Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Awesome Movie

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

After devouring the incredible journey that was Twin Peaks: The Return, I went on the hunt for more things Lynch. Inland Empire is probably his most obtuse and difficult film, yet I must admit that I enjoyed it. I won't pretend to you that I had any single clue about what was going on for the majority of the feature, and whilst at times it did come across like a student film (you can thank the use of the Sony PD-150 for that) I was left feeling very unsettled at the conclusion.Simply put, nobody does dream sequences or dream worlds like David Lynch, and considering this entire film blurs the lines between dream and reality from beginning to end, this is the ultimate expression of that art-form. The budget is minuscule, but you will be left questioning what is real, and what it is that really matters, if anything. Laura Dern is excellent, as usual, and there is a pure- Lynchian (sorry to use that term!) scene where she gets stabbed with a screwdriver, and the people around her continue the most morbid conversation, in the most nonchalant way. It is hard to describe, you just have to watch it to see how twisted it is.

This feels like the natural culmination point of Lynch's films. Mulholland Drive was a masterpiece, whereas this feels like the indulgence that the latter film afforded him. That's not meant derogatorily. Mulholland Drive was a perfect Lynch film, but Inland Empire felt like he'd finally got the green light to follow all of his artistic tendencies as far as he wanted (even jokingly acknowledged in the final scene). It's a descent into madness, and the rule book went out of the window. This has some of Lynch's most memorable scenes, but it also pushes the viewer's natural inclination to apply order beyond the limit.It's not free form stream of consciousness, but is right on the line. There are hints all over the place, but unlike Mulholland Drive there isn't a suggested interpretation that emerges. I have my own ideas about what this film is meant to be, but that's my personal reading. I believe that Lynch aimed to make a film that invited multiple interpretations, and which resisted definitive resolution. It's this open-ended approach that makes it such an enigmatic and imaginative film. It provokes your imagination.

A David Lynch film is a tightrope act of sorts. They're all a little abstract, a little bit mystical, but remaining (usually) is a looming mystery that is never solved; the viewer must be ready to interpret the abstruse puzzle presented to them. In a great Lynch film, Mulholland Dr. for example, a profound characterization can act as a backbone to the many head spinning detours that dawdle in the celluloid. Without one, though, a Lynch film can become intolerable, masturbatory rather than dazzling, a series of puzzle pieces that don't fit anywhere besides his own mind. He is perhaps the definitive hit-or-miss filmmaker — when he hits, his baffling ideas are seductive, lingering in our memory like our very first run-in with Rita Hayworth's Gilda; but when he misses, we're presented with a nightmarish landscape that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, doesn't go anywhere, and doesn't have much in the way of meaning. (And a Lynch film is generally long, making insufferability even more insufferable as the images go on and on and on and on …)Simply put, Inland Empire is one of David Lynch's most unbearable movies. It's his first film shot completely digitally, done so with a Sony DCR- VX1000 camcorder; the images, in return, are fuzzy and textural. Some, especially Lynch, find this photographic technique to hold more value in terms of enigma and subversion, but I, possibly in the minority, think that this experiment is a downfall. His images are so outrightly peculiar (only he could sell the idea of three people in rabbit suits living in an apartment together in sitcom bliss) that the cheapness of the digital camera makes his once lush pictorial instincts read like an experimental student short. Before, the lavishness of film made diversions into the freakish more of a surprise; here, Lynchian punches no longer hold the shock the once did. This shouldn't suggest that his cinematic mastery is waning — it's the fault of the camera, not his.Supposedly, Inland Empire is about Nikki Grace (Laura Dern), a has-been actress who has just received a part in a movie that could revitalize her once strong career. Her co-star is known womanizer Devon Berk (Justin Theroux), her director the respected Kingsley Stewart (Jeremy Irons). Minutes into the rehearsal process is it revealed that the project is thought to be cursed — it was supposed to be made decades ago, but the actors tragically died during the filmmaking process. Following this revelation, strange things start to occur: Nikki and Devon begin to mimic the lives of the characters they're playing, Sue Blue and Billy Side, and Nikki, desperate as she is to succeed, begins experiencing situations that can only be described as hallucinatory.I say "supposedly" when providing the plot summary because Inland Empire revolves around this storyline for only the first act, possibly even less. It starts off intriguingly, with the same sort of luminous ambiguities of Lost Highway, until it descends into a labyrinth of entangled phantasms. For a while, the delusions are evocative (the audacious pairings with experimental music are especially fascinating), but at three hours, Inland Empire eventually keels over and turns into an unappetizing smörgåsbord of Lynchian rejects. As the story was never interesting enough to begin with, interpretation is left untouched; we're either frustrated or stimulated, mostly the former.The one thing to celebrate in Inland Empire is Laura Dern, in a fearless performance. Her character(s) is hardly defined, but Dern gives us a reason to gaze upon her face with utter enthrallment. She wanders around the maze Lynch places her in the middle of; Dern is so breathtaking that, once in a while, she deceives us into thinking that the material is solid rather than flimsy. More or less, Inland Empire is flimsy. Lynch wrote the script as filming went on (seriously), and nothing ever commences from it. He is a great director, but nothing is worse than taking an audience for granted, especially when that audience has to meander through a film for 180 minutes. Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

By Lynch I adored Mulholland Drive (seen it countless times), loved Lost Highway (repeated viewings also) and liked Elephant Man. I didn't like Blue Velvet. I've never quite fallen to the assumption that Lynch's movies are supposed to have a certain meaning. I think that's his intention, to confuse viewers and make them talk about his movies and making various theories about what was the true meaning of one of his films. As far as I was concerned, his movies were creepy for the sake of it and thought they beautifully succeeded that, this is good enough for me. It's not like if they did have a hidden meaning, that would be revealing the recipe to a live forever potion. I was mindfuck*ed, creeped out, and that's good enough. However, after seeing this (or rather, just half) of this absolute pile of turds, I've lost all respect for this director and won't be seeing any of his films ever again. And I'm doubting the movies I have actually liked by him. After my boyfriend told me this has a 7 rating and Lynch made it, I knew it had to be some overrated nonsense. If it were a good movie made by Lynch it would have been at least an 8. I knew from the first 10 minutes what bullshit this movie is but I sat (albeit not very still or attentive) through one hour and 25 minutes of it, just for the sake of it, to see how bad it could get, and than turned it off an went to sleep. I can't even begin to describe why this movie is so bad. It doesn't make ANY sense (unlike his other creepy movies that had somewhat of a story line, however broken it was) and it's NOT CREEPY. It's just stupid. I feel sorry for Jeremy Irons to have played in such a waste of time of pretentious nonsense. There are two possibilities to this: either Lynch has lost his mind OR he made this just to play a prank on people and laugh his a$$ off at the good reviews this gets just because it's signed by him.