Sunday, September 19, 2010

Inception + Things

So I saw Inception today. It was between that and the new Twilight movie (but not really, of course. Let's be serious.) Someone called the movie "a crushing bore." The movie is most certainly not that. I must consider the possibility that the reviewer went into the wrong movie theatre though, so I will forgive her.

The movie, partly because of its foundation on new technological innovations, is jarring, especially in its opening scenes. But they are technological innovations that are so cool, so interesting, and so fun to watch, that all is forgiven.

***SPOILERS TO FOLLOW***
I'll start by saying that the opening hook didn't really work for me. The movie is framed by the same scene at the beginning and near the end, but because I didn't understand what was going on at the start (my eyes were just waking up) it lost some of its power. The introduction of the movie's technological concepts and the plot itself, however, were handled much better. See it for yourself though.

I enjoyed the acting in the movie in that they did everything they possibly could to bring live and vigor to the characters using what few lines the characters did have. My father said that the actor he appreciated least was Ellen Page. Why is that? Well, I think it's because, despite her profile as a well-known actress, she wasn't given that many great lines, her personality was ill-defined, and her role as part of a motley crew of dream-tresspassers wasn't especially well-developed either. Part of the issue is that the movie's mind-bending action scenes required a lot of screen time and, frankly, two and a half hours of movie is long enough.

It did make me think of the novel I'm currently working on though, and how I'm trying to give characters one or two base personality characteristics and a well-defined role in a group. If it's too difficult to differentiate between characters, it's hard to connect to them, and a feeling of connectedness to the characters (whether its hate or empathy) is the most important part of storytelling.

In any case, it's a movie that I enjoyed. There are a great deal of questions that remain unanswered for me, but as there are a great many questions regarding any semi-sf stories I've read or movies I've seen, I'll refrain from asking them outright. A bit too much exposition for my liking but the concept is one that can clearly be used again in future movies by Nolan if he wants to (although the eye-popping cinematography and special effects won't be quite as enthralling seeing them the second time round).

Back to work now (reading Abercrombie's "Best Served Cold")
Also, it's good to have the power back. You know you live in a small town when it rains hard for thirty minutes and the power goes out for an hour...

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