heather11483 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heathershaped) wrote2010-07-17 04:45 pm
heathershaped) wrote2010-07-17 04:45 pm
It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.
Inception! I know I've been hyping this movie a lot. Not saying it was perfect, but I loved it and can't find any dealbreaking faults. It was original, extremely well put together, visually stunning, and plain COOL to watch.
QUICK POINTS
+ AMAZING special effects
+ Great use of an ensemble cast, great acting
+ Gorgeous, gorgeous cinematography
+ Didn't have trouble following it
+ Decent emotional grounding for such a stylized and technical film
+ Female characters who weren't nearly as underwritten as we usually get from Chris Nolan
+ Two PoCs in the supporting cast who weren't evil and didn't die
+ Tight, seriously impressive action sequences, not a moment of boredom
+ Awesome score
+ SOME OF THE COOLEST SCENES I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A MOVIE
+ SUITS, GLORIOUS SUITS
- Needed some more lighthearted moments (THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE TOM HARDY)
- Could've explored the supporting cast a little bit more - I know there wasn't much time for that but I liked them all and want to know more about them
SPOILERY DETAILS
+ Plot: For me the impressive thing about the storytelling was that Nolan took very simple storylines that have been done plenty of times in other narratives and somehow made an really original movie out of them because of how he got us from one point to another. The core of the story was really simple - one man trying to get home to his children - but as we get deeper into the movie things get more complicated. I liked that every time we reached a deeper dream state, we found out something else about Dom, something else about Mal and his relationship with her, and something else about how confused he is in his own mind.
+ The sci-fi: This was so cool. I like how some of it was explained and some wasn't - the logistics of dreams within dreams, the use of sedatives, the totems, our rebellious subconscious, the kicks and the music - all made pretty clear, but details like how that contraption actually works, and how Eames, the grifter on the team, was able to wear peoples' faces, were never told to us. I thought that was a good choice - it's all just there and we're not given any information that isn't essential to understanding where everyone was, how they got there, and how they needed to get back. I felt more immersed in it without the extra info-dumping.
There were four levels of the dream by the time they finished -- it was fascinating and suspenseful as hell to watch them layer on top of each other. What a superb editing feat. I really enjoyed the logic puzzle of the synchronized kicks and the expansion of time, and I didn't find it hard to follow. Partly because of the editing and partly because the cinematography in each dreamscape was so distinct. Some of my favorite bits were between the first and second levels of the dream, when the van was rolling and causing the gravity shifts in the hotel. The cuts from scene to scene: watching Arthur rolling with the van while asleep, then seeing him simultaneously bounce down that corridor, locked in combat - NJLDHALHFAKHDKJAHD. ASTOUNDING.
+ Cobb: I usually love Leo DiCaprio's work and thought he was great in this role - the broody hero who's a bit fucked up and self-sabotaging. Chris Nolan seems to like that type of guy, haha. But I bought his emotions and his mounting confusion. He was the character who got the most emotional exploration, obviously - and a movie that stylized with that many shiny technical distractions needed a strong emotional undercurrent. So that was Leo's job, his and Marion Cottilard's, and I think they did it pretty well. I was moved by their story.
+ Mal: Marion Cotillard is breathtaking, and talented. Mal was heartbreaking with a hint of malice underneath. She spent the whole movie as a projection of Dom's own subconscious so she wasn't really a complete person - she embodied all the things that made him feel the most grief and guilt. I wish she'd been explored a little more - what made her lose her grip on reality when Dom didn't? (OR DID HE.)
+ Arthur: WHAT A BAMF, AMIRITE. JGL was enough to make me want to see this movie all on his own - I would watch him read the phone book. I thought he delivered. Arthur was loyal and smart and badass and resourceful and had great chemistry with everyone, especially Eames and Ariadne. I shipped him with both of them. Also, he was walking around in impeccable suit after impeccable suit, looking slick as hell. I LOVE SUITS OKAY.
+ Ariadne: I LOVED HER. Firstly, I love her name (Mistress of the Labyrinth, I C WHUT U DID THAR CHRIS). Secondly, I loved how pivotal she was in the story, mostly because I didn't expect it. In my experience Nolan tends to underwrite his female characters, it's a consistent problem I have with most of his movies. But Ariadne's arguably the most important person in the film apart from Dom. Partly because she was our POV character and it's through her that we find out how everything works. This could've been done in a really clunky way but for the most part, it wasn't - it felt natural because of how Ellen Page played Ariadne's natural intellectual curiosity. She had more characterization than some of the other supporting characters and I loved that. She was brilliant and knew it, assertive, unwilling to jump blindly into a situation when it was clear from the start that Cobb was unstable, so it made sense when she joined him in his dream without permission, when she insisted to go on the job with them, etc. I thought she and Cobb played well off of each other, too. Loved watching them in Paris as Ariadne bent things to her will with this gleeful look on her face. Loved that she helped him so much.
