The FIRST judging criteria of a movie for me, is how entertaining is it. That is, it should NOT bore me. It should be engaging, engrossing and immersive. By means of visuals, story or technique, I expect the film to make me forget the world around me and dig out the emotions in me…of happiness, sadness, awe, inspiration, tension, depression, dread and myriad others…sure, there have been films I saw ONLY for individual elements such as acting or its innovating / weird theme, but these films never felt remarkable (or even entertaining) on the whole.
Given my inherent curiosity and attraction towards working of mind and human psychology, its no wonder I was drawn towards works of Christopher Nolan. Memento was conceptually incredible and I really liked Batman Begins. I loved how the film, in detail, dwelled on the psychology of Bruce Wayne and believably depicted his transformation into Batman, step-by-step. The action scenes were impressive too. In the end, the movie was superbly entertaining. The Dark Knight was very average compared to it and The Prestige was just decent. And both certainly weren't as 'entertaining' as Batman Begins. When Nolan announced Inception, I was amongst the hundreds of thousands who wondered what creative genius will be displayed on celluloid this time..
The tagline of Inception is: Your mind is the scene of the crime. How intriguing! And it offers so many curious possibilities for its practical implementations. The trailer looked decidedly action-oriented though…to my mild disappointment.
I saw Inception on its release day (the last English movie I saw on its premier day was Star Wars Episode III). The theater was packed and Inception took better start than combined figures of other 3 same-day-release Hindi films. Now these films weren’t your usual run-of-the-mill types too, but still multiplex audience preferred the Western science fiction actioner than anything else. I also witnessed whole-hearted immersion of theater audience after a long time, especially during the later half of the film. There were cheers, claps, laughter and sighs. The ending reaction especially, left the whole theater *audibly* awestruck!
My impressions of the film? It is smart, grand, thrilling, pulse-raising and heart-stopping! The thrill and tension is almost palpable. I remember myself sitting on the edge of the chair most of the times, completely hooked and mesmerized with what's going on the screen…it felt as if I was in the frame and witnessing the events in first person. Its amazing how a well written, tight script and talented director can make you feel like this..
The basic premise of the film is about planting an idea into someone’s subconscious, an ‘inception’, as they call it. It is achieved by means of entering an individual’s dream. Actually, dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream! It *may* sound confusing here, but if you are paying sufficient attention to the screen and have decent IQ, you shouldn't feel lost! Nevertheless, it is credible that the film never leaves audience so confused so as to lose interest and give up totally. You are whisked into the proceedings with just about enough explanation for everything that is going on. Still, admittedly, it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, even if you understand most of the film, the ending provides tremendous amount of debating material (which is exactly the purpose of such type of ending!).
So as an action-thriller, a heist movie, it is one of the best out there. But as a psychological thriller (something what I had initially thought), not so much. Its not as intellectual as is it fast-paced. It is an action movie with a sci-fi layer. A thinking man’s action movie, if you will. The special effects and ‘dreams’ aren't THAT breathtaking or may be I am just spoiled by video games, which do this whole Escher-esque environments in a whole lot better ways. Also, as much good it sounds conceptually, the ‘dreams’ are still decidedly familiar environments- city streets, buildings and snow mountains. It could have been weirder and more innovative I suppose. Soundtrack is phenomenal though.
Overall, Inception is immensely entertaining and I look towards my second viewing!
Given my inherent curiosity and attraction towards working of mind and human psychology, its no wonder I was drawn towards works of Christopher Nolan. Memento was conceptually incredible and I really liked Batman Begins. I loved how the film, in detail, dwelled on the psychology of Bruce Wayne and believably depicted his transformation into Batman, step-by-step. The action scenes were impressive too. In the end, the movie was superbly entertaining. The Dark Knight was very average compared to it and The Prestige was just decent. And both certainly weren't as 'entertaining' as Batman Begins. When Nolan announced Inception, I was amongst the hundreds of thousands who wondered what creative genius will be displayed on celluloid this time..
I saw Inception on its release day (the last English movie I saw on its premier day was Star Wars Episode III). The theater was packed and Inception took better start than combined figures of other 3 same-day-release Hindi films. Now these films weren’t your usual run-of-the-mill types too, but still multiplex audience preferred the Western science fiction actioner than anything else. I also witnessed whole-hearted immersion of theater audience after a long time, especially during the later half of the film. There were cheers, claps, laughter and sighs. The ending reaction especially, left the whole theater *audibly* awestruck!
My impressions of the film? It is smart, grand, thrilling, pulse-raising and heart-stopping! The thrill and tension is almost palpable. I remember myself sitting on the edge of the chair most of the times, completely hooked and mesmerized with what's going on the screen…it felt as if I was in the frame and witnessing the events in first person. Its amazing how a well written, tight script and talented director can make you feel like this..
The basic premise of the film is about planting an idea into someone’s subconscious, an ‘inception’, as they call it. It is achieved by means of entering an individual’s dream. Actually, dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream! It *may* sound confusing here, but if you are paying sufficient attention to the screen and have decent IQ, you shouldn't feel lost! Nevertheless, it is credible that the film never leaves audience so confused so as to lose interest and give up totally. You are whisked into the proceedings with just about enough explanation for everything that is going on. Still, admittedly, it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, even if you understand most of the film, the ending provides tremendous amount of debating material (which is exactly the purpose of such type of ending!).
So as an action-thriller, a heist movie, it is one of the best out there. But as a psychological thriller (something what I had initially thought), not so much. Its not as intellectual as is it fast-paced. It is an action movie with a sci-fi layer. A thinking man’s action movie, if you will. The special effects and ‘dreams’ aren't THAT breathtaking or may be I am just spoiled by video games, which do this whole Escher-esque environments in a whole lot better ways. Also, as much good it sounds conceptually, the ‘dreams’ are still decidedly familiar environments- city streets, buildings and snow mountains. It could have been weirder and more innovative I suppose. Soundtrack is phenomenal though.
Overall, Inception is immensely entertaining and I look towards my second viewing!
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