Movies! : Dream Within A Dream...

8-2-2010
Day 151 of 365: ...within a dream. Throw in the ideas of dream invasion and manipulation, add some Matrix, Shutter Island and any heist movie (The Italian Job and Ronin come to mind) and the result is Inception, Christopher Nolan's latest cinematic juggernaut. It may be unfair to compare movies like this, but that's often what happens when a movie generates as much buzz and critical acclaim as this one has. Already approaching $200 million at the box office in just 3 weeks, Inception to date has also tallied over 100,000 votes on IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) for an average of 9.1 stars out of 10, which is currently good enough for 3rd best movie of all time behind The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather on the IMDB Top 250 Films list. (IMDB is widely regarded as the most comprehensive website for movie trivia and info on the web. The IMDB Top 250 Films are voted on by fans.)

Before I dissect this movie and upset the fans who have voted it so highly, I first want to say that I really liked it. The special effects were nice and it was mildly thought-provoking, but not "mind-blowing" as described by more than a few people I know. I loved The Matrix, which actually was mind-blowing. Any movie that uses the idea of environment manipulation (whether by dream, computer program, magic or whatever) unfortunately has a high standard to live up to, and The Matrix does "The Matrix" better than Inception. There's also the question of reality. What's real within the realm of the movie and what's fantasy? DiCaprio tackled that theme in his last film. Watching Inception almost felt like de ja vu, having just watched Shutter Island only a few short months ago. As for the plot, I don't want to say too much about the story so as not to give anything away; I hate "spoilers" as much as the next person, but it was basically a heist movie. Google the top 10 heist movies of all time and choose any of them to compare this one to.

My final point is concerning Inception's current ranking as the 3rd best movie of all time. I know that hot movies often start off highly ranked and then work themselves down over time, but there is, in my opinion, an unhealthy fan obsession with director Christopher Nolan. I'm pretty sure it started with his Batman movie reboot, Batman Begins (which I loved, by the way). The Batman movie franchise had tanked in recent years and Nolan single-handedly resurrected it, to the praise of millions of comic and movie fans. While much credit was definitely due, the ferver got a little too crazy with the release of the sequel, The Dark Knight (also loved), which was actually the #1 movie of all time on IMDB for several weeks in 2008 before dropping down to it's current spot at #12, which is still not too shabby. So now Inception is #3, but for how long? I'm not saying it's not a great movie, it's just not as deep as many people think and it's definitely not as original. In the end, I know there's "nothing new under the sun", but try a little harder to fake it next time.

Grade: A-