Re: New/Rented Movies: Now In Smell-O-Rama!
As with any Chris Nolan film, you're in love with it when you see it, but wait about 24 hours and you'll think of stuff that bothers you about it.
In this case, it's actually rather mild complaints that don't really hurt the film all that much.
1. The expository dialogue is actually not that bad for a film as mentally challenging as this one. But even with that in mind, every time I hear a lot of exposition in a film (particularly films that are already strong visually), I'm always left wondering "why couldn't this just be shown to me" or "telling this stuff verbally sort of feels like the easy way out". Again, it's not like they go through large soliloquies (most of the exposition takes place in quick lines of dialogue), but it's something that sticks out after you digest the movie a bit.
2. As such, a lot of the cool visuals here end up being just that: cool visuals. They look great, but don't really tell us much. How many shots in this movie really actually told us something instead of just being cool special effects? Of course, that's not a huge complaint either: the fight in the hotel hallway was freakin' awesome.
3. Is there a theme here? It seems like the movie is mostly a heist film that only hints at something deeper (losing your grip on reality, letting go after tragedy, living in dreams instead of in life, etc.).
I wouldn't say that all of this on its own would ever knock the film down below a B or a B+ (in fact, the rest of the film is so strong, that it's still an A- or an A in my book), but it's there.
