Inception, Opinions?

[EcHoFiiVe]

I watched Inception over the weekend, after hearing how amazing and must see it was, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't that impressed. I didn't find the plot line all that deep. The special effects were really cool, but that isn't enough to keep me entertained. I might be missing something big, but I didn't think that the "depth" of the story, for lack of a better term, held up to the reviews. I feel like this supposed extreme depth was completely feigned and didn't actually exist. Basically what I got from it, was; Starts off in a dream, dying in dream wakes you up, pain in dream is actually felt. DiCaprio gets job from the person he just stole from, and neither of them appears to have any sort of problem with that. DiCaprio has a bunch of nondescript people after him, who he proceeds to run from, and beat the ever loving shit out of. He accepts job so he can go back to the states, asks (who appears to be his father for help) and his father gives him a grad student to potentially mentally destroy, and the grad student is initially reluctant to help, then 5 minutes later returns to help, with the reasoning being that "there's nothing quite like it". Basically from this point on, it's a cluster fuck of dreams within dreams, and at the end you see the top spinning, and the guy fails to check if it kept spinning, because he's ecstatic to finally see his children who are sitting in the same spot that they have been for the past few years, presumably cold, smelly, and very afraid, since they apparently have no guardians besides perhaps the wolves in the woods nearby, all the while, the top presumably keeps spinning, meaning DiCaprio is still in a dream yadda yadda yadda. Thats basically what I got from the movie. I feel like I'm either missing some huge point that makes this movie great, or everyone I've asked about it is easily impressed. Does anyone agree with me? Does anyone know what I'm missing thats keeping this movie from being great for me?

 

[Dr Snakeman]

You are wrong. That movie is awesome. It's enjoyable, and very different, and the acting is spot-on. You aren't missing anything, you just need to watch it again and like it. If you want a more in-depth explanation of why it's awesome, check out MovieBob's review.

We're done here.

 

[Marter]

I really enjoyed it, but I can definitely see how it isn't for everyone. For me though, top movie of 2010 so far.

 

[EcHoFiiVe]

The acting is good, I'm not saying anything mechanical like that is shoddy, I'm just saying the story line wasn't as captivating as people made it out to be. And I get that they were going for complexity with the whole dream within a dream within a dream, within a completely different person's dream, but it wasn't that like spellbinding to me. I think a way better movie that had the same type of complexity going on was The Prestige. This is just my opinion but The Prestige had a far better story line than Inception, and it's complexities that arguably made it a deeper movie didn't seem forced just for the sake of them being there.

 

[Mr Thin]

Now that's not fair, you can describe any movie negatively by using short clipped sentences.

Bunch of Italian guys do criminal stuff, get screwed over, younger son takes over business, life goes on. There, I just did the Godfather.

Some guy goes crazy, starts fighting himself, creates a cult, realizes he's crazy, stuff explodes. There, I just did Fight Club.

Middle aged man has midlife crisis. American Beauty. Bam.

Describing movies like this doesn't mean they're bad. I get the feeling you didn't really want to enjoy Inception, because of all the hype.

Really, I don't know how someone can watch Inception and not enjoy it, unless they didn't understand what was going on. I can't really explain why you don't like it.

Oh, and by the way, the credits roll before the top finishes spinning so that you don't know whether he's still in a dream or not. It leaves you unsure. You weren't supposed to assume it kept spinning, you were supposed to not know.

And congratulations on liking The Prestige, that also is an awesome movie.

 

[Hosker]

I really enjoy, but with anything that is popular there are just as many people who don't like it.
I found the story interesting and original; however, your mileage may vary on that. The acting was good with likeable characters to boot.

Not everyone likes everything.

 

[Shivarage]

There is nothing more complex than nonsense.

 

[EcHoFiiVe]

Now that's not fair, you can describe any movie negatively by using short clipped sentences.

Bunch of Italian guys do criminal stuff, get screwed over, younger son takes over business, life goes on. There, I just did the Godfather.