AND YAY ELLEN PAGE. I've always liked her, Juno notwithstanding, but it's great to see her doing roles that aren't her usual type and carrying them off well.
+ Ken Watanabe is as flawless as ever and I enjoyed the subthread of his relationship with Cobb - the way the dialogue kept returning to it no matter how deep into the dream they went. I liked that he wasn't a villain and was as much a part of the team as the others - though of course, even though they're 'protagonists', they're all doing something terrible at the end of the day (which, as others have said, is never addressed). It was about Cobb fighting against his own mental crap, not being able to let Mal go. ETA c/ped from my comment in another LJ: I thought it was interesting because they seemed to be emphasizing that Fischer splitting the company was a good thing for the world energy market or something like that (based on Saito's speech and just how they framed the whole thing), and chose to stress that instead of the fact that they were getting to that point via mind rape and emotional manipulation.
+ The rest of the supporting cast were all aces. Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao. Every character was essential to the job and well-played. I love a great ensemble cast.
+ The ending: Har de har, Nolan. I thought it was cool, and pretty much expected, that he would add some little twist to throw things into question - I liked that he kept that open-ended so we could decide for ourselves. Was the whole thing in Dom's head the entire time, is the top going to stop spinning, has he really reunited with his kids, DOES HE EVEN HAVE KIDS ... etc. I like to think it stopped spinning and that he's really home, because I'm a sap.
+ Techincal stuff: What can I say, it was GLORIOUS. The cinematography and lighting, the effects - all amazing, all worth the price of a ticket. Zimmer's score was gorgeous - tense and fast-paced and heart-tugging in parts. Also, it's most assuredly going to get an Oscar nomination for sound editing. This was the first film I've ever seen where I was actually thinking "how awesome is the sound editing in this scene" - the foot chase in Kenya ALONE.
+ DID I MENTION IT HAD JGL WALKING AROUND IN SLICK-ASS SUITS THE WHOLE TIME. MOST OF THEM THREE-PIECE, EVEN.
Anyway, I think that's it. Sorry if it feels all over the place; I find it hard to talk about everything that was going on in the film - there's whole sections and characters I haven't mentioned but I don't want to be at this forever - and even harder to present my thoughts in a linear way. Not that I'm ever that great at that, heh. But definitely, the best movie I've seen this year and the PERFECT summer movie because it's thrilling from start to finish, but makes you engage your brain at the same time. Just loads of fun.
For your time, a copy of the soundtrack.
Have you seen it? What'd you guys think?
QUICK POINTS
+ AMAZING special effects
+ Great use of an ensemble cast, great acting
+ Gorgeous, gorgeous cinematography
+ Didn't have trouble following it
+ Decent emotional grounding for such a stylized and technical film
+ Female characters who weren't nearly as underwritten as we usually get from Chris Nolan
+ Two PoCs in the supporting cast who weren't evil and didn't die
+ Tight, seriously impressive action sequences, not a moment of boredom
+ Awesome score
+ SOME OF THE COOLEST SCENES I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A MOVIE
+ SUITS, GLORIOUS SUITS
- Needed some more lighthearted moments (THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE TOM HARDY)
- Could've explored the supporting cast a little bit more - I know there wasn't much time for that but I liked them all and want to know more about them
SPOILERY DETAILS
+ Plot: For me the impressive thing about the storytelling was that Nolan took very simple storylines that have been done plenty of times in other narratives and somehow made an really original movie out of them because of how he got us from one point to another. The core of the story was really simple - one man trying to get home to his children - but as we get deeper into the movie things get more complicated. I liked that every time we reached a deeper dream state, we found out something else about Dom, something else about Mal and his relationship with her, and something else about how confused he is in his own mind.
+ The sci-fi: This was so cool. I like how some of it was explained and some wasn't - the logistics of dreams within dreams, the use of sedatives, the totems, our rebellious subconscious, the kicks and the music - all made pretty clear, but details like how that contraption actually works, and how Eames, the grifter on the team, was able to wear peoples' faces, were never told to us. I thought that was a good choice - it's all just there and we're not given any information that isn't essential to understanding where everyone was, how they got there, and how they needed to get back. I felt more immersed in it without the extra info-dumping.
There were four levels of the dream by the time they finished -- it was fascinating and suspenseful as hell to watch them layer on top of each other. What a superb editing feat. I really enjoyed the logic puzzle of the synchronized kicks and the expansion of time, and I didn't find it hard to follow. Partly because of the editing and partly because the cinematography in each dreamscape was so distinct. Some of my favorite bits were between the first and second levels of the dream, when the van was rolling and causing the gravity shifts in the hotel. The cuts from scene to scene: watching Arthur rolling with the van while asleep, then seeing him simultaneously bounce down that corridor, locked in combat - NJLDHALHFAKHDKJAHD. ASTOUNDING.
