Post by wdm0744 on Jul 21, 2010 13:43:04 GMT -5
*Originally published in a parenting magazine/website, thus the content review toward the end*
After the house lights came back up and the final strains of Hans Zimmer’s score left my ears, I walked slowly, numbly from the theater. Five minutes passed in considered silence. Finally, I wiped a single tear from my eye and sighed deeply, pregnant with the knowledge that I had finally found what I’ve been looking for all these years.
I had just left the best movie I’ve ever seen, or could ever hope to see.
Its name is Inception.
It should still be pretty easy to avoid spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s greatest achievement – after all, this tale of a team of thieves who steal secrets by infiltrating the world of dreams doesn’t naturally translate into plot description or a snappy two-minute trailer.
And trust me…the less you know going in, the better.
Some have described it as another visual epic on par with Cameron’s frightfully overrated Avatar. Don’t believe it - such a comparison could not be further from the truth. If you accept the premise that Avatar was an amazing visual experience (and I’m not saying you have to) – a leap forward, a new, far-flung pinnacle in special effects…well, then Inception is its equivalent on the scales of intricate plotting and captivating narrative. It is, by far, the most complex and gloriously complicated cinematic journey I’ve ever undertaken.
This film is an unbelievable triumph.
Inception affords itself no wasted space, no self-serving indulgences. While a weak story and paper-thin characters propped up Avatar’s gaudy spectacle, Inception’s amazing, mind-expanding yarn is assisted by mostly practical effects – cinematic trickery that could have been pulled off even twenty years ago - and that exists only to serve the story. In fact, Inception’s breathtaking effects are special only because of the spectacular minds that conceived them and the revolutionary ideas that give them fuel.
But I don’t mean to say that Inception isn’t a visual delight on every level. From the sharp costuming, absorbing set design, atmospheric cinematography, and detailed props, writer/director Christopher Nolan and his crack team have woven an endlessly exciting and visually interesting story that touches upon true human experience through the medium of grounded fantasy.
The film’s understated dreamscapes aren’t far removed from our everyday world. The appealing cast never encounters ridiculous monsters or blue dragons – and the film is all the more imaginative for it. Instead, Nolan borrows the best elements from caper-and-heist genres (and even from the Bond films) and uses these as reference points to build a profound narrative that takes the universal truth of dreams - along with all its shared madness - and constructs a deep and visceral world around it. For him, it’s a return to obtuse form, a celebration of unconventional and non-sequential storytelling that feels perfectly at home in the type of twilight logic that permeates this master work – a work that deftly plays upon those dream-time peculiarities we each experience but rarely contemplate, and transforms them into the architecture for this fantastic fantasy and the plot points of his fabulous narrative.
Inception is indeed a rare gift to cinema. It is that one-in-ten-million work of art that not only changes your view of the facets of reality, but in fact actually inspires new avenues of thought and opens all new paths. Each layer, each frantic twist adds yet more breathless excitement.
It is most certainly a dark tale – an adult story full of grief, loss, and tragedy. But Inception is also colored by hope, energized by an inspired drive to make the best of real life even in the midst of easier dreams. And its content is likewise tempered, featuring frequent violence but very little gore, restrained language, and an admirable willingness to forgo a dip into sexual situations even when presented with ample opportunity. Nolan isn’t here to shock or titillate – he lets the film stand completely on the strength of its relentless focus.
I realize I’ve gone rather cryptic, so let me be clear: You must see Inception. See it for its delightfully puzzling plot. See it for its visual flourishes and the effective score that faithfully accompanies them, never failing to find just the right pulse-quickening note. See it for the clever rivalry between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy; or for Ellen Page’s measured performance that finally grants her sarcastic hipster persona a tender heart. See it for Leonardo Dicaprio’s relatable everyman darkened with nuanced shades of guilt and dangerous mystery; or for Marion Cotillard’s truly arresting turn as a good woman gone frighteningly, chillingly mad. See it for its kinetic action and heart-breaking drama. See it for the twisted romance at its center.
