Worth Staying Awake For

The first five minutes of Christopher Nolan’s Inception were, in my humble opinion, some of the most painful moments in cinematic history. It was at that point that I realized I was in for an exceptionally good movie. When I decided to stop trying to figure things out, realized that this film would probably require more than one viewing, I opened my mind (get it?) for a terrifically enjoyable movie experience.

Where to begin? To try and review this movie without going into deep detail about the plot is going to be difficult, but I am not in the business of ruining twists and endings, so I will do my best. Inception explores the exploits of a team of, for lack of a better word, thieves who are able to enter a subject’s subconscious when they are dreaming and extract, and in very rare cases implant, information. It sounds cool, until one factors in the easy blurring between subconscious and reality, leading to a series of dangerous and compromising situations.

I knew none of this upon entering the cinema. In hindsight, it probably would have helped me to shuffle through the first few scenes—if I had had any idea what the movie was about, I most likely wouldn’t have felt like my mind was melting. This being said, there are dozens of layers to the plot; IMDB boards are buzzing with speculations regarding the tense and utterly maddening last scene (not that I read IMDB boards).

I was impressed with the acting, for the most part. I think that Nolan did a good job of highlighting each of the characters in the ensemble cast. It was interesting to see Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Ellen Page all sharing the same screen, but each carried their role in a mature and thorough manner. I was glad that DiCaprio was able to shake off the rigidity and stiltedness that I believe he brought to Shutter Island. I don’t buy that Inception was the highlight of his career, but it proved that he’s earned the chops that make him a household name.

While the plot and the acting were the two most integral components of this film, there is much to be said for both the writing and directing. Yes, there were a few standard “action movie” lines, but the dialogue, for the most part, flowed naturally and seemed realistic, if not a little bit repetitive. In a similar vein, Nolan’s directing was not clumsy, throwing me back to his earlier film, Memento. His integration of mind-blowing special effects (slow motion, zero-gravity fight scene, an entire city folding into itself, etc.) with touching and realistic moments was tasteful and refreshing in light of recent steps backward made by others in his field.

Inception was definitely worth seeing, and I believe it is the type of movie that will stand up upon further viewings. A good movie is one that stays with me, that my brain has to systematically work through, even in the final moments before I drift off to sleep. Inception did just that. Sweet dreams.  

"What's the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. Which is why I have to steal it." 

Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

Spoiler Alert: It's Awful.

                During long car rides or nighttime walks on the beach, my friends and I usually find ourselves involved in a game of choice, where players are expected to pick the less awful of two horrendous options. For example, I may have to decide whether I would rather freeze to death or drown. After my recent viewing of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender,  I am a strong believer in the fact that no option my friends provide could be worse than the potential of ever having to see that movie again. If I had one opportunity to go back in time, complete with the ability to erase one event from my life, I would prevent myself from shelling out $11.50 to view what is, bar none, the worst movie I have ever seen.

                

             I will preface this scathing, and at very least strongly-worded, review by saying that I think the show is great. I recognize that it’s silly and kind of pointless/predictable, but at least it is entertaining, which is certainly more than I can say about the movie adaptation. I was not expecting a “good” movie. I knew that the script would probably be awful, and that the acting most likely would not win any awards, but no amount of cynicism could prepare me for the utter catastrophe that played out before me.

                

                   When I watch a movie, even if I don’t like it I try to find something positive it has to offer. At first, I thought that the action scenes would be interesting and visually pleasing. They were neither. For a movie about people who can physically control the elements in any which way they please, there was not very much “bending” going on. For every half-hearted blast of fire or water, there was a several minute precursor which I can only describe as a ballet routine. Maybe it was martial arts, and maybe I’m a jerk for not being able to see the art in it, but the long exercise made the already-kind-of-boring element bending even less exciting.

                

                   Similarly, I was ready to give the acting a chance. I was hoping that at least Dev Patel would be good, but I quickly realized that his film career went from Slumdog Millionaire to The Last Airbender. I almost don’t blame him for not even trying to act. The other characters, funny and vibrant in the show, were monotone excuses for their cartoon counterparts and made the 103 minute runtime almost unbearable. The plot was also non-existent, skipping from storyline to storyline with utter disregard for any sense of lucidity or tempo. Every comic bit from the series was left out, and the characters, even if they hadn’t been played like robots, were written to be shells of their developed selves (at least, developed for a children’s show on Nickelodeon).

                 

                I was actually excited for this movie. In my heart of hearts I knew it was going to be terrible, but even the twisted depths of my imagination could not predict how terrible. It’s almost like Shyamalan was playing a joke on the world. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so sad, didn’t take itself so seriously or make me so angry. It is safe to say that I have never been so disappointed with a cinematic experience in my long movie-viewing career, and I hope that I can recover from the shocking failure before I give up watching movies all together. If The Last Airbender is representative of where the American film industry is headed, consider me an expat. Seriously? Save yourselves.

It would hurt me too much to post either a trailer or a quote on this blog...