Inception: "We're Gonna Have to Watch That Again"

Last summer, I heard a slew of reactions to Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending blockbuster Inception, most of them positive. Amidst all the praise, one “voice” particularly stood out to me: that of LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof. Two months after the controversial finale of his epic series, he was lighting up Twitter with his fanboyish ramblings, of which my favorite was this: “I wish that someone would break into my dreams and give me an idea HALF as good as INCEPTION.” No doubt there are many LOST fans who wish for the same thing – along with a time machine to furnish a more satisfying ending.

While I was one of the few LOSTies I know who pretty much got the finale I was hoping for, I both appreciated Damon’s self-deprecation and figured that was a pretty good endorsement of the movie. Having seen it now, I can understand why the guy responsible for my all-time favorite show connected with the film so strongly. One thread involves the resolution of deep-seated Daddy Issues, another the importance of “letting go”. A majority of the movie takes place during a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. And boy, does it leave you scratching your head and saying, like John Locke in the scene quoted in the Addicted to LOST Superbowl commercial, “We’re gonna have to watch that again.”

I watched it again. The first time around it made some sense to me at times, but just as often I was hopelessly disoriented. But the second time around, it just clicked. I understood much better what precisely was going on in this strange world in which it is possible to break into someone else’s consciousness and manipulate his or her mind. I found it much easier to follow, and beyond baffling, I concluded that the film was quite brilliant. But I also felt like you’d have to be something of a genius to totally get it on the first viewing.

Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, who specializes in extracting valuable information from poorly protected minds. It’s strange, wondrous and dangerous work, and it’s especially treacherous for him because of the personal issues plaguing his subconscious, manifested in the form of a beautiful but crazed woman named Mal (Marion Cotillard). Cobb has delved deeper into his own mind than anyone ever has, which makes him the best at what he does but also a liability. He needs a fresh new face to help him with his latest mission, an all-important job whose success could grant him the one thing he wants most in the world. This vital team member will design the dreams in which the work will be done. The opportunities for creativity are limitless, but closely mirroring reality is a must if they are to have time to complete their task before the artifice crumbles around them.

What Cobb needs is an architect, and he finds the perfect candidate in Ariadne (Ellen Page), a talented, spirited young woman who comes to understand the demons that drive him better than anyone else, even his longtime colleague Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Having only seen Page in Juno before, I was struck by the difference in her here. There’s still a youthful naivety about her, but this is a more mature character, and even as she’s faced with a fantastical situation, she catches on quickly, delighting in pushing the boundaries of her new artistic range. Also in on this great task, which must be accomplished during a single flight, are Eames (Tom Hardy), a tough intelligence expert; Yusuf (Dileep Rao), who specializes in sedation; and Saito (Ken Watanabe), the Japanese businessman funding this project. The task: to manipulate Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the young heir to a vast fortune, into breaking up his father’s properties so that his company will not control the majority of the world’s energy.

“Robert Fischer,” my dad commented when the character was introduced. “Like Bobby Fischer.” I don’t know if that was a deliberate nod or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the film intentionally alluded to one of the greatest chess players the world has known. Ariadne fashions a pawn for herself as a totem to help her keep track of her reality, so it wouldn’t be the only chess reference. This is a complex game that Cobb and his comrades are playing, a game of the mind in which every move is strategically planned and crucially important.

It’s a curious concept, since this is a movie packed with action, yet almost all of it happens while the characters are calmly sleeping. What does it matter if disaster befalls them within the dream? All they need to do is wake up. Actually, the film raises the stakes by making the matter more complicated than that, with heavy sedation posing a threat to the consciousness of each dreamer if he or she should fail to survive within the dream. Still, it’s odd to see all of this play out while realizing that it will have no impact upon the real world, unless it is in the form of an idea that develops within an unsuspecting mind and changes real-life actions. For all the car chases, gun battles and other harrowing situations, all that truly matters is planting that idea. Everything else is set-up.

