I am not one to jump on bandwagons, so when the hype about this movie was at its max I simply sat back and waited until I was actually able to walk in to the movie theater as the previews were getting started and still sit in the best spot.
I wanted to see the flick with an open mind and with the least possible expectations. It was fun. I did like it. But there are buts. Taking into consideration that the majority of the settings in the film were dreams I think it fell extremely short as far as visual experiences and places where we could have been taken. Seriously. I remember most of my dreams, and let me tell you they can get pretty freaky sometimes. No, not THAT kind of freaky (most of the time) but a wild out-of-this-word-fantasy-full-of-amazing-characters-and-crazy-settings-which-defy-all-notions-of-reality-as-we-know-it kind of thing. And we didn't get any of that in this movie. Well, just a little. So in that sense I was a bit disappointed. I mean, just to think about the realm of possibilities where this movie could've taken us... ah, forget it. Maybe my expectations are too high. But trust me, it was not because of the movie itself, it was only because I knew where the action takes place.
In any case, the movie is what it is and once I realized that it wasn't going to go where I kind of wanted it to, I took what I was given and was willing to run along with it. But it didn't quite run. It actually sort of stalled. It felt like it was gaining momentum a few times and then it just sort of repeated itself. And then it did it again. And then again. And then... well, you get my point.
I really feel like this movie could have used about 25 less minutes of playtime, particularly in the second half. And yes, I know that it was taking place in a dream, and that sometimes dreams do feel like they go on forever, but when you are catering to an audience you have to shoot for making that lasting forever feeling entertaining and not like the guy in charge of editing was taking two-hour lunches.
But I like Christopher Nolan. He is at least trying to be different and presenting concepts that your regular Janes & Joes don't think about much. I for one think that his best work is yet to come, and this film is another solid step in the making of that grand earth shattering mindfuck that will have everyone talking about it for a really long time.
That's somewhat fair. But aside from the (spoiler alert) slow-reveal that the whole thing could have been a dream inside a dream from the outset, the pretense is that these are the dreams of the rich, and generally rich people mostly keep their feet on the ground and not their head in the clouds, or so is the gestalt tale. So dreams of conference rooms and hotels and kidnappings and, at the deepest, James Bond style Arctic assaults fits in with the corporate anxieties the audience would expect, imo.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I must confess that a week after seeing this movie, I had a dream-inside-a-dream which involved me stealing Munster cheese from the supermarket. Waking from that dream, and believing "they" were on to me, I quickly scarfed the cheese down from its hiding place. But, when I fully awoke, and gave the dream some further reflection, I realized what I was really dreaming about was ultimately just Munsters under the bed....
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