An Overly Long Post About Inception and Movies in General

Take a look at the top 50 grossing movies of the oughts (is that the term we decided on?) A few things stand out about this set of movies. A majority of them are big budget films, most of them are pretty mediocre, and interestingly enough, almost all of the movies are either sequels, or based off of a pre-existing franchise. By my count, only 10 of the 50 movies were not based off some sort of pre-existing franchise. They are listed below.

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Finding Nemo

2012

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Kung Fu Panda

The Incredibles

Hancock

Ratatouille

The Day After Tomorrow

Madagascar

So with the exception of Pixar movies, there seems to be a lack of originality in Hollywood right now. In order to make a successful film, Hollywood filmmakers would rather churn out sequels or book adaptions than think of something new and original. Financially speaking, this is a smart thing to do. Why take the risk of creating an entirely original film that people may or may not like, when you can just make a movie based on an already established character or book? Movies like Spiderman or Harry Potter were pretty much guaranteed to make a crapload of money because both franchises already had huge, established fanbases. *

And this is big reason why Inception was so fun to watch. In an era where more and more films are becoming somewhat cookie-cutter, Inception strived to be fresh and original. Christopher Nolan succeeded in making a movie that is essentially a heist film, but still managed to explore something deeper - the possibility that maybe the world around us is not entirely real. It’s not as if this concept has never been explored in previous movies. Other movies, notably The Matrix, have also depicted situations where humans can unknowingly live in alternate universes, but Inception does it in a manner that feels different and unique, forcing us to ask some questions in the process. What if multiple people can live in someone else’s dream? What if we were the ones capable of creating alternate universes? What if there was no limits on the number of alternate universes that could exist? (Kind of a SPOILER alert: At one point in the movie, a couple of the characters are four dreams deep. At that point, my mind was already sufficiently blown. But what if they took it even further. What if they went to a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within another dream? Hypothetically, they could have gone through thousands of dreams.)

But even beyond the whole alternate reality angle, Inception had a lot going for it. It never tried to get overly philosophical (like the 2^nd and 3^rd installments of The Matrix series), and instead focuses on keeping the plot engaging and exciting- there never is a dull moment throughout the entire movie. Dominic Cobb proves to be fascinating character with an intriguing backstory. Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page (Copenhagen?), and the rest of the cast did a great job. And there was an Indian guy, which is always a plus in my mind. And the special effects, to put it mildly, were f*cking incredible.

Which brings me to my next point about movies today. If you look back at the list of the highest grossing movies of the ought’s, you’ll probably notice that most of the movies were big budget films with a crazy amount of special effects. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing- I love seeing stuff explode as much as anyone. But it’s unfortunate that some filmmakers prioritize explosions and car chases above actual storylines (I’m looking at you Michael Bay.)

Take Avatar for instance. Most reviews for the movie were positive. But no one I know really loved the movie. Most of my friends agree that is was a pretty good movie that was awesome visually. But no one really says it’s a great story. Avatar had a budget of $237,000,000, which seems a little excessive for a movie that was good but not great. Kevin Costner made a movie with the same exact plot 20 years ago with a budget of $18,000,000. Disney made a movie with the same story as Avatar 15 years ago with a budget of about ten dollars. It seems odd that so much money can be spent to tell a story that’s already been told.

But don’t get it twisted and think that Inception went light in terms of budget. It cost $160,000,000 to make the film. But where Inception differs from other big budget movies is in how it uses special effects. Inception did not use special effects just because it looks cool and attracts large audiences; it used special effects to bring the plot to life. Christopher Nolan addressed the large budget of Inception, saying, “As soon as you’re talking about dreams, the potential of the human mind is infinite. And so the scale of the film has to feel infinite. It has to feel like you could go absolutely anywhere by the end of the film. And it has to work on a massive scale.” Nolan wanted to use special effects to portray the vast, infinite nature of dreams, because he felt as if this would enhance the plot. The story is the focal point; the special effects are secondary. Too often films have this the other way around - as was the case with Avatar. James Cameron used a mediocre story as a vehicle to showcase amazing special effects; Christopher Nolan used special effects as a vehicle to showcase a great story.

So if you haven’t seen Inception yet, go watch it as soon as you can. It is an entertaining movie that does not need to rely on a pre-existing franchise or special effects - something that has become increasingly rare in Hollywood today.

* This is not meant to say that sequels/ book adaptions cannot be good movies. The Dark Knight was both a sequel and a comic book adaption, but it was arguably the best movie of the past decade.