As a Star Trek fan, I found myself reminded of both the original series episode Shore Leave, in which the thoughts of crew members spring to illusory reality on a mysterious planet, and the Holodeck in the Next Generation, which allows crew to construct their own virtual playgrounds and populate them however they wish. The special effects are amazing, with things occurring in this dreamscape that never could exist in real life. It’s certainly a feast for the eyes. And it is perilous. Far more than any threat of violence, the characters face the possibility of losing track of what is real and what isn’t, and that danger preoccupies this movie, with Cobb particularly susceptible to doubts about whether the dream is real and whether reality is a dream.

The acting is impressive overall, with Page and Watanabe making a particular impact on me. But it’s the dizzying structure of the movie, its intriguing discussion of the nature of dreams and the arresting visuals that really make the film a standout. I’m glad I watched it twice, and it makes me suspect that I should revisit other movies I didn’t quite get the first time around. Maybe it just takes a little extra mulling for it to sink in. Inception is a deeply puzzling movie, but it’s a puzzle worth trying to solve.

DiCaprio Resurfaces as Con Man Extraordinaire

Poor Leonardo DiCaprio. It must be hard to go from the most popular guy in Hollywood to the laughingstock is just months. Leo was a victim of his own success, grinning out from king-size posters, whispering fervently on that annoyingly spoilerific radio version of My Heart Will Go On (which must have played about once an hour) and appearing in various forms in the lockers and notebooks of millions of teenage girls across the country. It was overkill, and for a while I wondered whether we’d ever see him again. He seemed to drop almost entirely out of view. Then I saw Catch Me If You Can.

It’s five or so years later, and Leo once again is cast as a teenager, just 15 at the earliest point in this movie’s chronology. The teen in question is Frank Abagnale, Jr., a sweet-natured kid who turns con man in order to evade the responsibility of choosing which parent to live with after their divorce. Once his ingenious schemes begin and he starts to make money, he becomes determined to earn enough to replace everything they lost when his father (Christopher Walken), a bit of a con man himself, got caught and had his assets seized.

I can’t help but be reminded a bit of Huck Finn with Frank Abagnale, even though the circumstances are entirely different. Both are kids who are absolutely brilliant when it comes to pulling off highly improbable schemes. Moreover, both start running because of their fathers, though Huck hates his Dad and Frank adores his. At any rate, there’s something very appealing about this young man. He’s very likable, and nothing he does has malicious intent. When Frank begs Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), the agent who has been chasing him, to call a truce, we wish he could just give up the game with no consequences.

DiCaprio does a fantastic job as Frank, giving us just the right combination of sweetheart and wise guy. It’s come to the point at which it seems silly to even entertain the suggestion that Tom Hanks could be lousy in a movie. His performance, complete with a heavy New York accent, certainly measures up to DiCaprio’s. While Hanratty is a bit harsher than most of the characters we are used to seeing Hanks play – as demonstrated in an amusing scene that may have been what earned the film its PG-13 rating – he is really a decent guy, and it becomes evident that as aggravated as he is by the fact that Frank keeps slipping through his fingers, he has come to care about the teenager.

Walken turns in a rather haunting performance as Frank Sr. We get the sense that his son is succeeding where his father failed. His father is proud and perhaps a bit jealous as well, and he doesn’t see surrender as a viable option. His son has the Feds on the run; that should be enough to make him happy. Amy Adams turns in a sweet performance as insecure Brenda Strong, a candy-striper to whom Frank becomes very attached during his tenure as a doctor. When she brings him home to meet her parents, he has to reckon with her father (Martin Sheen), who seems intimidating at first but turns out to be a big softie. I really enjoyed his scenes with this family and, as a Lutheran, found their devotion to that denomination charming.

