REVIEW: Inception

"By popular request..."

Inception. A film that has become a cultural phenomenon in my limited experience. This film, a long and wild journey that easily confuses and certainly warrants at least a second viewing, has a poster full of infamous names, from the director Chris Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento) to the star Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Blood Diamond) to the composer Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Crimson Tide, Prince of Egypt). It's certainly a polished film technically and artistically, and one to be reckoned with in the simple scope of impact that it has had on our culture.

The Worldview

The Good

I really appreciate the treasuring of family that we see in DiCaprio's character, Cobb. His driving desire is to get home to his kids. He loves his wife. His kids love him. And I love it!

Ariadne (Ellen Page) is consistently non-combatant. Her relationship with the hero is refreshingly non-romantic. She looks like a girl (as opposed to looking like a man), and she plays the woman's role- she's the hero's helper.

The film ponders the power of the idea- which is huge. Ideas truly do transform lives.

The film also shows our hero enjoying god-like power in a dream world, but ultimately being unsatisfied knowing that it is all just that- a dream!

My favorite character would be Tom Hardy's Eames. I love his consistent ability to just drop everything and do what needs done. He has a very rugged manliness to his character.

The Bad

The dark side to our hero's love of his family is that he's willing to do whatever it takes- he's willing to be pragmatic, to violate principle to accomplish his goal of family unity.

Ariadne is unprotected and alone, working with a bunch of single guys. Happily, the furthest this goes is when Arthur steals a kiss, a problem in itself, but- of course that's the furthest it goes. It's a movie.

Saito, the man who hires our heroes to perform Inception, gives his reason for wanting to do thus as preventing a company from having "total energy dominance". Sounds good, but it's a lawless way to go about protecting one's business.

The language I would say was pleasantly minimal, even in the unedited version. However, in the scene where Cobb's wife dies, he bellows out repeatedly The Name of Christ, which is Not. A. Good. Thing. It is, however, simply another testimony to the truth of The Christian Faith, but another discussion for another time.

The modesty- could have been worse, but could have been better. Cobb's wife is usually in a dress (very happy!) which is usually rather low-cut (not so happy). And then there's the "lovely lady" that Eames poses as, who I personally thought had a face that looked plastic, but she certainly wasn't modest.

Nihilism is something that I've heard criticized in this film multiple times. I look forward to hearing Mr. Kevin Swanson's take on it from his Generations radio program, however, as it stands right now, I did not see nihilism preached. I can see how it would be taken that way, though: We can't know what reality is. We can't know anything. It doesn't matter. Enjoy what you have.

As far as this issue goes, I took away something more like this: We belong in God's reality, the world He has created for us.

The Art

The Good

The special effects/set creation. This film is stunning visually. The spinning hallway... I'm sure it's been applauded over and over again, but I'm going to applaud it one more time! Very impressive.

The acting was good all-round. There were a coupla parts that I thought could have been improved- maybe. But that is very seriously on an opinion level.

Good directing- Mr. Nolan isn't my favorite director, and I would have enjoyed some more striking and wild shots for such a wild concept, but nevertheless it was all certainly industry-standard. I loved the shot with the line of sinks in the bathroom. Very artistic.

Good sound-design, definitely. Some excellent slo-mos and accompanying audio effects.

And now would seem to be a good time to bring up a concept that I haven't heard of before but I find quite interesting- "the audience character". In Inception, the audience character would be Ariadne. She knows no more about the film or the protagonist than we, the audience, do. And then, as she learns about the dream world and Cobb's past and so on, we get to learn with her- a very effective and enjoyable teaching technique!

The Kinda

Hans Zimmer's score. What can I say? It fit very well, and is a study in epic, tense music. Classic Zimmer. But it's not very musical. It's great for running to, but I don't find it musically rich.

I've come to a point where I consider Mr. Zimmer to be a great sound designer, though there are other composers that I would go to for great music. I think this film is a great illustration of many of the things that I dislike and many of the things that I admire about the works of Hans Zimmer.

EDIT- a comment from Sam Klejwa on my thoughts on the score: "I’m a bit taken aback that you didn’t like the score. Especially when you know that the whole score is meant to sound like a slowed down version of the french song played throughout the film, “Non, je ne regrette rien” (translated, it means “No, I regret nothing”), which is ironic because Cobb (as is repeated through the film) is “filled with regret”. That type of forethought and intricacy is something that cannot be seen in most scores. Plus “Time” blows me away."

This is indeed an amazing amount of intricacy that deserves mentioning. And I do agree that "Time", the 12th track on the Inception album release, is simply gorgeous.

The Bad

"You're waiting for a train..." This bit of dialogue that keeps coming up honestly seems like an attempt at epicness that... well, fails. It sounds like it's supposed to sound good.

