Inception

 

Inception Not as Original as You Think

Inception was quite a rare film in that it truly achieved the status of a blockbuster film while breaking one of the most fundamental rules of Hollywood films. Hollywood films are designed to tell stories that audiences make an emotional connection with as they follow the protagonist through their journey. In the movie Inception it is impossible to decipher what actually happens and what is simply a dream. Hollywood usually has pretty clear cut rules that dream sequences must be labeled as such so that the audience does not confuse their place in the plot of the film that they are watching. For that aspect I admire the film.

However, I believe that one fundamental problem with the film is that without the audience knowing what they should care about that therefore there is no real emotional connection that can be made to any of the characters in the film. Quite simply the movie also becomes exceptionally boring at times because there is no tension in the film because nothing matters within the context of the film. Essentially, one scene has nothing to do with another and yes that makes the film’s dreamlike qualities work well but it also makes for a very boring narrative. Furthermore, plenty of other films have examined the idea of a dream within a dream. The first A Nightmare on Elm Street film in my opinion handles this concept in a far better way than Inception did in every way imaginable. This truly interesting plot device works in A Nightmare on Elm Street because you have just essentially watched the character of Nancy have a nightmare. The dream never ends!

Additionally, other films that have dealt with the concept of examining dreams are the exceptionally underrated Vanilla Sky, Jacob ’s ladder, and even The Wizard of Oz which people tend to forget about. In fact almost any David Lynch film examines the world of dreams in their own unique way. Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive are probably his two best films that examine how dreams and reality can often become entwined. If we extend this line of thinking further to say that Inception is a movie that makes us question what is truly “real” and what is not, than we can talk about a plethora of films that have examined this very concept.

 Total Recall, The Matrix, The Machinist, Dark City, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fight Club, Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams and even the brilliant movie If all deal with the idea that reality is just a construct of the unconscious mind in some way shape or form. Perhaps I am just cynical but all of the films that I have mentioned I believe have examined the same concepts as Inception did in one form or another. I also believe that the films that I have mentioned have done a much better cinematic job at bringing forward the idea of examining the nature of dreams or the nature of what reality is then Inception did.  

I just feel that the sweeping critical acclaim that Inception received was a bit premature. Especially in cases when Inception was being praised for being a truly original film, when hopefully I have just proved that this is not the case at all. Perhaps this stance is not as controversial as my stance that Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi is a better movie then The Empire Strikes Back.

Matthew Giordano