There’s something vaguely campy about the style of this movie. It’s a drama, but it has almost equal parts comedy. As Frank runs the gamut of impersonations – substitute teacher, airline pilot, doctor, lawyer – he relies as much on his charisma as his impressive check-forging skills. There are many scenes demonstrating his remarkable quick thinking, and these are generally the most riotous in the film. His first encounter with Hanratty is especially hilarious.

Catch Me If You Can is a fun movie with a largely happy ending. Like The Terminal, it’s light-hearted enough that it probably won’t go down as a milestone in the careers of its main participants. But it’s an enjoyable couple of hours with little objectionable content, and it was what convinced me that DiCaprio’s career is far from over. Catch yourself watching Catch Me If You Can.

The Scariest Thing About Critters 3 is That it Was Ever Made

A few weeks ago, my little brother and I were searching for a movie in order to remove from our immediate memories a few lingering nightmare-inducing remnants of a rather unsettling movie. Why, then, in order to wash out the taste of serial murder, did we allow our channel-surfing to lead us to a film involving a species of aliens with very large teeth who decide to mutilate the unsuspecting residents of an apartment complex? Because it was bad. Very bad. Bad enough that we erupted into sudden bursts of riotous laughter induced by the cheesy cinematography or the gag-me-with-a-spoon dialogue. Bad enough that it now ranks with The Swans on my hierarchy of bad movies. Doesn't sound convincing enough for you? Read my review of The Swans. It's that bad.

Okay, okay. So I think I've made my opinion regarding the quality of this movie rather clear. But what's really scary is that it is the third -- and, might I add, not the final -- film in a series. If Critters 3 is in any way indicative of the quality of its predecessors and successors, I can't believe the captains of this ill-fated ship didn't bail out early on. Speaking of ships, Critters 3 harbors a familiar face. Leonardo DiCaprio, whose role in Titanic briefly made him one of the most recognizable names in Hollywood, stars as a troubled pre-teen who hates his step-father. That is, until about half an hour into the movie, when his step-father is torn to shreds by the hairy new tenants of the apartment complex he owns. Then, little Leo's character is overwhelmed with guilt, but he doesn't have much time to think about it since he's too busy trying to avoid becoming fodder for the insatiable critters.

Throw into the mix another troubled pre-teen, this one a girl desperate for her absentee father's attention, and her brother, a tiny tot with a magic object given to him by an eccentric man he met in the woods. "When it glows green," he tells the boy, "that's the time to watch out for yourself." Then there's the elderly gentleman who believes in the stories that aliens landed nearby several years ago and the portly, spaced-out woman who narrowly escapes a brush with the "nasty things," which she alternately describes as beavers and porcupines.

I'll admit that I did throw the covers over my eyes whenever those malevolent tumbleweeds sunk their cast-iron choppers into some poor victim's flesh, but as I averted my eyes I giggled. The attacks had all the authenticity of that of the killer rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but this time, they weren't meant to be funny. They were. And the descriptions of the assailants were equally amusing -- particularly the manner in which they were delivered. The acting in this movie is most abhorrent. It ought to be shown to a beginner's drama class as an example of what not to do.

And then there's the whole link to the other movies through the "expert" critter catcher, who is sort of a mix between Gomer Pyle and Steve Urkel. Through a series of bizarre and baffling flashbacks, apparently actual clips from previous movies, we learn near the beginning of the film that this freaky-looking fella who rises out of the ground to scare little children was abducted by aliens. At the end of the movie, while the credits are rolling, we watch the unexpected footage which freezes at the most inopportune moments and reveals that the aliens who have ordered him to annihilate the critters have now informed him that he cannot finish the job. It's illegal to destroy the last member of a species.

And so we are prepped for Critters 4. Will the anticipation never end? Will I spend my nights nervously nibbling my nails into stubs as I consider the prospects of a world inhabited by an infant critter? Will I ever learn not to be lured in by TBS' late-night B-rated movie? And where did that tumbleweed in the corner come from? I don't recall seeing it there befo....arghhhhhh!!!!!