Inception – Where’s the manual?
Posted on July 16, 2010
Filed Under Cultural Highlights
Still scratching my head over Inception, Chris Nolan’s cross between a James Bondesque large-scale action thriller and a Matrix-like metaphysical videogame (or possibly Glass Bead Game). It’s absorbing in a three-dimensional chess kind of way, but never really emotionally involving, because the viewer (well, me anyway) is always going “wait a minute. What level are we on? Which rules apply here?” The constant effort to keep things straight means it’s difficult to get caught up in the story (it’s not like I can’t deal with anything beyond a straightforward linear structure, I hasten to add. I loved Nolan’s breakthrough feature Memento. But there the tricksy structure enhanced the emotional dynamic instead of, as I feel it does here, substituting for it.)
No, see, you're asleep but you're actually awake, but you're asleep, but..
Like the lesser Bond films, there are too many extended sequences featuring legions of anonymous henchmen chasing our hero – or a member of his squad – that strike me as much ado about nothing, though maybe boys feel differently. Also, the story omits a crucial element: flawed hero – check; driving need – check; ever-increasing obstacles – check; support characters – check; romance character – check; time constraint – check; principal antagonist – ch…oh, wait a minute.
Certainly many critics rate Inception highly, although The Wall Street Journal and I would seem to be on the same page, which may be a first. I wonder if there’s a certain type of brain that prefers navigating complicated structures – and chases – to navigating complex emotional relationships. Which would explain why some people love Grand Theft Auto while others have better things to do, like the laundry, or filing, or watching X Factor. It’s not that I didn’t like Inception – and it’s not like something on the goopy level of Twilight: Eclipse is just my cup of tea instead – but ultimately, although a film that is all about how movies resemble dreams, it is not a dream you can lose yourself in.
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