Inception (2010)
Director - Christopher Nolan
Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Ellen Page
4 stars
There is nothing quite like a big, blockbuster movie event. They are the movies where you say to yourself, ‘I have to see it’, and when it doesn’t live up to expectation, you feel royally jibbed. But sometimes, it is just the event itself that can be half the fun. Recent movies like Shutter Island, Avatar and Public Enemies have all hit our cinemas with a massive amount of hype surrounding them. I am beginning to warm to the hype. That whole blockbuster movie experience is a very exciting thing and it’s wonderful to see hundreds of people crammed into a packed cinema on opening night when we live in an age of downloads and DVD burning. Inception no doubt falls into this category.
I’m sure everybody at some stage or another has had that conversation with another person discussing the possibility of screenwriters running out of fresh ideas to captivate the audience. ‘Surely one day every original idea will be sourced and eventually there will be no new stories to tell?’ If you haven’t had that discussion about movies, you’ve probably had it about music, ‘how do they keep having original ideas for songs?’ Well, anybody concerned about Hollywood running out of narrative options should just sit down and have a chat to Christopher Nolan. The idea for Inception is so incredibly complex and unique that even after watching it I sat there and thought, ‘how the hell does one originate an idea like that?’ It truly is fascinating.
In a nutshell (and it really isn’t a movie that can be done justice with a nutshell synopsis), Inception is a film about a small team of individuals who enter peoples dreams and subconscious with the intention of either stealing valuable information or planting ideas there. The latter is more or less where the main action of Inception comes from. Main man Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his right-hand man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have access to this pretty cool gizmo that allows them to enter other people’s dreams. In order to get back to his family, Cobb accepts a job from Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant the idea of selling the family business into the subconscious of Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy). This will in turn improve the chances of Saito’s business becoming the powerhouse in energy. Sound complicated? It’s really not.
The beauty of this potentially complex idea and narrative is the fact that despite what you may have heard, it isn’t terribly difficult to follow. Nolan (refreshingly) treats his audience as intellects in the sense that he doesn’t meticulously explain all smaller details of his concept in the expectation that the viewer will in fact understand. After the first ten minutes you will feel completely rattled but not long after things will begin to fit into place and you can relax again. The beauty of Ellen Page’s character, Ariadne, is that she begins in a similar mind space to that of the audience. She is completely oblivious to the art of inception and extraction of ones thoughts so Cobb and Arthur go through a number of tutorials with her to explain what she needs to know. This explanation also functions to educate the audience on a topic that is completely foreign to them as well, without trying to spell it out to them like idiots. It is a very effective technique.
Everything about Inception just screamed, ‘blockbuster’. It was epic in every sense of the word. Written and directed by Hollywood heavyweight Christopher Nolan (the famous creator of such works as Momento, Batman Begins and most recently The Dark Knight) immediately stamped Inception as a ‘watch this space’ project. Add in the hype and rave reviews from people in the know and it soon became a must watch. Also adding to the epic nature of it was, in my personal opinion, the cast. Obviously DiCaprio is one of the biggest icons in the world and the match up with Nolan made this film all the more appetizing. It seems now that Leo won’t take any work now unless he believes it will be a blockbuster - and for good reason because the man can act. What really impressed me though, was the work done from the rest of the cast. Although a lot of them are quite well known names, none of them would be classed as real superstars of their industry. For me, Joseph Gordon-Levitt stole the show. His classy, mysterious but always in control character Arthur was always a felt presence on screen - an ability that was important for the overall feel with the unstable Cobb behind the reins of the whole mission. Page was believable as the intellectual college architect who’s role was incredibly important to the teams success and Tom Hardy’s character, Eames, provided some subtle comic relief and a breath of fresh air from the intensity. Combined with solid performances from Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine (it wouldn’t feel like a Nolan film without him) and you had what felt like an A grade line up. The perfect fit for its blockbuster expectations.
The music and cinematography were also quite outstanding and it is for these reasons alone that a viewing of Inception in the cinemas would be a highly recommendable experience. Music really can make or break movies and in this case it probably helped lift it up that little bit further. It certainly added to the notion of ‘epic’ that I continue to harp on. As for the visuals, well you only have to see one of the 15-second advertisements on television to see how stunning it really is. Combine that to feature length and then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Inception really did have it all. A unique idea with a pretty captivating storyline combined with enough complexities to get the brain stimulating without having to call on all your cells for back up. I guess one criticism would be that it wasn’t really edge of your seat cinema. Sometimes that isn’t a bad thing but for me it could have got me slightly more emotionally involved. This may have had to do with a lack of ability to empathise with any of the characters. With that said, I was entranced enough to keep me eyes firmly fixed on the screen for the whole 148 minutes.
Still, Inception certainly does live up to its blockbuster hype. Here I am, 1067 words in, and I know that what I say will hardly contribute to whether you actually go and see it or not but I’m doing my preach anyway! There are so many reasons to go and see it and if you are struggling to find one, I reckon that says more about you then it does say about Inception. So get in on the hype, see it while it’s still out in the cinema, make a night out of it even, and enjoy the journey. It’s a lot of fun.
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