+ Cobb: I usually love Leo DiCaprio's work and thought he was great in this role - the broody hero who's a bit fucked up and self-sabotaging. Chris Nolan seems to like that type of guy, haha. But I bought his emotions and his mounting confusion. He was the character who got the most emotional exploration, obviously - and a movie that stylized with that many shiny technical distractions needed a strong emotional undercurrent. So that was Leo's job, his and Marion Cottilard's, and I think they did it pretty well. I was moved by their story.
+ Mal: Marion Cotillard is breathtaking, and talented. Mal was heartbreaking with a hint of malice underneath. She spent the whole movie as a projection of Dom's own subconscious so she wasn't really a complete person - she embodied all the things that made him feel the most grief and guilt. I wish she'd been explored a little more - what made her lose her grip on reality when Dom didn't? (OR DID HE.)
+ Arthur: WHAT A BAMF, AMIRITE. JGL was enough to make me want to see this movie all on his own - I would watch him read the phone book. I thought he delivered. Arthur was loyal and smart and badass and resourceful and had great chemistry with everyone, especially Eames and Ariadne. I shipped him with both of them. Also, he was walking around in impeccable suit after impeccable suit, looking slick as hell. I LOVE SUITS OKAY.
+ Ariadne: I LOVED HER. Firstly, I love her name (Mistress of the Labyrinth, I C WHUT U DID THAR CHRIS). Secondly, I loved how pivotal she was in the story, mostly because I didn't expect it. In my experience Nolan tends to underwrite his female characters, it's a consistent problem I have with most of his movies. But Ariadne's arguably the most important person in the film apart from Dom. Partly because she was our POV character and it's through her that we find out how everything works. This could've been done in a really clunky way but for the most part, it wasn't - it felt natural because of how Ellen Page played Ariadne's natural intellectual curiosity. She had more characterization than some of the other supporting characters and I loved that. She was brilliant and knew it, assertive, unwilling to jump blindly into a situation when it was clear from the start that Cobb was unstable, so it made sense when she joined him in his dream without permission, when she insisted to go on the job with them, etc. I thought she and Cobb played well off of each other, too. Loved watching them in Paris as Ariadne bent things to her will with this gleeful look on her face. Loved that she helped him so much.
AND YAY ELLEN PAGE. I've always liked her, Juno notwithstanding, but it's great to see her doing roles that aren't her usual type and carrying them off well.
+ Ken Watanabe is as flawless as ever and I enjoyed the subthread of his relationship with Cobb - the way the dialogue kept returning to it no matter how deep into the dream they went. I liked that he wasn't a villain and was as much a part of the team as the others - though of course, even though they're 'protagonists', they're all doing something terrible at the end of the day (which, as others have said, is never addressed). It was about Cobb fighting against his own mental crap, not being able to let Mal go. ETA c/ped from my comment in another LJ: I thought it was interesting because they seemed to be emphasizing that Fischer splitting the company was a good thing for the world energy market or something like that (based on Saito's speech and just how they framed the whole thing), and chose to stress that instead of the fact that they were getting to that point via mind rape and emotional manipulation.
+ The rest of the supporting cast were all aces. Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao. Every character was essential to the job and well-played. I love a great ensemble cast.
+ The ending: Har de har, Nolan. I thought it was cool, and pretty much expected, that he would add some little twist to throw things into question - I liked that he kept that open-ended so we could decide for ourselves. Was the whole thing in Dom's head the entire time, is the top going to stop spinning, has he really reunited with his kids, DOES HE EVEN HAVE KIDS ... etc. I like to think it stopped spinning and that he's really home, because I'm a sap.
+ Techincal stuff: What can I say, it was GLORIOUS. The cinematography and lighting, the effects - all amazing, all worth the price of a ticket. Zimmer's score was gorgeous - tense and fast-paced and heart-tugging in parts. Also, it's most assuredly going to get an Oscar nomination for sound editing. This was the first film I've ever seen where I was actually thinking "how awesome is the sound editing in this scene" - the foot chase in Kenya ALONE.
+ DID I MENTION IT HAD JGL WALKING AROUND IN SLICK-ASS SUITS THE WHOLE TIME. MOST OF THEM THREE-PIECE, EVEN.
Anyway, I think that's it. Sorry if it feels all over the place; I find it hard to talk about everything that was going on in the film - there's whole sections and characters I haven't mentioned but I don't want to be at this forever - and even harder to present my thoughts in a linear way. Not that I'm ever that great at that, heh. But definitely, the best movie I've seen this year and the PERFECT summer movie because it's thrilling from start to finish, but makes you engage your brain at the same time. Just loads of fun.
For your time, a copy of the soundtrack.
Have you seen it? What'd you guys think?
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