Christopher Nolan of Dark Knight fame is back with the massive Inception starring Leo Dicaprio and Ellen Page. It's a huge lumbering ambitious attempt at a truely great film. Although it almost gets there at times, the self-indulgent length, 148 minutes, and utlra-repetive gun fight sequences let it down. That's not to say there's not genius and dazzle aplenty here, there are.
It's a plot about dream invaders, thiefs that enter a person's dream to steal valuable secrets. The film starts well enough but then lurches around awkwardly through its middle, some tighter editing and more revealing dialouge would have helped. The old "am I dreaming or awake" ploy wears thin in the first hour. It's only when we are allowed deeper into Dicaprio's character's dark secret that it lures us in. More character study would have been welcomed here instead of endless gunfire battles that aren't very inventive or effective
The last 40 minutes are a hoot, jumping between reality and dreams within dreams within dreams. Of particular note is a dream-based hotel corridor that spins in weightlessness- a reaction to the awake character's going through a car crash and plunging off a bridge into the sea. Some of the visual city dream pieces here are astounding, reministcent of Dark City.
I have to say the ending 10 minutes of the film are moving and effective, but Inception could have been so much more.
Rating:
Presentation: 30
Plot: 28
Character: 26
Total: 84
