make the audience really care about their efforts and fates.


Cobb’s motivation—the desire to be reunited with his children and put his past behind him—is supposed to evoke strong feelings in us and give the film its motive force. DiCaprio comments in the production notes, “No matter how surreal the dream state, everything needed to be grounded in our connection with the character; everything had to be emotionally charged. From Cobb’s standpoint there is something very real at stake, so all of his choices, his reactions, and how he deals with the people he’s working with is a means to one end: getting back his life.”


But the character of Cobb’s dead wife Mal, the object of his desire, is not convincing or worked out as a personality. Mal and Cobb, we later learn, used to share dreams with one another before she became distraught and wanted to stop dreaming and living altogether. In order to remind himself that he is dreaming, Cobb uses a spinning top as a mnemonic device, a trick that Mal taught him. But if Mal were concerned that she was losing her grip on reality, why didn’t she use this aid herself, as it would have reminded her what was real and what was a dream? There are numerous plot holes like this and the closer one pays attention to the details, the more Inception falls apart.
The characters themselves don’t stand up to scrutiny. What universe do these people inhabit? Where does a man like Cobb come from? Why is his profession in such high demand? Concrete analysis and criticism are not the route that Nolan would have us go down.


At any rate, the most fanciful sequences borrow heavily from much better films such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey or Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus. Inception takes itself far too seriously in relation to the threadbare character of its content, while trying to remain cool and cynical at every moment. Is Cobb stuck in a dream the entire time? Why should we even care? Whether the action takes place in the mind or in the real world, the whole scenario seems detached from the world as the majority of us experience it.


What a pity that so many fine actors had to be associated with this unimpressive work, among them Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and, of course, Cotillard and DiCaprio. No amount of elaborate and self-conscious visuals makes up for poor dialogue, including the following exchange:
Cobb: You create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream and fill it with their subconscious.


Ariadne: How could I acquire enough details to make them think that it is reality?
Cobb: See dreams, they feel real while we’re in them right? It’s only when we wake up then we realize that something was actually strange!


The last hour or so of the film centers on an elaborate plot to enter the mind of a corporate rival, in several unconscious dimensions—in other words, dreams within dreams. This feels like an artificial device designed to keep the audience preoccupied with the action, in a state of suspended animation as it were. These sequences become tedious before long and Inception finds itself in the all-too-familiar territory of an action movie (with a love story).


This last operation is supposed to be the “perfect crime,” entering an individual’s head without his knowing it, but its ridiculous and needless complications—involving creating a dream within a dream, and then another dream, to probe deeper into the target’s subconscious, etc.—lead one to think that someone on the team would simply say, “There has to be a better way!”


In making such a film, Nolan perhaps wanted us to question whether or not the world around us is “real.” But to do that we must first figure out what is not real, and Inception merely emphasizes the unreal (and unappealing) aspects of contemporary Hollywood filmmaking: (over)cleverness, visual effects as a substitute for real ideas, and evasion of the burning questions of our day.

[RedStarOverChina]

It's a pretty kick-ass movie. Though I thought it was almost a remake of "Shuter islands" which I also like, but it sorta cheapens it. A guy overcoming his guilt over killing his wife is a little overdone.

[Uncle Hank]

A contrary view (from the World Socialist Website):

Inception: But where are the ideas?

By Kevin Martinez3 August 2010

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Inception
During the summer, the average filmgoer will be bombarded with a good number of stupid and dull films ranging from the clichéd romantic comedy to the latest superhero sequel, and worse. Along comes a film that at first glance makes one hope, “Maybe this will be different.” British director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) has made a new film that seeks to be that, an oasis in the desert. Upon closer look, however, Inception is just another mirage.


The story concerns a team of corporate spies able to travel inside a person’s dreams to obtain valuable company secrets on behalf of very wealthy clients. Part-science fiction, part-heist movie, Inception’s main protagonist is Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), an “extractor,” who is offered one last job before he will be reunited with his children and able to put the memories of his recently deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) behind him.


Cobb is prevented from seeing his children because he is accused of murdering his wife, although in fact she committed suicide. A rich industrialist, Saito (Ken Watanabe), offers to take care of this problem if Cobb accepts this final assignment. His mission is to enter the subconscious of the heir to a rival corporate head and implant an idea that will break up his dying father’s company.