Just see it.
After the house lights came back up and the final strains of Hans Zimmer’s score left my ears, I walked slowly, numbly from the theater. Five minutes passed in considered silence. Finally, I wiped a single tear from my eye and sighed deeply, pregnant with the knowledge that I had finally found what I’ve been looking for all these years.
I had just left the best movie I’ve ever seen, or could ever hope to see.
Its name is Inception.
It should still be pretty easy to avoid spoilers for Christopher Nolan’s greatest achievement – after all, this tale of a team of thieves who steal secrets by infiltrating the world of dreams doesn’t naturally translate into plot description or a snappy two-minute trailer.
And trust me…the less you know going in, the better.
Some have described it as another visual epic on par with Cameron’s frightfully overrated Avatar. Don’t believe it - such a comparison could not be further from the truth. If you accept the premise that Avatar was an amazing visual experience (and I’m not saying you have to) – a leap forward, a new, far-flung pinnacle in special effects…well, then Inception is its equivalent on the scales of intricate plotting and captivating narrative. It is, by far, the most complex and gloriously complicated cinematic journey I’ve ever undertaken.
This film is an unbelievable triumph.
Inception affords itself no wasted space, no self-serving indulgences. While a weak story and paper-thin characters propped up Avatar’s gaudy spectacle, Inception’s amazing, mind-expanding yarn is assisted by mostly practical effects – cinematic trickery that could have been pulled off even twenty years ago - and that exists only to serve the story. In fact, Inception’s breathtaking effects are special only because of the spectacular minds that conceived them and the revolutionary ideas that give them fuel.
But I don’t mean to say that Inception isn’t a visual delight on every level. From the sharp costuming, absorbing set design, atmospheric cinematography, and detailed props, writer/director Christopher Nolan and his crack team have woven an endlessly exciting and visually interesting story that touches upon true human experience through the medium of grounded fantasy.
The film’s understated dreamscapes aren’t far removed from our everyday world. The appealing cast never encounters ridiculous monsters or blue dragons – and the film is all the more imaginative for it. Instead, Nolan borrows the best elements from caper-and-heist genres (and even from the Bond films) and uses these as reference points to build a profound narrative that takes the universal truth of dreams - along with all its shared madness - and constructs a deep and visceral world around it. For him, it’s a return to obtuse form, a celebration of unconventional and non-sequential storytelling that feels perfectly at home in the type of twilight logic that permeates this master work – a work that deftly plays upon those dream-time peculiarities we each experience but rarely contemplate, and transforms them into the architecture for this fantastic fantasy and the plot points of his fabulous narrative.
Inception is indeed a rare gift to cinema. It is that one-in-ten-million work of art that not only changes your view of the facets of reality, but in fact actually inspires new avenues of thought and opens all new paths. Each layer, each frantic twist adds yet more breathless excitement.
It is most certainly a dark tale – an adult story full of grief, loss, and tragedy. But Inception is also colored by hope, energized by an inspired drive to make the best of real life even in the midst of easier dreams. And its content is likewise tempered, featuring frequent violence but very little gore, restrained language, and an admirable willingness to forgo a dip into sexual situations even when presented with ample opportunity. Nolan isn’t here to shock or titillate – he lets the film stand completely on the strength of its relentless focus.
I realize I’ve gone rather cryptic, so let me be clear: You must see Inception. See it for its delightfully puzzling plot. See it for its visual flourishes and the effective score that faithfully accompanies them, never failing to find just the right pulse-quickening note. See it for the clever rivalry between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy; or for Ellen Page’s measured performance that finally grants her sarcastic hipster persona a tender heart. See it for Leonardo Dicaprio’s relatable everyman darkened with nuanced shades of guilt and dangerous mystery; or for Marion Cotillard’s truly arresting turn as a good woman gone frighteningly, chillingly mad. See it for its kinetic action and heart-breaking drama. See it for the twisted romance at its center.
Just see it.
