"Inception" Movie Trailer Review
Long before “The Dark Knight” grossed more than the GDP of the Solomon Islands, director Christopher Nolan was known more for his dark explorations of the human psyche in his films “Memento” and “Insomnia” than for letting Christian Bale talk as if he swallowed a grizzly bear for 150 minutes.
Thus, it’s no surprise that the trailer for his upcoming film, “Inception,” declares: “Your Mind is the Scene of the Crime.” Set for a July 2010 release and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “Inception” has Nolan, who also wrote the screenplay, returning to the concept of what’s real and what merely appears to be.
During production, details about the film's plot were closely guarded. The minute-long, dialogue-free trailer doesn't reveal much other than what seems to be the film’s four major themes--the city, gravity, water and DiCaprio looking confused. Gravity, or lack thereof, is the most interesting of the four. The opening shot of a top spinning and slowly falling is contrasted with the brief Matrix-like scene in which Gordon-Levitt runs along the walls of a hotel and jumps at DiCaprio, who is then thrown backwards as up becomes down, left becomes right, and away we go down the rabbit hole.
In part, the trailer’s surreal feeling is accomplished by the treatment of the city itself. Set to industrial music, the opening helicopter shot of a freeway snaking through downtown helps to build to the final reveal of the trailer--a massive zoom-out in which the city becomes a maze, one complicated enough to lend some credibility to DiCaprio’s puzzled and fearful facial expressions throughout.
Final judgment on whether “Inception” has the potential to be a success should be spared until a more complete trailer is released. That said, it is noteworthy that this is Nolan’s first completely original work since his film debut in 1998. His past five films all have been based on some sort of source material, be it a short story, a novel or most famously, a comic book. Already, the specter of “The Dark Knight” has proved difficult for Nolan to escape. Just a glance at the movie poster for “Inception" suggests something familiar about the protagonist’s pose--he's standing in front of a city in distress, completely surrounded by skyscrapers and looking, for all intents and purposes, ready to kick some serious butt.
View the trailer for "Inception" below. What are your thoughts?
December 26, 2009 at 10:51 PM
Tough to tell much from a teaser trailer, but if Nolan's track record is any proof, it should be great. Let's just hope it's nothing like JG-L's "The Lookout"...
And don't forget the fifth theme: I'm-Christoper-Nolan-and-nothing-is-what-it-seems
December 26, 2009 at 10:56 PM
I can't wait for it. I'm such a fan of his.
Our new writer, Matt, rocks.
Christopher
December 27, 2009 at 1:18 AM
The teaser trailer has me looking forward to the movie. Clearly we don't learn much, but the movie definitely seems intriguing. Of course, I'm also excited about seeing DiCaprio.
December 27, 2009 at 1:35 AM
This trailer told me nothing about what to expect. Thanks for giving me some context. Now, I understand why such a teasing trailer is effective for this director.
B
December 27, 2009 at 7:41 AM
Nice review and nice hair. It's cool to look at the other actors in the movie:
Cilian Murphy--Probably killing British zombies while wearing a burlap mask.
Ellen Paige--Giving birth to intangible rollerskaters.
Michael Caine--I heard he can shoot webs out of his hands.
December 27, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Great write up. It'll be interesting to see how much, if any, Nolan has been changed by the success of the Dark Night.
December 29, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Insightful predictions. My face looked a lot like DiCaprio's after the trailer but now the confusion has changed to eager anticipation.
December 29, 2009 at 9:28 PM
DiCaprio has been pretty quiet for awhile but he is a great actor and I can't wait to see how Nolan uses him. Gotta agree with Christopher, Matt seems like a good writer.
July 2, 2010 at 1:21 AM
it looks like the movie might be slow, but with an interesting story and lots of twist and terns, and visual affects that will make it an awesome movie, this is one Im looking forward to
August 23, 2010 at 8:22 PM
This website is better I enjoyed it greatly
September 8, 2010 at 9:13 PM
This website is the best. Thank your for this article. I enjoyed it very much.
Find Payday Loan Inc. 524 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4Y 1X9 (866) 519-5161
January 14, 2011 at 5:05 PM
I loved your blog. Thank you.