Distant Dreamer (89/90)

I saw Inception today, that's why this is a later than usual post.

Most of the people I know who had seen Inception said it was a "mindf*ck" and so amazing. Some said they sat at home to understand it afterwords. Some said they had to see it a few times to understand what happened in the movie. Everyone said it was such a good movie. The previews for it looked good. I really wanted to see it.

I understood the movie as it was going on, for the most part. I didn't think it was a "mindf*ck" or anything like that. I think it was a good movie that had an interesting plot and intriguing visuals. I thought the acting was good. But did I struggle to understand it? No. Might I have if I hadn't had the ending revealed? Possibly, if I had gone to see it alone. But if I had had a chance to discuss it, I'm sure I would have arrived to the same conclusions.

Now I'm not saying don't go see it. Do go, by all means. I enjoyed the movie. I'm just saying that it didn't meet my expectations based on peoples' reactions. People compared it to The Matrix. It might be because I saw The Matrix when I was about 14, but I struggled to understand that more than Inception.

It seems like movies Ellen Page is in that have a lot of hype surrounding it don't deliver as much as I expect. For example, I heard that Juno was an amazing movie that I had to see, so I did. And it was good. Nothing extraordinary. Not a movie I'd go home and rave about. The same with Inception. Law Abiding Citizen made me think more than Inception did; however, Law Abiding Citizen made me think about morals, not about what was happening on the screen.

One reason for this could be because I've had this thought before, in its most basic sense. When I was younger I thought that my whole life was the dream of a giant and that I'd eventually wake up as a giant and relive my dream. Inception takes place in dreams, with some knowing about the dreams, some not.

Obviously my 7 year old self couldn't imagine the different themes within Inception, so those were interesting to explore within the movie. As I've written before, I dream a lot. Sometimes I put a lot of stock in my dreams, sometimes not. But it's weird to think that you can decide to go into someone's dreams, and that someone will invite you into them.

All in all, I would definitely recommend you see the movie. Just for the experience.