The story of Inception really bugs me. It is a fascinating concept, but I found it to have multiple inconsistencies- or at least aspects that I'm not understanding. I would have appreciated "a little specificity", as Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) put it. I also thought the going-back-to-the-beginning-at-the-end, which Mr. Nolan apparently likes to do, was more forced here than in The Prestige.

Overall,
Inception is a film that is amazing artistically and very impactful culturally. The worldview is complex and needs to be seen in light of God's Word. The language is enough that I'd recommend an edited version. It's worth watching for filmmaker, and it's definitely a fascinating ride, but I haven't really enjoyed it, mostly because the story consistently bugs me. Maybe I just need someone to 'splain to me how it works.

3.5/5

REVIEW: Megamind

This one should have been called Tangled.

Megamind, by Dreamworks, is a wild, weird film. Some of it, like the poster at left, is downright hilarious. Some parts are remarkably well-done. Otherparts- less so. Overall, the film left me disturbed and feeling... dirty. So. Into the "labrynthian mind" of the film. (shameless SPOILERS ahead)

The Worldview

The Good

I really enjoyed the exchange between Megamind and Metro Man when Metro Man was trapped in the observatory. "You can't trap justice! It's an idea..." Nevertheless, this idea must be founded on God's Word, or it's just... well, a good idea.

We also see that we are responsible with what we do in our lives- it's not destiny's fault. It's not up to fate. We are to be judged by our actions. This is an important thing to understand, and a good moral.

The Bad

The counterpoint to above point- this film brought out some serious humanism/Nietzscheism. It begins blaming many events on fate- it's because of fate that Megamind is a bad guy. It's because of fate that Hal gets blasted with the superhero potion. Happily, this is later on reversed, but is replaced with the philosophy that we are masters of our own destiny, which is only a good moral if understood as our responsibility in the light of and in subjection to God's Sovereign Will and Providence.

The Super-Intelligent E.T. Philosophy. This is a school of thinking rooted in evolution with quite dark repercussions for us the viewers. "If we evolved then surely other intelligent life has evolved elsewhere in the universe!"

So we get Metro Man, who can violate the laws of nature at will (which is only explicable by the supernatural, and yet that power is transferred to someone else via Metro Man's DNA...), and we get Megamind, who has, basically, supernatural intelligence. These gods descended from Olympus then duel for the fate of mankind, and we, like ants, watch helplessly.

Metro Man and Megamind act like actors in a over-rehearsed play. They're not really scared. They're not really hurting anybody. Megamind doesn't expect to win, and when he does, after the first thrill of success, he realizes that he now has nothing to live for (amidst an existentialist discussion with a toy bird. More on that in a sec). Metro Man later calls Megamind "little buddy". This is odd. Is Megamind really a bad guy? He's the hero, but he's in jail, and he breaks out amidst some "b-b-bad to the bone", and yet the hero acts like his pal. This is blurring lines seriously.

It is during Megamind's duel with Tighten, however, where we really see the "gods from Olympus" syndrome. Towers are broken, buildings are burned, cars are smashed, and while they don't show it we may assume that many are killed. This is very dark and, ultimately, unScriptural. Let us rejoice that we do not have a fickle and capricious God ruling over us. These creatures with "god-like power" (yes, that was in the film) are not bound by man's (or God's moral or natural) laws, and they break them with impunity. There's no hope for a righteous man to stand up and bring justice. We just have to hope (pray, maybe, to our... benevolent aliens???) for another Metro Man.

Megamind, who is the hero by the end of the film, during his bad-guy stage at the beginning was playing darts with peoples' cars, desecrating property, stealing art, and enjoying every bit of it. He never repents, he just... changes. Kinda. Never is what he did shown as anything more than funny, in a superbly evil sort of way.

Existentialism. What is is. The existentialist believes (as I understand it) that there is no God, there is no judgment to come, there is nothing beyond the physical, there is no ultimate and inviolable Law. This gives way readily to pragmatism, where the ends justify the means, and paints a bleak picture of a world left to chance and the whims of the strong.

There is also some eastern mysticism in the film. Yin and Yang- where there is bad good will arise. This leaves us with "bad guys and good guys are two parts of the same whole." Everybody has some good in 'em, right? Well, except for Tighten, because we have to make him bad enough that the audience will be glad when he loses. And even he, in the end, is apparently having a blast in jail.

The good guy can't kill the bad guy- good guys don't do that. They take 'em to jail. How is jail Scriptural? The civil magistrate should punish the villain according to God's Law- and sometimes that means by death. Interestingly enough, when we're talking "gods from Olympus", the civil magistrate can't do this. The police are helpless. We need Batman, or Superman, or Metro Man, or somebody who's awesome enough to take down the bad guy- whatever the cost. More pragmatism. (And there's another reason I like Bolt- he's not anything more than just a man who did what's right.)

