So, Let's begin shall we?
I can understand why so many people loved this film. Really, I do. I enjoyed it too, it was action packed, there were some beautiful scenes and I do believe there was some great acting involved.
So let me start with the bad before I move any further. The dream sequences seemed to me like miniature action movie sets as opposed to the real complexity that dreams can be. Each level of dreams we were introduced to were like set-ups for chase sequences or fighting scenes. Real dreams are complex, they hardly make sense and they are as unpredictable as mother-in-laws.
Yet, what's fascinating about dreams is that we do not perceive them as strange until we are awaked to the "real world". I feel as if a lot of untapped potential got away in this movie. Nolan presented dreams as extremely structured and copies of our daily lives. They're such mirrors of our daily lives in fact, that it's a little depressing to see that no imagination exists beneath us even while dreaming.
Yet, what's fascinating about dreams is that we do not perceive them as strange until we are awaked to the "real world". I feel as if a lot of untapped potential got away in this movie. Nolan presented dreams as extremely structured and copies of our daily lives. They're such mirrors of our daily lives in fact, that it's a little depressing to see that no imagination exists beneath us even while dreaming.
Nolan probably wanted us to doubt reality and to explore being trapped or tempted by jumping to alternate realities (kind of Matrix-y). If he had really explored the complexities of dreams, it would have been a different movie. In order to support his theory of multiple realities, he needed to portray dreams as extremely orderly and easily manipulated. I don't blame his reasoning behind doing so but it suspends my belief in the film when you tell me dreams are like Jenga when I know them to be a hybrid of play-dough and a kaleidoscope.
The exposition in this movie didn't work for me. While I like it when a film manages to set up the stage without narrating itself (literally or through characters) this one had too much and not enough going on at the same time. If I had been reading the script as it appeared in the movie, I would have believed that everything was being made up as it was being written down. We don't get an explanation for why things are happening or what logic is being used until a character asks. Then it's a "Well, it's because of this. Which, makes more sense that I could have told you before but it's more dramatic that you didn't know until just now."
The exposition in this movie didn't work for me. While I like it when a film manages to set up the stage without narrating itself (literally or through characters) this one had too much and not enough going on at the same time. If I had been reading the script as it appeared in the movie, I would have believed that everything was being made up as it was being written down. We don't get an explanation for why things are happening or what logic is being used until a character asks. Then it's a "Well, it's because of this. Which, makes more sense that I could have told you before but it's more dramatic that you didn't know until just now."
So many things are left unexplained and what little is explained is done in such an off-handed reasoning that we still don't feel satisfied with any answers given. We get a lot of words and scientific mumbo jumbo thrown at us but it's so unorganized we don't know what to do with it. At one point a character asks in aggravated confusion "Wait! Whose subconscious are we going into?" Exactly.
My last (for this article at least) quibble about this film is that it really doesn't dive into the psychological part of dreams as deep as it wants you to believe it does. The movie really centers around this team of thieves and their highly complex near-impossible mission. Each member has a specific area of expertise and it's vital that each play it's part just right and at the correct moment or the whole operation will go to hell. If this sounds familiar then you've seen Ocean's 11.
And that's my main beef with the film. It's so stunning to watch. The fight sequence between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and henchmen suspended in air is so well done, I can't wait to see what future action movies are going to do to top it. More than anything it's important to watch this movie the way you're going to watch an action thriller. It's fun, it's entertaining and at some points funny. It just doesn't dive into your mind the way I imagine Nolan wanted it to.
It's so filled with action that it doesn't give you enough character development and thus it doesn't really allow you to come to care for any of them.
Watch it, have fun with it. I'm probably going to go watch it again just so I can get a better understanding of this movie and maybe see something that I didn't in my first viewing. Who knows? Maybe I'll be able to find I was wrong and that there is a level of profoundness I had failed to see before.
Until then, I say enjoy the movie but don't waste your money on popcorn or candy.
Final Grade: B-
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