Inception

Inception

"Dom Cobb 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."

4.5 of stars

This review is probably a moot point because it seems that everyone and their mother has already seen the film, but if you haven’t, here we go. I’m not going to hop on the bandwagon quite as hard as most people (the movie already has the #3 ranking of all time on IMDb). Not to say that movie isn’t good (it most definitely is), but let’s take a minute to let the hype die down before we start throwing out Oscars.

First off, kudos to Chris Nolan as both an artist and a business man. He hasn’t directed many films, but the few that he has (Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight) have all been truly worthy of both their critical and financial success. That being said, this film doesn’t stray from that model. We’re heading into the 4th week of Inception dominating the Box Office and, while it may slip, the money is going to keep rolling in. The main reason for this, aside from the film being entertaining, is the subject matter . . . . dreams. If you’re a person who likes to talk or get up and go to the bathroom during the movie, then you’re going to have a hard time watching this. Every scene is important and engages the audience in such a way that makes you feel like you’ve completed a “mental marathon” by the end. But don’t let the cognitive calisthenics scare you. While the subject matter is somewhat complicated, the direction and storytelling is at such a high level that I never had to stop and ask for directions. There may be a few scant moments where you need to repeat what you just heard to yourself to make sure you comprehended it, but then you’re right back in the action. And that’s really saying something seeing as how Nolan basically built this world entirely from his own brain. There aren’t a lot of “rules” once the characters enter the dream worlds, but once they do Nolan does a masterful job of making sure everyone adheres to them.

Character-wise the cast is pretty solid. I haven’t been a Leo-hater like some people. Aside from Titanic, he has had some impressive performances from a very young age (see The Basketball Diaries and The Quick and the Dead), and his portrayal as a tortured soul in this movie really could not have been delivered much better. He is constantly haunted by the appearance of his dead wife in his dreams (played by Marion Cotillard). Aside from her sexuality that almost drips off the screen, the choice of Cotillard as his wife is somewhat ironic. Christopher Nolan claims that this is purely coincidental, but the song that is played in the movie multiple times to alert the dreamers they are about to wake up is "Je Ne Regrette Rien". What makes this ironic is that Cotillard won an Oscar two years ago by portraying Edith Piaf who was the real life singer who made the emotional song so famous. And yet another case of happenstance is the face that she beat out Ellen Page for the coveted golden statuette. Ellen Page, in fact, plays the young architect who Cobb hires to design the world for this most intricate of heists. Now, at first I wasn’t a big fan of the casting choice. I love Page in the things she’s done, but I thought I was going to have a hard time taking her seriously for 100% of the movie. Let’s be honest, her bread and butter is a dead pan delivery of lines that would make John Belushi blush. Nevertheless, she proved to be more than capable of holding her own. I’m not saying someone else couldn’t have done just as good a job, but when I heard they initially wanted Rachel McAdams or Emily Blunt I was glad to see they decided on Page. Mostly because there was no stilted love story that had to be concocted simply because you had two attractive leads. Page is cute, but her age and relative plainness let me focus more in on what was going on around them rather than having to be bothered with the possibility that Leo and Ellen might have a scene where they were knocking boots.

As is often the case, I feel this movie may have a little less edge because it came out after the Matrix. The similarities are undeniable, but are in no way strong enough to really take you out of the movie. As much as I was intrigued that the “rules” Nolan developed for the dream worlds, I was almost as impressed with the things he left out. The basic concept of sharing a dream and the machine that makes it all possible is never really addressed, and it doesn’t need to be. We’re talking about an experience that is unique for everyone, so sometimes a storyteller just has to say ‘You just have to accept this’, and we do.

My only major strike against the movie is probably the lack of character development for the supporting cast. While we are invited to delve deep into Leo’s psyche and learn about his thoughts and experiences, we barely scratch the surface of any of the other characters. I felt like some more weight could have been added to the movie if we had a vested interest in the success of all the players instead of just Leo. But, sometimes, that’s just the way it goes.

At its core, this film really just is a typical “heist movie” wrapped in a mind-blowing blanket of the subconscious world. Set aside my objections about the relevance of time in dreams and a minor plot hole towards the end, and you will have yourself a movie that you are definitely going to watch more than once . . . and probably one more time after that when you’re on ‘shrooms. But the measure of a movie really comes down to whether or not you entertained the audience for the length of time you asked for their attention. And judging by the collective “Awwwww, come on!” that was elicited by everyone in my movie theater at the very end, I think Inception did its job.