Some guy goes crazy, starts fighting himself, creates a cult, realizes he's crazy, stuff explodes. There, I just did Fight Club.

Middle aged man has midlife crisis. American Beauty. Bam.

Describing movies like this doesn't mean they're bad. I get the feeling you didn't really want to enjoy Inception, because of all the hype.

Really, I don't know how someone can watch Inception and not enjoy it, unless they didn't understand what was going on. I can't really explain why you don't like it.

Oh, and by the way, the credits roll before the top finishes spinning so that you don't know whether he's still in a dream or not. It leaves you unsure. You weren't supposed to assume it kept spinning, you were supposed to not know.

And congratulations on liking The Prestige, that also is an awesome movie.

Well yeah, I obviously can't some it up with that one rant, but thats all I took from the movie. I understood it perfectly, like there wasn't any point where I was lost, but just the story line didn't pop out at me. I think if it was longer and had more time to kind of take the development of the whole dream within a dream thing, then I would be more impressed with it, but where it stands, it was nothing THAT special.

 

[EcHoFiiVe]

I thought it was shit. Acting was good, special effects were good, everything else, blergh.

Characters? One dimensional. Story? Craptastic. Script? There was one line, ONE line I actually liked.

And if someone says "Huuur, you jsut didn't understand it", it was simple as hell. I can't believe people talked it up to be a mind-fuck.

Yeah I'm in the same boat as you, but less forcefully. I feel like the way it was talked up, there was something I must be missing from it, because with reviews like that, I don't think it can be that simplistic.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

Now that's not fair, you can describe any movie negatively by using short clipped sentences.

Bunch of Italian guys do criminal stuff, get screwed over, younger son takes over business, life goes on. There, I just did the Godfather.

Some guy goes crazy, starts fighting himself, creates a cult, realizes he's crazy, stuff explodes. There, I just did Fight Club.

Middle aged man has midlife crisis. American Beauty. Bam.

Describing movies like this doesn't mean they're bad. I get the feeling you didn't really want to enjoy Inception, because of all the hype.

Really, I don't know how someone can watch Inception and not enjoy it, unless they didn't understand what was going on. I can't really explain why you don't like it.

Oh, and by the way, the credits roll before the top finishes spinning so that you don't know whether he's still in a dream or not. It leaves you unsure. You weren't supposed to assume it kept spinning, you were supposed to not know.

And congratulations on liking The Prestige, that also is an awesome movie.

Yeah, that was kind of my impression, too. Of course, I didn't come right out and say it, and for that, you have my respect.

I actually thought that The Prestige was Nolan's worst movie. This is Christopher Nolan we're talking about, though, so it's still a really good movie.

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

I thought it was awesome, but to each his own.

 

[mikespoff]

Now that's not fair, you can describe any movie negatively by using short clipped sentences.

Bunch of Italian guys do criminal stuff, get screwed over, younger son takes over business, life goes on. There, I just did the Godfather.

Some guy goes crazy, starts fighting himself, creates a cult, realizes he's crazy, stuff explodes. There, I just did Fight Club.

Middle aged man has midlife crisis. American Beauty. Bam.

Describing movies like this doesn't mean they're bad. I get the feeling you didn't really want to enjoy Inception, because of all the hype.

...

Excellent points. The description in the OP does nothing to explain why he didn't enjoy it, because teh movie cannot be boiled down to a quick paragraph and retain any of its potency.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Dont worry OT, you're not alone. I didnt care for it either. Granted, I work in a theatre, so take any hype you people that dont work in movie service businesses and multiply it but 15-20% because we find out about movies WAY before you guys do. BUt we also get it ruined be constant questions being asked, and that kills it.

Also, I was never a huge Dicaprio fan. I mean, yeah, he's talented, but ever since Titanic, he's pretty much been "the best" because he was in huge grossing movies (except Shutter Island, that parasitic, happiness consuming bomb). And I just dont think he's that good. Like I said, yeah he's good, But Titanic wasnt really even a great movie.

