Why everyone who loves movies must see Inception, because next summer sucks
Seen Inception yet? Sorry, what do you mean it’s not really your kind of thing? It’s an intelligent action movie, at least by my reckoning. You may not agree on either or both of those counts, and that’s fine, but hopefully you won’t disagree that it’s a movie overflowing with ambition, not afraid to take a few risks and to try to stimulate the brain cells or the adrenal gland.
But you should see it, not only to have an opinion on one of the most talked about movies of the last couple of years, but also to show your support for movie-making of this kind? Why should I fork out my cash to see a movie I might not like, I hear you cry? Because, dear reader, if you don’t I may have to hold you and your kind accountable for what’s to come. Now not every movie is going to have that Inception level of ambition, but it would be nice if at least the odd one or two summer blockbusters did.
And not only do film-makers need ambition and courage, so do the studios. Inception took $62 million in the US at the weekend – that’s the second largest amount of money ever for a sci-fi movie that wasn’t a sequel, behind only Avatar. So to have the balls to believe you’re going to see that money again, with only the director and cast’s past histories to go on, requires leaps of faith.
To illustrate my point, consider the list of big summer releases currently lined up for next year. These are all due to land between May and August next year in both the States and the UK.
Thor
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Hangover 2
X Men: First Class
The Green Lantern
Zookeeper
Transformers 3
Winnie The Pooh
Rise of the Apes
Cars 2
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Captain America: The First Avenger
Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom
The Smurfs
Cowboys and Aliens
War Horse
Not the most inspiring list, is it? I am passingly interested in the majority but there are maybe two at most that genuinely excite me at this point. The thought that this might become the summer movie norm makes me weep for the souls of humanity. So see Inception – if you accept the mediocre and the derivative as standard, don’t come crying to me if that’s all you get in future.
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The Movie Evangelist 
April 2, 2011 at 9:27 am
[…] product this year are giving you cold sweats (and it was giving me the shivers as far back as last summer) then be grateful for one more month before the giant exploding robot movies take over completely, […]
June 11, 2011 at 11:14 am
[…] summer hasn’t been half bad so far. Despite my misgivings nearly twelve months ago about the barrage of sequels that would be upon this year, many of them have turned out to be great so far, including Thor, Kung […]
September 21, 2012 at 1:12 pm
“Inception”? lol What a joke of an idea.
I thought “gladiator” was bad enough. A poor remake of the 1964 film, “Fall of the Roman Empire”. And now some no-talent bum with an exaggerated reputation comes up with a story based on people getting into other people’s dreams?
Not only is this idea so bad, I will never make an effort to see it, it’s the kind of idea that should not only never have left the drawing board, it’s a miracle it even made it to the drawing board in the first place.
It seems like the poor man’s copycat version of “The Matrix”.
And the author of this website feels we should see “Inception” on the basis that next year’s films will get even worse? This is like promoting the ingestion of tomaine poisoning because the next year, the restaurant plans to serve cyanide. Good thinking.
All I can say is, those who think this sort of nauseating nonsense is good entertainment have no concept of good movies. If you want to see truly entertaining sci-fi, watch “Five Million Years to Earth”, “Forbidden Planet”. “The Time Machine” (original 1960s version) or the first “Alien” film. Some of the 1963 Outer Limits episodes like “The Sixth Finger” and “O.B.I.T.” are excellent.
For great drama, check out “A Man for All Seasons”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Barabas” or “The Warlord” (Charlton Heston’s best).
But not the swill put forth by today’s directors. These guys are nothing more than empty suits with degrees in marketing.
-Bob53h
September 21, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Inception is a rare blockbuster of the modern age that doesn’t pander to, or indeed insult, its audience; the underlying hope of this post was that intelligent film-making not be restricted to the distant past or to small budget, independent film-making.
I would strongly encourage anyone to give it a chance, not only on its own terms but because I strongly feel that direct critical analysis is more constructive than a dismissal of any work based on a significant misconception.