Accompanying Cobb on this potentially dangerous mission is his friend Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a forger named Eames (Tom Hardy), a young student Ariadne (Ellen Page), who can design buildings and more in the dream world, and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who specializes in powerful sedatives required to help the team remain in deep sleep.


How it’s possible to enter someone else’s unconscious, let alone inspire an individual to do something against his or her will, is never fully explained by Nolan, but no matter. Audience members are simply asked to go along for the ride and leave a good portion of their logic in the lobby.


Nolan explains in the film’s production notes, “Once you start examining what the dream experience might mean, it invites people to think about their own dreams and what they reveal. It raises interesting questions about how we assess the nature of our own reality.” This is one of those amorphous statements, so popular with a particular type of artist at the moment, that could mean almost anything. “Interesting questions”? Yes, but along what lines?


In any event, for a film that proposes to investigate our sleeping state, Nolan plays it pretty safe with his imagery. There isn’t a hint of the influence of surrealism or psychoanalysis that one might expect to encounter in an artwork dealing with the dream environment. Tellingly, all Nolan can offer are images of city blocks being raised to the sky, magic mirrors and other optical illusions. This reviewer, for one, feels sorry for people who dream about nothing but trendy clothes, upscale hotel bars and various banal settings.


The media has made much about Nolan’s artistic innovations and how he is always incorporating the latest technology and special effects into his movies. Indeed, many of the action sequences—whether it be Cobb escaping enemies on foot in Mombasa, Kenya, or a scene where a freight train is unleashed in downtown Los Angeles—are no mean feats.


From the technical side, Inception is well edited and crafted. Sorely lacking, however, are genuine emotion and thought. The characters are not seriously developed; they lack the depth necessary to make the audience really care about their efforts and fates.


Cobb’s motivation—the desire to be reunited with his children and put his past behind him—is supposed to evoke strong feelings in us and give the film its motive force. DiCaprio comments in the production notes, “No matter how surreal the dream state, everything needed to be grounded in our connection with the character; everything had to be emotionally charged. From Cobb’s standpoint there is something very real at stake, so all of his choices, his reactions, and how he deals with the people he’s working with is a means to one end: getting back his life.”


But the character of Cobb’s dead wife Mal, the object of his desire, is not convincing or worked out as a personality. Mal and Cobb, we later learn, used to share dreams with one another before she became distraught and wanted to stop dreaming and living altogether. In order to remind himself that he is dreaming, Cobb uses a spinning top as a mnemonic device, a trick that Mal taught him. But if Mal were concerned that she was losing her grip on reality, why didn’t she use this aid herself, as it would have reminded her what was real and what was a dream? There are numerous plot holes like this and the closer one pays attention to the details, the more Inception falls apart.
The characters themselves don’t stand up to scrutiny. What universe do these people inhabit? Where does a man like Cobb come from? Why is his profession in such high demand? Concrete analysis and criticism are not the route that Nolan would have us go down.


At any rate, the most fanciful sequences borrow heavily from much better films such as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey or Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus. Inception takes itself far too seriously in relation to the threadbare character of its content, while trying to remain cool and cynical at every moment. Is Cobb stuck in a dream the entire time? Why should we even care? Whether the action takes place in the mind or in the real world, the whole scenario seems detached from the world as the majority of us experience it.


What a pity that so many fine actors had to be associated with this unimpressive work, among them Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and, of course, Cotillard and DiCaprio. No amount of elaborate and self-conscious visuals makes up for poor dialogue, including the following exchange:
Cobb: You create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream and fill it with their subconscious.


Ariadne: How could I acquire enough details to make them think that it is reality?
Cobb: See dreams, they feel real while we’re in them right? It’s only when we wake up then we realize that something was actually strange!


The last hour or so of the film centers on an elaborate plot to enter the mind of a corporate rival, in several unconscious dimensions—in other words, dreams within dreams. This feels like an artificial device designed to keep the audience preoccupied with the action, in a state of suspended animation as it were. These sequences become tedious before long and Inception finds itself in the all-too-familiar territory of an action movie (with a love story).


