Saw two movies this week that struck me as having similar problems, so for a change of pace, I thought I’d yammer about them a bit.
The first (via Netflix) was Paranormal Activity, about a young couple, an unseen entity and a video camera. Scary fun ensure, but the scares were of the roller coaster variety - sudden loud bangs after long silences, in other words, cheap thrills. The acting was fine, but the characters ridiculously self-destructive, especially the husband who is of the "I don't need directions no matter how lost I am" variety. In short order, I found myself rooting for the "presence" and hoping they would die sooner rather than later. I did love Blair Witch, but in that case, having college students acting stupid made sense to me.
The second film was Inception. It had some of the finest effects sequences I’ve seen in ages, and some cool, even magnificent ideas. But to me it was a disappointment, a solid B that, with one or two more passes at the script, could’ve been great.
No, I didn’t have any problem following it, though a nod to actual sleep science, would have been appreciated. Yes, I’ve seen similar films (Matrix, Total Recall, Dark City, even What Dreams May Come), so it wasn’t shockingly new, but that wasn’t what kept me kneeling before the might of Nolan.
The big drag was simple – the main character, Cobb, played by DiCaprio’s, was a proverbial wet paper bag. While I really wanted the couple in Paranormal Activity to die in some horrid way (and yes, that kept me watching), I didn’t care at all what happened to this utterly lifeless advert for Prozac.
Yes, yes, I know he carries secret guilt and wants to be back with his kids, and blah-blah-blah, but there really are ways to portray that in an intriguing manner. If he’d had a sense of humor, or even had one before his big trauma, If he’d only been… I don’t know, something instead of making Edward from Twilight look like a dancing fool of an extrovert.
I don’t blame DiCaprio – he’s a fine. I blame the script and the director. For my money, Christopher Nolan is just not a great storyteller. I don’t mean in terms of clarity, or buildup, or the unfolding of events – that’s all plot. I mean in the sense that story is about character meeting plot, the dance between the two driving things forward. Inception is plot dancing with itself. Nice, but there’s only so far it can go.
Oddly enough, practically everyone else in the film is delightful and interesting, especially Cillian Murphy’s Robert Fischer, who has a touching reunion with a dream version of his dad.
If only the film had been about him….
End rant.
