Oscars Flick Picks

Faulty Sound Editing And An Oppressive Score Mar An Otherwise Excellent Movie

CAUTION: If you are pregnant and suffer from a compressed bladder, or if your prostate is giving you trouble, or even if you just cannot watch a movie without that extra large soda then you might want to wait for “INCEPTION” to be released on DVD. Its 148 minute length, combined with its very involved plot, require that the viewer give it their full attention because there is ALWAYS some new plot twist or character revelation being sprung on the audience. No popcorn munchers or sotto voce yappers are welcome here. Just be prepared to sit and watch the movie. Novel concept, eh?

Ellen Page as Ariadne

There is so much to like in this movie that it is hard for me to begin, so I’ll just compare it to Christopher Nolan’s last offering, “The Dark Knight”. Whereas the previous film was a turgid mess of a moral tar pit that took itself far too seriously, “Inception” is crystal clear in its intentions while carefully exploring its ambiguities without distracting from the story. In fact the biggest ambiguity ends up being the fulcrum that levers the story from just another action flick into a hair raising drama that keeps the viewer on the edge of his seat. Here DiCaprio’s brooding, angry presence ends up being the absolute center of everything that happens in an intricately designed plot to change the future by implanting a simple idea into an unsuspecting target’s mind. More on THAT later…

The plot is actually quite simple: To implant an idea into Robert (Cillian Murphy) Fischer’s mind, at the behest of rival businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe), that will cause him to dismantle the financial empire that his industrialist father had spent a life time building. Other than the expected financial rewards there is an additional payoff for Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), that being Saito’s promise to erase the arrest warrant issued on Cobb that prevents him from going home to his orphaned children. But to accomplish this Cobb has to engineer the most complex plan that he has ever conceived, including more personnel than he has ever used.

Watanabe as Saito

Drawing on a couple of his usual team members Cobb also includes Saito and a brilliant, young architect named Ariadne, played by Ellen Page, who is expected to design the alternate reality that they will be plunging into. Modern game designers will recognize Ariadne’s task for it is the same one that they themselves take on when they develop a multi level video game, complete with trap doors and endless loops and back doors that only THEY are aware of. These cleverly concealed glitches in the architecture are necessary in order to keep the subject’s subconscious from anticipating the team’s actions. The one wild card though is that there is no accounting for the subconscious projections of the subject that the team aren’t aware of and how those projections will change the original plan. THAT is when the fun starts!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt battles the bad guys

As Cobb’s right hand man, Arthur, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, tries to “manage” the operation involving six people in deep dream sleep Cobb’s own subconscious demons, in the form of his dead wife, unexpectedly complicate things by trying to destroy Cobb himself, a vestige of his overwhelming guilt over his role in her death. The slowest parts of the film arise from Cobb trying to lay his guilt to rest by  talking to his dead wife, played by Marion Cotillard and largely wasted, a mere projection of his subconscious, but it is Ariadne who wrenches Cobb back to reality. Well, maybe not reality per se, but something closer to it! From there on the pace picks up exponentially and the action is non stop frantic until the conclusion.

You want explosions? You got it! You want car chases? You got it! You want special effects? You got those in SPADES! The cinematographer SHOULD have been listed amongst the co-stars of this film because THAT is what people expected to see, and that is what they GOT! Along with the action sequences the color palette was also chosen to project a dream-like quality to the surroundings. Just look at some of the images I have posted here and you will see what I mean. Whereas many action flicks give you hard edged images, in “Inception” those hard edges have been rendered slightly fuzzy, just like real dreams.There is no blood splattering the screen, but characters in this dream world usually die a bloodless death.

But here I have to mention my two gripes about the film, small though they may be, but they really hindered my enjoyment on the film.

His pounding,  insistent and overwhelming accompaniment almost washes away the quieter moments in the film, although it DOES enhance the tension in many scenes, creating a sense of impending doom. I honestly cannot remember one moment when it wasn’t present, much like a low grade headache that hovers in the back of the eyes till you lean over, then WHAM!

Maybe it’s just ME, but why is it that when the actors on screen speak softly, or even worse, WHISPER, that the sound editor doesn’t bother to attenuate the mikes to make it much easier for the audience to hear what they are saying. Many times I stop at the courtesy counter to pick up a set of wireless headphones so that I don’t miss the quiet conversations, but in this case it STILL wasn’t enough! Maybe I’ll just have to wait for the DVD release this Christmas so that I can watch it with subtitles. Frustrating!

Christopher Nolan

But before I close I want to give credit where it is due: To Christopher Nolan! His direction is what made this movie as coherent as it was considering the complex nature of the story. Only a person at the top of their craft could come close to matching this accomplishment. If he doesn’t receive recognition in the form of Oscar considerations then something is seriously wrong with the industry! This effort was far superior than “The Dark Knight” AND a much better film as well. His previous films, “The Prestige”, and especially the earlier “Memento”, were both mind bending efforts which possibly prepared Nolan for a project of this magnitude. As pure filmmaking, though, Inception is masterful, in a league — no, a sport — all its own, and Nolan is the only star.

For sheer entertainment value I rate “INCEPTION”

WORTH SEEING A SECOND TIME!

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