The Inception Confusion
From the day that it opened, I’ve heard people saying that the joy of watching “Inception” lies in floundering about, never knowing whether you’re in a dream or reality.
Um … What??
For me, it was made entirely and completely clear when we were seeing reality and when we were seeing a dream.
OK, it started in a dream and we were supposed to think it was reality for a few minutes. But that shouldn’t have fooled anyone – We knew the movie was about entering and playing about in dream states, so we should expect a trick or two along the way.
Then, they came out of that dream and “tricked us” again by still being in a dream. Again, I was not surprised by the double bluff. When Watanabe’s character started talking about how he didn’t recognize the rug as his own, it became clear that they had attempted to trick him – and that the movie had attempted to trick us … but it was still not confusing.
From that point on, we actually saw them hooking up to their machines before every dream … and the wake-up’s were made really obvious too – especially when they were being “woke” from one level of dream to another, so it was really easy to keep track of where we were.
Not at a single point in the entire movie did I feel that I didn’t know whether I was watching dream or reality. It seemed to me that the makers had gone out of their way to keep the transitions between levels and realities very clear-cut in an attempt to keep the viewers up to speed.
So why then do even respected critics such as Mark Kermode rave about the confusion that is rife throughout Inception?
Is it just me? Or are a huge percentage of the people watching this movie just kinda stupid? I don’t understand how people are getting lost in a plot that contains only one real thread.
Did these people have the same problem following the plot of Toy Story 3?
“What? I thought Lotso was a good guy! I’m totally confused! I’m gonna have to watch this again!”
Don’t misunderstand the purpose of this post. I loved Inception. I found it to be beautifully shot and expertly written. It’s the overwhelming reaction to it that I am finding unbearable.
They talk about Inception being a “smart” blockbuster. I disagree. I think it’s more a case of the general public just being pretty stupid.
MisterShouty 