Then again, I'm biased against love movies because out of all the irrational things that happen in movies, love movie plot events seem the most unlikely. The wealthy man is going to turn down financial empires that would rival countries for a hooker or poor girl with the heart of gold? Keep dreaming. The poor boy who had to get aboard the ship as hired help is going ot give himself up so he can save the wealthy girl when he could instead take her necklace, cash it, and live handsomely? I dont think so. But like I said, I'm biased. Love is too sappy in movies.

But thats getting off topic. OT: Inception just didnt live up to the hype. When you have peoeple constantly asking you how good it is, or telling you how good it is and pretty much waiting for you to agree, a movie loses its charm. Thats not even including the fact we get it a week earlier then its release to watch for ourselves.

Aslo, bit of a side note. If you go to a theatre, dont ask the employees what they think of movies coming out. Its bad enough we have to hear every detail before the fans, but then that we have to listen to you ramble on about how good or bad it will be because you like one actor in it, or, you've seen one good scene in a commercial, it just makes us sick, and a few times *coughs*twilightseries*cough* violent enough to beat someone upside the head.

And you're poll isnt working at the time of this post, so you may want to look into that.

EDIT: Looking over this, I realized i neglected to say anyhting about the movie itself. INshort, why i didnt like the movie, was it never seemed to go anywhere. It took itself too seriously, acted like the audience was too dumb for the movie, and didnt really even end on a good note. I mean, I get sequals and stuff, but closure. You cant really tell anything from the end because you dont know if the... wiat....

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!

... if the top stops spinning or not.

 

[ImprovizoR]

You really don't know what a good movie is when you see one. You can make a negative review out of any movie the same way you did Inception review. Inception is a very smart thought provoking movie. If you don't see that then the problem is in you. But I guess you're just one of those elitist people who immediately don't like anything that majority likes. Same happened with The Dark Knight. People loved it (for a good fuckin' reason). And the more people liked it the more elitists emerged to trash the movie simply because everyone liked it. But elitists isn't really the right word. The right word is rather insulting so I wont say it.

 

[DevilWolf47]

I actually kind of liked it, but my standards of movies has been so low lately i'm not in a position to judge, at least not until i buy a new copy of Falling Down and find a copy of the original Austrian flick Funny Games.
The ability to fuck with a persons subconscious and the stress of just how tricky it would be is a clever concept, but the writing fell flat on it's ass. How can you train to make your projections militarized? If they were militarized, why are they all about as effective as drunken Storm Troopers, literally firing thousands of rounds and only nailing ONE SHOT?

If this movie had a better writing staff, i feel like they could have done a lot with it. Good concept, decent effects, in other words another fucking Star Wars. Good concept, decent effects, SHITTY WRITING AND-- well not so shitty characters, a few of the side characters actually were a little entertaining in Inception.

 

[Custard_Angel]

Bunch of Italian guys do criminal stuff, get screwed over, younger son takes over business, life goes on. There, I just did the Godfather.

Some guy goes crazy, starts fighting himself, creates a cult, realizes he's crazy, stuff explodes. There, I just did Fight Club.

Middle aged man has midlife crisis. American Beauty. Bam.

People talk in foreign languages interspliced with short duration scenes of high impact hyperviolence. Inglourious Basterds.

Miserable greedy bastard acts like a miserable greedy bastard. There Will Be Blood.

Guys sit around a table and talk for the entire movie. 12 Angry Men.

Guys invent time travel(?) and possibly(?) kill themselves(?), damage the space-time continuum(?), build a time machine(?) in a time machine(?) and... I'm confused. Primer.

Blue dong. Watchmen.

This stuff is actually quite fun...

On topic, Inception is subjectively a very good film.

The cinematography is extremely good, the dream-folding sequence and hallway fight scenes being of particular note.

The acting is of good quality across the board, particular note towards Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who I didn't realise was a good actor until this movie.

The scripting and characterisation are good because the characters and character intentions are believable. Some characters are there because their lives are at stake, some are there to see something done for the first time, some are there because their fascinated by the concept. Everyone has a legitimate reason to be involved.

