Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan
“You musn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”
I liked Inception. I liked it very much. But I’m afraid that my appreciation of the movie will never rise above a strong feeling of “like”. For the first time in a long while, I was promised a film that might resonate intellectually and emotionally. Post-screening, I can confirm its intelligence…but I’m at a loss for the emotion.
Let me number my reasons…
(1) Inception is an intricate, methodical film. A meditation on labyrinths and mazes…layered like finely painted Russian dolls. Some people have described the plot as a game of chess, but I see this only in the characters, who are needed at various places within the time frame of the plot. It makes the movie a fascinating exercise in writing…but I’m not sure it’s anything other than such near-perfect mechanation. A film that tickles my logic centres alone isn’t enough to carry me through to its conclusion, and leave me satisfied. I have a heart that works hand-in-hand with my head.
(2) So why doesn’t Inception tickle any other part of my psyche? One of the reasons, sadly, is the variable acting. Tom Hardy as Eames, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, do fantastic work with what they’re given; they manage to infuse their characters with pasts, tastes, even private in-jokes, with nothing more than sheer force of personality (and, in my humble opinion, Levitt is the best thing about the film). Others are simply there as glorified window dressing, their talents barely tapped (I’m looking at you, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, and Ellen Page). But the worst offender is Leonardo DiCaprio…and I’ll reveal why in a moment…
(3) …since I have to put it into context. The primary reason this film is all-head, little-heart is because the core emotional issue of the film — Cobb’s guilt over his wife’s fate — never sells as believeable. Marion Cotillard attempts to milk the situation for all it’s worth, and some of the scenes involving Mal border on a frightening intensity (especially Ariadne’s elevator trip into Cobb’s mental basement)…but this type of situation can only be sold by the lead actor…
(4) …and DiCaprio is simply the WRONG lead actor for this role. He has impressed me on many occasions, in many different roles…but he is completely lacking in the gravitas required to sell the role of a damaged widower, desperate to alleviate his guilt and get home to his children. He’s too fresh-faced, too uncomfortable, too out-of-his-depth, and…frankly…too young. It needs someone older…someone with far more intensity, smouldering painfully under an ice-cold facade, ready to crack. Daniel Craig, or even John Hamm, would have been a far more suitable choice for this role. Sadly, while he tries his best, I simply never believe in DiCaprio as Cobb. The heart of the movie simply collapses — the emotional heart required to sell the scenario lacking proper conviction.
(5) Visually, Inception is held up as a triumph of visual effects, and there are moments of FX poetry: the swinging glass doors, the paradoxical stair case, and the best sequence in the entire film — the anti-gravity hotel fight and rescue (the only part of the movie where I felt myself breathlessly & emotionally invested). That said, by the time we get to the third level, ingenuity is traded in for dull gun battles, in a locale that is suddenly so off-putting in its strangeness that it completely throws me out of the film…and left me believing I was watching two different movies simultaneously…neither of which was gripping. Inception uses its FX work to maximum effect…but it’s not the groundbreaking, re-defining film of 2010 that The Matrix was in 1999…no matter how desperately is wishes to be.
Inception is an intricate, crystalline construction - it shines and gleams, but it’s too transparent. It attempts to construct a movie of hidden depths, but settles for more superficial levels. Plot-wise, it’s a 3-D chess board, where the pieces aren’t used to maximum effect; the end result is something that is satisfied with being extremely clever…when it could have been clever AND epic. A diamond shines, teasing the eye with layers and intricacies that need careful examination. Inception is more of a Swarovski crystal: it looks gorgeous at first glance, but the lesser quality means you can ultimately see right through it. A great pity.
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