If you’ve been paying attention since the start you’ll probably know that Chris Nolan has experienced a slight dip in quality over his career.
“WHAAAAA????” I hear you cry.
“But he done The Dark Knight and that’s my bestest film evar evar!”.
Yeah it might well be mate, but let’s face it, it was a bit clunky, overlong and had oblique and unsatisfying sub-plots aplenty.
Before that we had The Prestige (Good because David Bowie’s in it), Insomnia (Good because Al Pacino shouts ever so slightly less than usual) and Memento (one trick pony that still manages to end with someone from ‘Neighbours’ looking good). In my opinion (and it’s the only one that counts round these parts), he’s a trifle overrated. Not saying he’s bad by any means, just not quite the genius he’s made out to be all the time.
So – does Inception justify the hype? Can half-man/half-Brussels sprout DiCaprio ever convince as a leading man?
It may be lazy criticism, but it’s impossible not to compare Tony Scott’s remake to the 1974 version and unfortunately it’s not a comparison that does this outing any favours. Back then,Walter Matthau and the gang were framed through some steady, drawn out shots with few stylistic additions by ‘King of Television’ Joseph Sargent and what emerged was a wonderfully taut character piece. It kept you riveted and even allowed you to forgive Robert Shaw his bizarre Dalek-voiced turn as head baddie. Here, however, Tony Scott leaps in with a full palette of directorial trickery, crash zooms, juddering edits. Whip-pans abound and it’s to the detriment of an already uneven script.