The plot is both interesting and involving. Things aren't completely linear and require you to take note of things and consider what is going on in the different dream levels.

And also, screw it. If you don't like Inception, you'll never like Inception. It is a very high quality movie, and I'm glad it got the exposure it did.

Because... You know... After Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Memento etc. Christopher Nolan was just aching to finally make a good movie.

Don't hit your quote button. I'm joking. All of those are quality movies and I will gladly recommend all of them.

 

[Yossarian1507]

I loved Inception. Right now it's my second favorite movie of all time (right after Scent of a Woman).

I'm a big fan of complicated plots, and say all you want, it was pretty complicated. It was also well thought, and managed to keep me interested throughout the whole movie. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the special effects in the dream sequences (Arthur's fight in the hotel was awesome - admit it.), which filled the blank in this part of my mind which wanted to see some awesome action. Then, we have some really good acting (Leo Di Caprio continuing his hot streak after Shutter Island, Joseph Gordon-Levitt played the 'stoic role' really well, and Tom Hardy as Eames? Brilliant [also, I thought he will turn out to be some kind of traitor, but Inception once again shone by avoiding this cliche part of action movies]), fine script, and funny dialogs which actually were funny.

Also - the ending. Oh my the God, the ending. I held my breath for that last scene with the top spinning, and it ended in a best possible way. I spent DAYS arguing with my friends whether the top stopped spinning or not.

And one last part - My friends and I were barely able to spot any plot holes. After hours of arguments and counter-arguments, we finally agreed that there is only ONE plot hole in the entire movie (Why did Arthur not wake up in the van after the van started falling from the bridge? And if the kick supposed to wake him up had to occur on the same level as him, why didn't Youssuf wake up in the plane after the van started falling?). For a two and a half hour movie full of complicated plans - that's an amazing feat.

Overall, to each their own, but I really enjoyed Inception. I spent my cash on tickets 3 times, and I don't regret any single penny, and I'm planning to buy it on blu-ray as soon as it will come out in Poland.

 

[EcHoFiiVe]

You really don't know what a good movie is when you see one. You can make a negative review out of any movie the same way you did Inception review. Inception is a very smart thought provoking movie. If you don't see that then the problem is in you. But I guess you're just one of those elitist people who immediately don't like anything that majority likes. Same happened with The Dark Knight. People loved it (for a good fuckin' reason). And the more people liked it the more elitists emerged to trash the movie simply because everyone liked it. But elitists isn't really the right word. The right word is rather insulting so I wont say it.

I don't think thats fair to say. I could turn your own argument against you and say that you automatically assume anyone who doesn't like something thats mainstream, is an elitist, and has some sort of problem in them. And I didn't say I didn't like it because it was so popular, I said I didn't understand why it was so popular, which is drastically different. Think before you accuse someone of being elitist. Your argument would hold water if I said I didn't like it because of its popularity.

 

[DuplicateValue]

You are wrong. That movie is awesome. It's enjoyable, and very different, and the acting is spot-on. You aren't missing anything, you just need to watch it again and like it. If you want a more in-depth explanation of why it's awesome, check out MovieBob's review.

We're done here.

I'm assuming this is satirical, as I don't believe anybody in a sane mindset would suggest other people can't have different opinions.

 

[EcHoFiiVe]

Before I get called elitist again, I want to put this out there. The film DID have good points. The cinematics were really cool, the acting was great across the board as many of you have said. Really the only problem I have with the movie, is that the story line, IN MY OPINION, feigned depth, and was in reality simplistic to me. Nothing hard to follow, I didn't feel like I needed to watch it a second time to understand it. And people, don't get so defensive, a) it's a movie, and b) its not like I went on here saying "lawl, inc3pti0n suck3dd, any1 who like$ dis movi3 iz dum". I asked for opinions, not aggression lol. Post your opinions on why you think I'm wrong, don't go and bite my head off accusing me of being some elitist prick because of my opinions on a movie.