This last operation is supposed to be the “perfect crime,” entering an individual’s head without his knowing it, but its ridiculous and needless complications—involving creating a dream within a dream, and then another dream, to probe deeper into the target’s subconscious, etc.—lead one to think that someone on the team would simply say, “There has to be a better way!”


In making such a film, Nolan perhaps wanted us to question whether or not the world around us is “real.” But to do that we must first figure out what is not real, and Inception merely emphasizes the unreal (and unappealing) aspects of contemporary Hollywood filmmaking: (over)cleverness, visual effects as a substitute for real ideas, and evasion of the burning questions of our day.

Oh, yawn. :rolleyes: Deal with it in an edit tomorrow, right now it's beddy-bye.

[ZeroNowhere]

In order to remind himself that he is dreaming, Cobb uses a spinning top as a mnemonic device, a trick that Mal taught him. But if Mal were concerned that she was losing her grip on reality, why didn’t she use this aid herself, as it would have reminded her what was real and what was a dream? There are numerous plot holes like this and the closer one pays attention to the details, the more Inception falls apart.It seems that it was implied that she refused to believe that she was in a dream. She certainly had it with her, and was shown locking it into a safe. She probably didn't wish to know if she was in a dream.

Anyhow, the movie itself was quite mediocre, and the ending was utter rot. The concept was fairly interesting, philosophical pretensions aside, but it seems to have been used as an excuse for those pretty awful Hollywood-ish countdown scenes, music and all, and a bunch of profound banalities. Of course, I'm also biased against anything with DiCaprio in it, so there's that.


Nolan explains in the film’s production notes, “Once you start examining what the dream experience might mean, it invites people to think about their own dreams and what they reveal. It raises interesting questions about how we assess the nature of our own reality.”Shit, that is pretty interesting. I wonder why Descartes didn't think of it.

Pop-philosophy: Apparently traditional philosophy wasn't bad enough.

Edit: As an aside, that ending reminds me of a one of those awful Final Fantasy games which some friends of mine used to like back in the day. "I'm a dream!"

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

I loved this film. It has flaws, but it's vastly better than 99% of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood. I would have liked it if they'd taken a bigger risk and stretched the boundaries further - gone into more detail with the conceptual stuff - but I suppose that's hard to do without losing a chunk of the audience.

[x359594]

I finally saw this the other day. Someone said it was awesome. I think it was awsomely bad.

As Billy Wilder quipped, "You can make a bad movie out of a good screenplay, but you can't make a good movie out of a bad screenplay." A good part of the movie is spent setting up the rules of its milieu couched in dialog that ranges from the pedestrian to the lame; this exposition takes much too long.

As far as dream imagery goes, it was strikingly unimaginative. For comparison look at Un Chien Andalou. It seemed to me that the images, flat charactersand action scenes were aimed at computer gamers. As for the ideas, they were little more than warmed over Philip K. Dick. And far from being a critique of capitalism as someone else implied, capitalism is recuperated when Saito says that Fischer's mind has to be changed so that his conglomerate doesn't gain a monopoly on the world energy market (an idea that's never seriously explored to begin with) and then later when Fischer Junior has apparently decided to become his "own man" and presumably break up his corporation. The last we see of the two super capitalists is that they're both smiling.

[Invincible Summer]

Once you strip away the "Whoa dude... like... is it a dream or not a dream? Shit... that's deep!" aspect of Inception, it's a pretty standard pseudo-sci-fi action movie.


More things I dislike about Inception after-the-fact (spoilers)



- They talked about all this crazy shit that Ariadne could do in dreams, but the never put it to use. It could've been much more interesting if they used her architectural skills to pull off some crazy dreamworld getaway or something.
- The idea of the totems didn't really come into play at all.

[ComradeOm]

Once you strip away the "Whoa dude... like... is it a dream or not a dream? Shit... that's deep!" aspect of Inception, it's a pretty standard pseudo-sci-fi action movieCorrection: Its a very well crafted action film. Feel free to ignore the dreams and focus on how Nolan builds the suspense in the last third


- The idea of the totems didn't really come into play at all.Hmmm? It was a pivotal part of the big reveal...

[x359594]

...Its a very well crafted action film. Feel free to ignore the dreams and focus on how Nolan builds the suspense in the last third...

If craft includes screenplay, then I must disagree. But the last third of the movie was the best part of it.