Inception Review

"Your mind is the scene of the crime." - tagline

Movies like this give me hope that sci fi movies won't always be lost to senseless action, half baked scripts, and excessive CGI. Movies like this give me hope for movies in general, because this is a movie that is complex, gripping, vastly interesting, vastly entertaining, and, above all else, original. Inception is the movie I have been dying to see all year. A movie that I could tell from the trailers deserved its hype and would be my kind of movie. I've seen it twice now, and now I'll tell you what I thought about it.

I will try to sum up the basic outline of the plot. Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a master in the newest form of corporate espionage: Extraction, wherein he and his team of experts can enter a mind through dreams, steal ideas buried in their target's subconscious, and sell the idea to the highest bidder. After a failed job puts Cobb in a jam, a shady businessman and former target named Saito (Ken Watanabe) offers him the job. Saito wants Cobb to pull off inception, where instead of stealing an idea he must plant one inside the target's mind. With the offer of cleaning his criminal slate, Cobb accepts and assembles his team. The job of inception itself is difficult, but what may be the main problem for Cobb are his own demons that still haunt his mind. It's pretty freaking cool.

With a big budget and a genius filmmaker behind it, Inception turns out to be the most exciting, creative, and epic movie to come out since Avatar. Being a combination of crime sagas, psychological thrillers, and sci fi action it rises to the top of all said genres. Its primary theme is fantasy vs. reality, but redemption is a touchstone as well. I feel you just have to admire a movie that has an intricate and effective mythology. This movie has one, and while some may feel there was an overabundance of exposition, I didn't care because I enjoy being filled in on stuff I have no idea about, especially when that stuff is awesome. The most intriguing thing is this movie deals with something everyone can relate to. We all dream. The characters in this movie are experts on dreams and all of the little things we all notice during them. Most crime movies involve big and complex schemes for the thieves to get what they want, but this is the biggest and most complex plan I've ever seen. Time more then anything is a factor, and more difficult than ever because as the characters go deeper into dreams, dreams within dreams, and even the subconscious time constantly changes. And of course, being a crime thriller too, something is bound to go totally wrong. A dream seems almost like an organism of its own, your mind can figure out when it is being tampered with and will try to negate whatever is doing the tampering. This is bad when the mind figures it out in time, but even worse when the mind is trained to figure out and rebel with extreme prejudice. Luckily though, if you're smart enough you can manipulate the world of the dream as much as you want. This review could be a two parter with as much detail and description given in this movie; I could honestly see Inception having a novelization.

The idea of not being able to tell the difference between fantasy and reality and what is real and what isn't real has been toyed with in a number of films. The Matrix is most famous, but then there were also the very great movies Dark City and Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. Still I don't think any of them are as deep as this when it comes to those subjects. Here more than anywhere else you don't know what is real or what is a dream. Even the characters question these things. This is even more true to the film's subject matter, because really, no matter how incredible or screwed up it is, when you are dreaming you really just take it as it comes and don't notice anything wrong. In those aspects, it's safe to say this movie will leave the audience second guessing themselves as much as the characters.

It goes without saying that the technical mechanics of this movie are outstanding. I'm sure you've all seen the dream city of Paris folding on top of itself in the promos for the film. This is a movie with a laundry list of visual wizardry, misleading or shifting structures, and dreamscapes that bend to the will of reality or the reality of other dreams and it is all amazing to look at. The fact that the dream world is the film's playground grants a free pass in more ways than one. For instance, in many action movies you see characters doing things that no people could logically do in the real world, but these people are in a dream and we all know you can do things in dreams you could never do in real life. I love the fact that for a movie that has dozens of people being beaten, trampled, shot, or blown up, only two or three people actually die. Enough with dream stuff, what about the stuff people notice but may not fully appreciate. Hans Zimmer's score is phenomenal, it is at times ominous, other times mysterious, and always intense and suspenseful. Listening to the music, you can feel the presence of impending doom. The cinematography by Wally Pfister is as always crystal clear and mesmerising.

The acting above all is top notch, especially for such a big budget action film. The key was having the whole cast full of tremendously convincing actors. Leonardo DiCaprio is his usual cool, powerhouse self and brings as much finesse and depth to his performance as ever. You feel for his character. Also, I think DiCaprio fits very well in action roles, mostly because he plays well in harrowing, frantic situations. Joseph Gordon Levitt shines once again as DiCaprio's right hand man, Arthur, a very charming and smooth criminal. Levitt proves again and again that he is becoming one of the most versatile stars in Hollywood. Ellen Page shows up as Ariadne, a new recruit who designs the architecture of the dreams. Page, another extraordinary new star, is in a very different role than her previous ones and holds her own as always. I'm glad her character was also essential in more ways than just her dream expertise. Tom Hardy plays Eames, the suave and deadly dreamworld con man with a lot of wit and control, and is probably the movie's main comic highlight. Dileep Rao once again stars in a big budget action movie and is effective as usual, this time playing the team's chemist, Yusuf. The acclaimed Ken Watanabe stars as cool and shifty Saito, and is able to turn him from a ruthless, villainous type to a sympathetic person effectively. Marion Cotillard plays a very multilayered and surprising character in the film, and her appearances are always very haunting. Though Cillian Murphy is not given as much to do as the rest of the cast, he brings his usual A game as Saito's to be rival/target for inception. Veteren actors like Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite, Tom Berenger, and Lucas Haas are brought in in small roles or cameos and make the movie even more awesome. So if you can't tell the acting is pretty well solid in this movie.

In closing, I will strongly urge you, reader, to go see Inception. There is just too much to say that I can't fit in this review. The only way you will really understand is if you go see it. Be blown away, be astounded, or be totally and utterly confused. Either way it's still excellent entertainment. Christopher Nolan is one of the best directors out there because he takes the time to write and direct movies that are feasts for the eyes, the ears, and the mind especially. I'm not even effected by the fact that the movie is over two and a half hours long, I enjoyed every damn minute of it. It is so far the best movie of the year, standing right above Toy Story 3, and I would not be at all surprised if it is going to be a Best Picture contender. Inception is one of the best movies to be released in a long while, and I am almost ashamed of taking up the time you could be spending watching it by having you read my review. It ends here, 10 out of 5 stars, go see it and sweet dreams.

This has been a mind bending review from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.