On the Lack of Bite in Salt

Fractured Russian US relations have proved prevalent material for film makers since the Cold War. At a time when Russian spies have been discovered living as US citizens and the US president attempts to improve relations between the two super powers, Salt is both prescient and unwelcome. Fortunately, for those Americans hoping to keep ties with Russia friendly, Salt is poor all over and immediately forgettable.

Even the presence of Angelia Jolie cannot prove enough distraction from this film’s lack of energy, but this is not for lack of trying. Director Phillip Noyce, who has directed sold thrillers, most notably The Quiet American (2002), struggles to inject excitement into the set pieces. The speed and style of the action attempts to emulate the Bourne Trilogy (2002 – 2007), but is a poor imitation that feels less like referencing and more like plagiarism. While on paper the characters may have been richly drawn, the direction offers them little chance to develop and the wooden manner in which the dialogue is delivered suggests the actors have little belief in the story. In short, Salt is lazy entertainment that lacks bite.

On Oneirism Explored in Inception

Abnormal states of consciousness? Controlled perceptions of unconsciousness’? Both? Through 150 minutes, Inception continually tests the boundaries of reality by weaving together a narrative involving a crack team of thieves specializing in a very specific form of theft. By inducing their mark into a heavy sleep, they infiltrate the dream to steal information buried in the subconscious. This involves a team with a very precise form of skills, including a dream architect. The title of Christopher Nolan's mind manipulating opus refers to the very rare and difficult job of not only stealing from a subconscious, but sowing the seeds of an idea that does not yet exist into the mind of the unwitting mark.

Yet it is not the dream world of the mark that provides the fascination here. In fact the mark's dream world seems to be comprised of elaborate and easily differentiated landmarks. It is Leonardo DiCaprio's Cobb, whose heartbreak and unwillingness to let go of his wife who committed suicide that provides Inception's most relatable and dream-like offerings. Dreams are not fluid, they do not make sense, they do not follow a structured narrative, yet when in a dream, none of this inconsistency is noticeable. Imagine, though, that within the fractured world of the dream, you held all the motor functions and awareness that you have while fully conscious. How would you deal with being faced with the reality of your subconscious? This is Cobb's, and by association with him, his team's challenge.

Within the landscape of someone else's dream, Cobb's hidden world comes seeping though and only when we are thrown completely into his mind does it all start falling into place. The notion of being plugged into a world like our own, but with the added benefit of being able to manipulate it is not as unique as may be initially thought. The Matrix (1999) is perhaps the most immediately memorable,but also Existenz (1999). And The Matrix and Inception share some common ground. Both have created wonderful, cinematic action scenes and brought originality to big budget mainstream cinema, as well as demanding of their audience more than a passive participation. Yet, where Inception is superior is in its full comprehension of its idea and how that idea is related clearly to the audience and in the depth of the emotion the film reaches.

Experiencing Inception feels distinctive simply because so few major summer releases challenge and offer us a world where we rarely go. Dreams are elusive concepts and Inception may be our best opportunity to view the nature of dreams while awake.