[morris]

Originally Posted by CitizenSnips

I was watching Inception for the second time a while back, and I noticed that roughly 95% of the dialogue is exposition. Literally. If anyone owns it, have a look and see.

I own it and agree with what you're saying. It is quite a flawed film in terms of the way the characters are set up. They are essentially like little pieces moving around a Monopoly (Inception) board. This one is Dog(Arthur), this one is Hat(Cobb), this one is Boot(Eames) and so on and they aren't terribly real or relatable, with the possible exception of Cobb and some of his issues. I feel for him being separated from his children. But Inception is so visually lush and slick that when I put it on, it draws me into its world and I'd be amiss not to praise the soundtrack, which is one of my favourites of the last ten years. In some ways, it's almost like a superbly detailed and flawlessly realised extended music video with some talking bits in between. Not to everyone's taste obviously but I enjoy it.

Agreed, it's nowhere near as deep or clever as it thinks it is. It's the kind of film which is ripe for satire. But that in turn denotes the fact that it has had some cultural impact. We can now say that something is "like Inception". It deserves some regconition if not respect, for that.
No, it isn't Mulholland Drive, but the first time I watched it I more or less grasped it but had a few fuzzy bits..questions in my head. The second time I watched it, it all seemed obvious and made perfect sense. But I never claimed to be the smartest cat in the world, only the one with the best taste in film.

So what I'm beginning to think is - is he more of an 'ideas man' than a great filmmaker? Not to disparage Memento, Insomnia or TDK but it's starting to seem to me (and I'm sure some others as well) that he's becoming too wrapped up in his own concepts and musings and is beginning to let his storytelling and character development slide.

Correct. You've said more or less word for word, what Jonesy said about Nolan once (though I can't remember if it was on the forum or not). Nolan is more of an ideas man than a great filmmaker. In some ways it's a shame, because his eye is second to none, and he has a way of bringing action to life on the screen that has literally oceans of style and is head and shoulders above anyone else in that regard. But his development as a director of striking and beautiful imagery in blockbuster films, has come at the expense of losing a certain amount of humanity, character conviction and the ability to touch audiences and have them relate to his characters.