By Jason Apuzzo. Speculation is currently very heated about the exact nature of the plotline to writer-director Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film, Inception.
Why the speculation is so heated is actually something of a puzzle to me, in so far as the film’s trailer would seem to make Inception‘s storyline fairly clear: the film appears to be a kind of sci-fi, Hitchcockian thriller based on the concept of what used to be termed mind-control and/or brainwashing.
According to Warner Brothers, the film’s distributor:
“Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible—inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime.”
Personally Nolan’s much-hyped film is of little interest to me, due to its seemingly derivative quality; the film appears to be a kind of pastiche of familiar elements from The Matrix, Memento, The Thirteenth Floor, Dark City and myriad other recent films that have plumbed the theme of mind control. Inception already appears to lack the punchy, campy vitality of the original Matrix; nor does Nolan appear to have developed a sense of humor – we’re apparently still going to be waiting for that in one of his films. [And I’ve been waiting for it ever since his Following, from 1998.] But Nolan certainly made Warner Brothers enough money from The Dark Knight that he’s earned the right to do what he wants to do with Inception – it’s his film.
Your mind is the scene of the crime: from Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.”
Superman is a somewhat different matter. As has been widely reported, Nolan has been given by Warner Brothers what amounts to supervisory control over the forthcoming ‘reboot’ of the Superman franchise. He’s been given this control due to the wild financial success of The Dark Knight. But Superman is an altogether different kind of ‘property.’ The Superman character is an important figure of American iconography – a product, actually, of America’s epochal battle against fascism in World War II. Going ‘edgy’ or ‘dark’ with the Superman character – which is ostensibly why Nolan was brought in – is therefore quite a tricky matter.
Miles Millar’s comic series Superman: Red Son (an image of which is seen at the top of this post) – the much-discussed series in which Superman is re-envisioned as a Soviet superhero of the working people – offers a vivid example of how even something as seemingly stable as the Superman image can be tampered with in drastic ways. With the full-throated support of the fanboy community, Millar was pitching Superman movies as recently as two years ago, although in fairness I don’t believe the Red Son plotline was part of his pitch. The point is, though, that Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns actually went so far as to drop the ‘American way’ from the famous Superman ‘credo’ of standing for “Truth, Justice and the American Way.” So does anyone really trust these people to retain the essence of the Superman character as a patriotic icon?
There are already rumors about what the next Superman film might be like from the plot standpoint. The rumors don’t really tell us much – or at least, they don’t tell us the really important things to know. But I’m long-past trusting the studios to handle this material anymore. And now Christopher Nolan – the guy making the brainwashing film, who brought a sinister allure to the Batman series – is entrusted with Superman. And I’m actually a little concerned about it.
For now Nolan has been keeping his cards close to the vest about his plans for Superman. I understand the showmanship aspect of keeping things secret, but at this point I’d actually like to know a little more about where he intends to take the Superman franchise. Hopefully during the rollout of Inception we’ll hear a lot more from him about this.
Posted on June 16th, 2010 at 12:57am.
