It’s rare for science fiction films to appeal to fans of the genre’s written form, because more often than not sci-fi movies ignore, or don’t even understand, the basic foundations upon which the genre is built. There are valid reasons for this however: economic, in terms of appealing to the widest possible demographics in the movie-goer market; and the limitations in the number of ideas a movie can expulse in a two-hour-or-less time frame that an average movie-goer can take in. I’ll give an example of what I’m talking about: space travel at close to the speed of light. Anyone who reads even a moderate dose of sci-fi literature knows that time dilation occurs at near light speed, that time is different for the traveller (who ages slowly) relative to loved-ones left at home (who age faster), yet there has never been a movie that uses this idea. Perhaps movie company executives believe, or their market research tells them, that such ideas are too complex for an average movie-goer to understand, or even accept. If they can’t accept a known law of the physical universe, then ergo, they probably can’t accept a whole host of other ideas sci-fi likes to incorporate into the narrative. Hence, the genre on-screen always seems to be dumbed down. The other problem with science fiction movies is that they use ideas that are so out-dated from what is being produced in the literature. I, Robot is a good example of this, and while a great movie, its suffers from being based on ideas on machine intelligence postulated by Isaac Asimov more than sixty years ago. A film like Sunshine concerning the cold death of our sun, again also an enjoyable film, falls apart in too many places. The sun won’t go cold but heat up and consume the Earth in a fireball... some billions of years from now. If there is artificial gravity inside the ship, why isn’t it being used to accelerate the crew to the sun in a matter of days, not months as suggested in their protracted constant-speed journey? While most movie-goers ignore the points I’ve outlined above, because minor violations of technical and laws of physics details don’t matter to their enjoyment of the movie experience, I’d be inclined to suggest for sci-fi readers, most irk at such simple mistakes. I do. So here we are at paragraph five and so far I haven’t talked about Inception at all. Well that’s because I’ve been setting the scene. I’m writing this review for Albedo One you see, whose readers - I’m assuming based purely on the basis of the subject matter of the magazine, i.e. science fiction and fantasy short stories - are like me always on the look-out for sci-fi movies that expel clever ideas and are true to the genre. Well I’m pleased to say Inception ticked all the above points. Inception’s story is intelligent and suspenseful. The science behind it is consistent and sound, and full of possibility in its impact upon society (I was left thinking about all the implications of the ideas presented long after the movie finished). Genre aside, the plot and characters are terrific and the experience didn’t suffer from ‘CGI-overload syndrome’ that plagues so many sci-fi and fantasy films these days. Even then the CGI effects and scenes of wondrous amazement, such as folding cityscapes and cities as cliffs crumbling into the ocean, only occur to propel the story along, not at expense of the story. I’m going to say that Inception will be the best movie of 2010, and certainly the best science fiction movie since The Matrix. (Avatar was a good movie, and was even better on the second viewing, but I was never as excited about it like I was with Inception. I felt like the ideas were old compared to the literature, and in many ways it was a remake of Dune where the off-world enemy joins forces with the indigenous inhabitants, becomes their messiah and then leads in battle against his own people. Secondly floating rocks were just wrong in the context of the technology everywhere else in the movie. Thirdly, the Na-vi had two eyes and four limbs, whereas every other alien animal on the planet they had obviously evolved from had four eyes and six-limbs. Picky yes, but minor details like this don’t take much thought to iron out, especially if director James Cameron had employed a few science fiction authors on his team to provide expert advice, a cost that would have barely dented the special effects budget.) Inception’s director and screen writer, Christopher Nolan, who gave us such wonderful films such as Momento and The Prestige, dedicated six months to getting his script right, and he did. The story opens with Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is attempting to steal corporate secrets from a dreaming Japanese corporate executive Satio (Ken Wantanbe). When Satio realises he is in a dream, the fabricated reality begins to breakdown, and so everyone ‘inside’ creating the deception is forced to wake. Only thing is, everyone wakes inside another dream reality, and so the theme is set for the rest of the movie; this is going to be about deception and confusion in what is reality and what is not. (The last scene with the spinning top I thought was perfect, but I won’t say more so I don’t spoil it). Getting inside people’s dreams to steal secrets is an interesting concept, one with enough possibilities that it can carry the whole movie, and so meets the dual criteria of appealing to all movie-goers with a concept everyone can understand, yet being intriguing enough to stimulate the mind of sci-fi readers. Cobb and his team of thieves find themselves in a world where their technology and their professional understanding of their virtual dream worlds can only be used for criminal means. A real case of the technology being developed before a real world use can be applied to it. Adding complications to everything (as there should be), Cobb’s dead wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) keeps appearing in the dream realities, sabotaging Cobb’s plans, proving that the subconscious can play a key role in shaping even the most artificial of worlds. There are exceptional performances from Leonard DiCarprio, Ken Wantanbe, Michael Caine, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy while visually the film was joyous to watch. A sequel is likely, but not really warranted, as Inception stands alone perfectly. It made me consider again how great it would be if sci-fi novels like Neuromancer, Pushing Ice, The Forever War, Consider Phelbas or Altered Carbon had Christopher Nolan scripting and directing any of them instead. One can only hope. Inception (2010) Review by David Conyers |
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