Irreverence, toward the elderly in the minor way of the lisp in Hal's "Space Dad", but much more destructively in Metro Man, when he walks on water, and Megamind- "Who is this man whom we have infused with god-like power?" Not only does the film act as if God does not exist, but it really creates gods out of its hero/villains.

And there's another problem. The Cool Bad Guy Syndrome (CBGS). It was even worse in this one than with Flynn in Tangled.

From the trailer: "All men must choose between two paths. Good is the path of honour, heroism, and nobility. Evil... well, it's just cooler." Um- I'm sorry. Evil is evil. Evil will be destroyed in the wrath of a just and holy God. It's not OK for us to portray it as cool.

The crude humor. It wasn't dealt out in spades, but they gave some good spoonfuls. For example, when Tighten (Hal), enjoying his new-found superpowers, is giving himself a wedgie and saying "look, I can hardly feel it!"- I'm left with a feeling of ugh. They could have taken the exact same well-acted vocal line and shown Hal banging his head off of the wall- "look, I can hardly feel it!"- and it would have been more hilarious and far less dirty. A desire for holiness doesn't mean that we can't enjoy hilarity- though it will take more work to create humor that pleases God. I have been convicted recently over my sense of humor, which is sometimes not as sanctified as I think God would have it to be. I'm also grateful to people like those at HeuMoore Productions who make hilarious films without crudeness, and speakers like Mr. Ray Comfort and others who model dignity while still being quite funny.

And, though I know that I'll have readers who disagree, we have another model feminist. Roxanne, shown in plenty-tight-enough (but more covered up than some of her other wardrobe choices in the film) clothing at left, is apparently out making a career for herself as a reporter.

Yes, I am a proponent of home-keeping mothers and bread-winning fathers. Yes, I'm a proponent of male headship. (Oy, I just can't stop stepping on toes.) Does this mean that women should sit at home knitting all the time? No. But Miss Roxie should "get married, bear children, keep house, give the enemy no occasion for reproach." Why does this seem like such an onerous calling? Maybe because we've watched one- or fifty- too many Megaminds.

She's hanging out with the cameraman all the time. He goes bad when she denies him. There's a good moral to be drawn here. Spend enough time with someone, you will tie heartstrings, most likely. Be careful with whom these strings are tied, and how tight you allow the knots to become!

I would have loved it if she were married to the cameraman... there's helping her husband.

Short hair again. And you say, "What's with the short hair? Leave it alone already!" Well, I have no desire to offend! Yet I cannot remain silent because I might hurt feelings. Paul says "if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her", and I want to embrace that as much as I want to embrace that it would be shameful for me to grow a three-foot-lo

ng ponytail. If someone can give me Scripture to show me otherwise- please, bring it to the table! As it is, I'm tired of this being modeled as good-looking for women- normal for women- feminine. Period.

The Art

The Good

The animation of the fishbowl was very neat looking and impressive. The falling scene at the beginning was a great shot as well.

The story was very unique and full of different twists on old themes. I really enjoyed the freshness of the concept.

The voice acting and sound design was good.

I've been noticing a running theme of cute characters in these animations. Dug in UP, the frog-chameleon-nuance in Tangled, Minion in Megamind, Rhino in Bolt, and so on. Very smart move by the filmmakers. They nailed the cute character in this one. Minion is admittedly adorable.

And some of the humor was both clean and hilarious. Some great scripting, hilarious stereotypes, and excellently-acted banter between heroes and villains.

The Bad

The animation wasn't bad, but I wouldn't consider it great, and our main characters had a touch of animé that I didn't enjoy.

The resurrection of the fish I have mixed feelings on. It made more sense than the resurrection of (SPOILING another film now) Flynn in Tangled, but it also seemed more forced. Again, the death of Minion would have added some gravitas to the end. Could have been a heartbreaker. Instead, it wound up a semi-cheesy, rather predictable, and underwhelming joke. Here we have the fish acting like he's dying, Megamind acting worried, the fish gasps his last- and then Megamind tosses him into the fountain and laughs about his acting, and then we admire the fish's cute face. It seemed to be... just odd. Uncomfortable. Too stark of a contrast, maybe? There were multiple moments of such inconsistency in Megamind's character that bugged me from an artistic standpoint. If Minion's theatricality had been referenced and experienced a few times previously, this might have made more sense.

The score was unique. The main theme was weird. I like it, but I don't know if I like that I like it. The rest of the score fit well, but something about it bugs me.

The source music. Ugh. The film was filled with rock songs from days gone by. It seemed to, at least in parts, be an attempt to parallel the Joker's behavior in Tim Burton's Batman. Again, how fitting that rock music be associated with pride, destruction, and all-around evildoing. This not only cheapened the feel of the film, but it made it darker and more disturbing than it would have been without.

Altogether,

I wasn't impressed with the film. While the story was a neat and fresh concept, the worldview was disturbing, and it felt overall B-grade. I wouldn't recommend this one. 2.5/5