This usually happens to me when I watch something after the hype-train has come and gone at the station. I never caught Inception when it was doing its cinema run, and only managed to view it about a month after it came out on DVD. By that point, message boards everywhere were already on 100% circlejerk mode over the movie and the internet was rife with memes and references that I didn't understand.
That said, I went into the movie with a pocket-full of expectations based on what others were saying. Posts describing the movie as being "So deep" and "Really game-changing" set the bar pretty high for me and my initial viewing of the film left me with a gaping hole in my heart that was supposed to be filled with intrigue and wonder, but instead remained a disappointing abyss of dashed-hopes.
However, it's one of those movies best enjoyed on the second or third viewing and I watched it a few times more some time later in the hopes of seeing what others did in the film. I found that in order to enjoy the movie, I had to detract myself from any "deep meaning" premise and see it as a normal heist movie instead, which it does an okay job of being.
You see, the movie is about as deep as a copy of Playboy and anybody that tries to convince you otherwise is just basking in their own pretentious glory of understanding the basic concept that is constantly being explained to you in the movie via hand-holding narrative. Leaving a cliffhanger ending does not a "deep" movie make, and that's exactly what Inception did. "Did the top stop spinning? Is he still in the dream? The top was not even his totem, it was his wife's!" I can't believe that I got so much shit from people saying that I read too far into Prometheus, when Inception is perfectly acceptable with its ambiguity and lack of closure.
The characters themselves have very little growth in the film as well, other than Cobb. His internal struggle of guilt and mourning is the only character development that you see in the movie and even that was loosely done before in What Dreams May Come. Strip all the heist-related content from the movie and you're left with an average-at-best love story that wouldn't even get the light of day in normal circumstances.
I realized that what seems to have captured the audience was not the content, but the delivery. Its presentation and score was so on point, that you can't help feel drawn into the film, regardless of the content. The visual effects and character representation were what I can only describe as elegant. It was so elegantly presented that it formed a connection in the viewer of quality, like a penguin with a tuxedo on. It was pure cinematic inception, to throw the pun around.
Perhaps I'm missing something and I'm wrong. I'm not any kind of authority on films and cinema, so obviously take my words with a pinch of salt. However, from my experience, it's one of those movies that just deteriorates my expectations of it with every subsequent viewing. I respect the film and Nolan for it, because in terms of cinematography and soundwork, it's incredible. Even dialogue delivery is suspenseful and it really shines as an example of talented film-making.
But as a story? It doesn't really speak to me, which is sad, because I was listening before I even watched the movie.
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