Directed by Christopher Nolan.
According to Christopher Nolan’s latest subconscious-exploring work, an idea is a resilient parasite that can build cities, transform the world and rewrite all the rules. A good idea can also make for a bloody good film, and this blockbuster, with its original premise and intricate dream layering, is certainly capable of rewriting the rules of cinema. Pinch yourself – Inception has arrived.
Leo Di Caprio is Dom Cobb, a dream thief who works for an organisation which specialises in accessing the subconscious and stealing secrets hidden there. This sounds difficult enough, but is child’s play compared with the almost impossible art of inception – planting an idea into the mind of the dreamer without them realising that it has come from an exterior force. Given the chance by the mysterious Saito (Ken Watanabe) to be reunited with the children he abandoned, Cobb takes on the job to alter the mind of energy company heir Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Rowing merrily down the stream with Cobb is young architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), point man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), forger Eames (Tom Hardy) and chemist Yusuf (Dileep Rao), making the kind of team that we might have seen had Danny Ocean taken a degree in dream psychology instead of spending his youth in the slammer.
The main strength of the film, which puts it above other science fiction movies of the era, is the trust that Nolan has in his premise. Like The Matrix before it, Inception presents its audience with an idea that is not only cutting edge but also leaves no stone unturned – there are rules, and this discipline makes the concept of dream-sharing one that seems oddly real. Ellen Page’s role is the most important in making Inception comprehensive, because she is as new to the game as we are. Ariadne often asks the questions that the viewer is thinking and therefore the science behind entering a dream becomes clearer as the movie goes on.
It is this exponentiality which makes Inception more akin to The Prestige than any of Nolan’s other films. We saw from The Dark Knight that the director can handle episodical action set-pieces, but Inception is different in that it is only when the credits roll that the realisation that the film is a five star masterpiece hits. This is not because, like The Prestige, the film concludes with a series of ta-dah revelations, but rather that the finale of the film begins from the moment that Cobb and his team enter the mind of Fischer, 90 minutes before the credits. From this moment Inception is so intricately connected and intelligently put together that there is never a sleep-inducing moment and the debunking of a three act structure means that the film gets better and better as it goes deeper.
Taking influence from the charisma of Ocean’s Eleven, Cobb’s team all have their own role to play and shine in their own way. Heath Ledger doppelganger Gordon-Levitt is a trustworthy yet shady sidekick, while Page certainly holds her ground against Hollywood heavies Di Caprio and Michael Caine (‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody mind!’). However, star of the show here is Tom Hardy as the theatrical and quick-witted Eames. Firing rocket launchers one minute and skiing away from bad guys the next, Hardy does everything here to prove that he’d be a fantastic James Bond, should Daniel Craig ever decide to hand over the keys to the Aston. Rugged, funny, likeable: let’s just hope he likes his Martinis.
If there is a flaw in Inception, it is that there is a hell of a lot of information to take in over two and a half hours. Once you’ve got the hang of the function of dream-sharing, it is necessary to understand both the heist and Cobb’s difficult relationship with his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard). While it is possible to keep up, it is often unclear where exactly Nolan wants our focus to be. Solving this problem would probably add to the running time, and all is forgiven in the final five minutes, which throws further questions into the mix and excellently concludes the most intelligent blockbuster of recent times. No, you weren’t dreaming – it really was that good.
yes blud it was good shit!!
Great review!
naaaaaaaaaaat