In the two years between The Dark Knight and Inception, Christopher Nolan's genius has grown in leaps and bounds. It took me a week from the first time I saw Inception until now, when , after the third time I've seen it, I'm sitting down to write the review. My intention in delaying this long was to prevent myself from rambling about the brilliance of the movie like a fool for a few pages. Well, a week has come and gone. I'm fresh off my third viewing of the movie, and I'm still not past mindless rambling yet.
Where do you begin with a movie such as this? On my way home from my most recent showing, I was trying to figure out how I would go about reviewing this movie. The words that came to my head seemed inadequate, descriptions seemed superfluous.
I suppose I'll start simple. Inception is absolutely, utterly, mind-bogglingly amazing from beginning to end. Absolutely everything worked for me - the movie as a whole was so well done that it stands out from everything else I've ever seen.
Artistically speaking, nobody does it quite like Nolan. Each camera angle, each cut and shot, is chosen with care and is meaningful. The symbolic way he chooses to represent our subconscious and the layers of it are incredible. Above all else, this movie is shocking because of how beautiful it is. The beauty of Inception simply cannot be overstated. At each viewing, I found myself either grinning ear to ear or with my mouth hanging open, because the movie is truly a visual spectacle. Even the destruction of the dream worlds is handled with such finesse that they are inspiring in their beauty.
And it is not only the visuals that are beautiful. The storyline is equally astonishing, perhaps even more jaw-dropping than the visuals that propel it. I will not delve into the storyline here, because I wouldn't be able to stand spoiling it for anybody. One of the joys of the movie, after all, is the thrill of discovering just what Nolan is up to. I will say, however, that you have never seen anything like it before.
One of the other things that makes the movie so damned good is the soundtrack. I'm not sure what it is about the pairing of Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer that produces such excellent movie scores, but I hope it continues. Zimmer's score for Inception is one of the best things I've heard in so long, especially while watching the actual movie. The score fits perfectly with the tone of the movie. It is intense, driving, beautiful... it is powerful. Like all the other pieces of the movie, it fits together perfectly with everything else to make the whole experience cohesive.
Last week, I posted the 3rd trailer for Inception right here on the blog. Other than the fact that the trailer made the movie look amazing, the thing that stood out to me was the music. The song is called Mind Heist, and it's by Zack Hemsey (you can listen to it and purchase it here). The music is intense, particularly the bassy horn stabs, and the way they contrast the fast, sharp strings.
After seeing the movie the first time, I was convinced that Zimmer had done the music for the trailer as well (though some digging online showed I was wrong), because the song fit so well with score from the movie. In particular, there is one part in the movie that I especially loved, because the music suddenly morphs into the horns from the trailer. I almost jumped out of my seat with excitement. It's a small detail, but it seemed like a bone to the folks who love this kind of music. It tied the movie back in to the trailer that made me want to see it. Very freaking sweet. On the whole, this gets my vote for the best score Zimmer's ever wrote (ah, poetry).
Moving on. I'd like to point out that Leonardo DiCaprio is amazing. He's come a long way since I couldn't stand him in Titanic (granted that was probably more the general crappiness of that movie than DiCaprio himself). Ever since I saw Blood Diamond and then The Departed, I have made a point to see every movie he releases. The man out acts most people in Hollywood, and Inception is no different. He brings Cobb to life and really makes us feel for his plight.
DiCaprio is just one in a list of people that made the characters in this movie great. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Cobb's sidekick and partner in crime, Arthur. Arthur is a complete badass once he enters the dream worlds. In particular his shifting gravity fight scenes (yes, there are a couple of those in this movie) were quite brilliant. Ellen Page plays the architect, Ariadne. What a beautiful name that is. Tom Hardy plays my favorite character in Eames. If I were entering somebody's dream world, I'd want him to come along for sure, both for his humor and his skill. Cillian Murphy (a favorite of Nolan's) plays Robert Fisher, Jr., the, ah, subject. I love Murphy's acting in this and everything else I've seen him in. I'm quite shocked that he's not been in more movies. Hopefully Inception will pave the way for more screen time for him.
The cast is rounded out with folks such as Ken Watanabe (who is also awesome) and Tom Berenger and Michael Caine (Whoo hoo!). Individually, they all turn in great performances, but as a team, they really drive the movie through all its complicated and twisting layers.
Once again, I have to come back to how all the pieces come together so perfectly to make a wonderful, amazing, [insert any other praising adjectives that come to your mind here] whole. This movie is so great because all the little things that Nolan does work so well. His vision for this movie is epic, and through all the things he does, I was left with a sense of wonderment and adrenaline fueled joy that no other movie I have seen could match. Part of that was the thrill of the discovery, seeing just how deep Nolan's vision went, seeing how he realized that vision so perfectly. Part of it was the novelty of the experience. When I tell you that you haven't seen anything like this before, I am not kidding. I've seen numerous reviews that draw comparisons to a couple of other movies, but those just don't match the depth and scope of what Nolan has accomplished with Inception. It is at once a love story and a comedy, an action movie and a moving drama. I mean, where else can you see a movie that may move you to tears in the same two and a half hours that you witness a freight train plow through downtown or a fight scene that takes place as the center of gravity keeps changing?
Two years ago, I called The Dark Knight the best movie I'd ever seen. Art, I said. I maintain that The Dark Knight is a work of art, but Inception is a work of art on an entirely different level. It is a masterpiece, a Mona Lisa in a medium that rarely can produce a thing of such beauty. Despite my attempts at such, the power and beauty of this movie are impossible to describe; you simply must see it to appreciate it. I could tell you all day about how the Mona Lisa is a painting of a lovely woman, but until you actually witness its beauty for yourself, you will never understand. I've told you how wonderful Inception is, now the only thing left to do is to go see it.
And see it in theaters. Trust me when I say you owe it to yourself to see Inception on the biggest screen you can. And, like I did with Star Trek last year, I will ask you to actually pay to see it. Like I said then, Hollywood listens only to your wallet, so let them know that movies that are as astonishing as this should be attempted more often.
In Official Xbox Magazine, they grade games on a 10-point scale. Since they have already given out a perfect ten, they introduced a new score, the eleven. They describe it as "A unicorn. Will never happen. Never." Well, Inception is that unicorn, the perfect movie that I very much doubt will have an equal in our lifetime. So, I find it quite fitting that it is graded as such.
No comments:
Post a Comment