Thinky thoughts about Inception

[fishpatrol]

So I went to go see Inception today and it was fantastic and shiny and pretty, but...

The entire premise (i.e. the mission) revolves around planting an idea in Fischer's mind, even if the lives of the team members are risked. Is such a high-risk mission necessary to bring down Fischer's company? Are there no other means to prevent Fischer's company from taking over? I found that part of the plot particularly weak and was a bit of a logic!fail.

The other issue I had was the characters' motives. Okay, Saito and Cobb, I get. Yusuf was being paid quite a lot -- presumably that was Eames's incentive as well. And Arthur? Idk, maybe he enjoys working with Cobb? Maybe he's also getting paid a lot for this job? But Ariadne? Especially in Dream Level #3, where she was adamant about going after Fischer in limbo, despite the others' protests (even Cobb hesitated!) -- what was that all about? What is she getting out of the deal?

Despite the logic!fail of the main plotline and the characterization fails (and as an aside: why is it that the character who makes the stoic and mysterious male protagonist get in touch with his ~*emotions*~ always female? The only female character in this movie --not counting Mal because she was technically not real-- and her main purpose was not her designing skills, but rather, her persistence at convincing Cobb to ~*examine his feelings*~)...uh, so despite all that, I really did enjoy the movie. :D;; I loved the idea of having layers of dreams and needing a "kick" to get out of each layer (I lovelove the fact that there needs to be this "designated driver" in each level to wake the others). The music was awesome, as expected -- Hans Zimmer never fails to deliver!

Lastly: did the top topple or not, at the end? I know it was supposed to be ambiguous, but my friend argued that it definitely toppled since it clearly wobbled at the end (he also insisted that there should've been a slo-mo sequence at the end that depicted Ariadne and Arthur testing their respective totems). I think it was still part of a dream, though -- the resolution was far too easy! The children were too young! And they had the same clothes on! Idk, it was all kind of trippy! \o\

I've been avoiding spoiler posts for the most part, so tell me what you guys think? (or point me to your reaction posts?)

And next week, I think I shall go see Salt. :>

Comments

[short-hemline.livejournal.com]

and as an aside: why is it that the character who makes the stoic and mysterious male protagonist get in touch with his ~*emotions*~ always female? The only female character in this movie --not counting Mal because she was technically not real-- and her main purpose was not her designing skills, but rather, her persistence at convincing Cobb to ~*examine his feelings*~

Yeah, this made me kind of sad, but I appreciated other things about Ariadne's character, such as the fact that she was played by Ellen Page ;) But, um, yeah...I agree, that was weird. Also, I don't know if you've seen Memento, so spoilers ahead, but I noticed that both movies are about a man haunted by the memory of his wife and driven insane with guilt thinking that he caused her death. It's like Mal and the guy's wife in Memento (and Ariadne) are not so much characters as they are motivators for the real characters. But whatevs, I still liked the movie a lot, too!

Also, am I the only person who left that movie shipping Arthur/Ariadne instead of Arthur/Eames or Arthur/Cobb? I usually have no interest whatsoever in het pairings, but now I ship Arthur/Ariadne like burning and there's no fic :( It's tragedy.

[kazie-oh.livejournal.com]

I also LOVED Inception but yeah, there were a few logic!fails. I really want to watch it again so I can look for certain things from the beginning.

The whole Ariadne thing was a bit off, yeah. If she's so amazing as an architect then why don't we get to see more of it? What is she really doing - babysitting Cobb? Just out of the goodness of her heart? I guess that they don't want to be killed and sent to limbo.

Limbo, on the other hand, is what I have most problems with. It's supposed to be this horrible place where you can lose your mind, right? Then why is it just pretty benign? I would have thought it was a place where gravity and all those things don't quite work the same way - you know, actual limbo. Is it just another level below the third level? So it's the fourth level of dreams? How could they follow Fisher into it? Aaahh I have questions!

I absolutely loved the gravity-free fight scene, though. How incredibly well done.

/rant :P

[spring.livejournal.com]

i saw it twice. this (http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/07/the_ultimate_explanation_of_in.html) made me realize that if it toppled or not, it doesn't matter. good stuff. :)

[akintay.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty good at disregarding possible plot holes and not even thinking about what might not work if a movie is really good. And Inception was amazing, so I just accepted things how they were in the movie.

And I kinda like not knowing if the whole thing ended up being reality or not :-)

[canyon_deye.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think about those things, lol. Maybe I'm too easy :D

IA with you though, I think it was still a dream in the end. Or I guess I just like to see it that way ;)

[wrangler.livejournal.com]

My reaction post (http://wrangler.livejournal.com/703851.html).

Thank you for criticising the film! Haha. I'm seeing a lot of squee but for me the meta is more interesting.

I quite like Ariadne being the only one to question Cobb. Like you, it kind of bothered me that it had to be about emotions because, y'know, she's female - but I do think it balanced itself out in that her confrontation of him and his authority was bold and ultimately correct.

[lemniciate.livejournal.com]

YES. Ariadne's lack of personal journey/purpose annoyed me. I wish for lots and lots of fandom exploration of how she is brilliant and real, and like, a college student. \o/

[scintilla10.livejournal.com]

I just saw this movie! (and also kind of feel like I was the last person on the internet to see it /o\). I agree with a lot of your criticisms of it; there were a lot of things I really loved about it, but too much of it felt, idk, kind of shallow? Like you, I felt like some of the character motivations were missing or incomprehensible (Ariadne especially), and I also felt like character interactions and relationships were only shakily developed. (For instance, I'm not sure why Arthur/Eames is the big slash pairing to come out of this movie? I mean, I kind of see it, but barely. D:)

The world building seemed weak too; I wanted to know more about where this technology/ideas had developed, how these people fell into this line of work, how they know each other, etc.

I think the ending was supposed to be purposely ambiguous. Which is kind of frustrating, because the whole sequence was so ridiculously too good to be true, with the inspiring music and the kids in the same clothes and in the exact same position on the lawn, that I didn't think it could be anything BUT a dream.

But then, I also think they totally underused the whole idea of the totems. (i mean, why did Ariadne make a chess piece? how do totems help if you are stuck in your own dream?)

I don't have a reaction post, but the comments to this post (http://coffeeandink.dreamwidth.org/1079996.html) bring up the possibility that Ariadne is Cobb's grown-up daughter who is in his dream trying to perform inception on him, and HOLY SHIT, I want that to have happened in the actual film!

(I kind of think I understand why fandom has exploded around this film in that there are incredibly interesting ideas at play and the characters are so -- well, lightly drawn, that it's the perfect fandom for fans to step in and fill in the blanks much more awesomely than the film did or, in fact, could have.)