I LOVED this movie...Well, I tried.
Three posts about one movie felt right until I couldn't think of anything I overwhelmingly loved about this movie? It has taken me close to 24 hours to process my initial impression, and I can honestly say this is a clear case of a summer blockbuster failing to live up to its hype. I maight have liked it more if I hadn't heard it was the best thing ever. It didn't leave me with enough questions to want to see it again. I don't feel as if there are lots of things I still want to figure out. It didn't excite me or make me feel anxious. It didn't make me worried or scared that I might be living in a dream right now. Quite frankly, there are well-done episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" which have more effectively planted seeds of existential unease in me than this film did.
There were some nifty concepts; an idea becoming like an infection that spreads through the brain; the dream as labyrinth in which we are imprisoned; the exponential nature of time within the dream world... any of these things would have made a good movie, but all squished together into two and half hours? It was too much and no idea was fully developed.
However, I am prepared to admit, I still love Christopher Nolan. This was an ambitious project, and I have to admire his guts and gusto. I really liked the "kick method" of waking someone up who is inside someone else's dream. The feeling of falling that makes us wake up before we hit the ground is used by the guys who go inside the dream as a way to get back out. Showing the different time scales in each dream layer took some, well, time, but it wasn't overly drawn-out. I understood how each character was constrained with respect to the level they "inhabited."
Watching this movie was a lot of work. That's a good thing, though. It set out to be a thinking movie, and although it didn't leave me with burning questions as to the story, it did leave me thinking about my impression of the viewing experience. Is that a really long way of saying I am still confused? If so, am I confused about being confused or am I confused about something that happened in the movie that is nagging at me? Did Christopher Nolan put something in my drink?
However, I am prepared to admit, I still love Christopher Nolan. This was an ambitious project, and I have to admire his guts and gusto. I really liked the "kick method" of waking someone up who is inside someone else's dream. The feeling of falling that makes us wake up before we hit the ground is used by the guys who go inside the dream as a way to get back out. Showing the different time scales in each dream layer took some, well, time, but it wasn't overly drawn-out. I understood how each character was constrained with respect to the level they "inhabited."
Watching this movie was a lot of work. That's a good thing, though. It set out to be a thinking movie, and although it didn't leave me with burning questions as to the story, it did leave me thinking about my impression of the viewing experience. Is that a really long way of saying I am still confused? If so, am I confused about being confused or am I confused about something that happened in the movie that is nagging at me? Did Christopher Nolan put something in my drink?
