Review of Inception (2010) by Dalton F — 27 Apr 2014

"What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere.".

Christopher Nolan is without a doubt the greatest modern filmmaker that Hollywood has involved in the past decade. His films are creative, filled with compelling themes and ideas, and dedicates himself in telling a remarkable story over stellar visuals. Every great filmmaker has their passion project. For George Lucas, it was Star Wars. For James Cameron, Avatar. For Steven Spielberg, ET. And for Christopher Nolan, it would be Inception, which will go down in film history as one of the most complex, insane, and highly original movies ever made.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief who has the power to enter people's dreams to steal ideas, becoming the ultimate weapon in corporate espionage. But Cobb has a lot of personal problems, which is affecting his Inception project; his late wife (Marion Cotillard) is haunting his every thought, and, accused of murdering her, isn't allowed to see his children nor step foot on American soil. With one last shot at redemption, Cobb and his "dream team" (which compromises of a talented cast like Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, and Ken Watanbe) turn from stealing ideas into planting one, a quest that could bring Cobb back to his children. But the more they go into Robert Fischer's (Cillian Murphy) mind, the more complicated the mission gets.

I first saw Inception back in 2010, and thought nothing special about it. My initial reaction was that the story was way too complicated to enjoy, but the cast and ideas were great. Four years later, with a more appreciative mind on complex material, and the first time I've seen Inception since my initial thoughts, I can now say that Inception is a modern Nolanesque masterpiece.

For one thing, look at how original and creative the story is, particularly the rules of going into the mind. When you die in the dream, you instantly wake up. When you're in multiple layers of the dream, you need a massive "kick" to get out of it. And the detail goes on and on and on, and the result is brilliantly executed. In a world dominated by sequels, prequels, reboots, and ripoffs of great original material already executed in the past, it's a miracle that someone is dedicated to telling something 100% original, and create a near-flawless film.

But my original problem still resonates with the film, that the story can get a little too complicated to follow. When looking at the film, a thought came in my mind. You know, this is Inception. The plot's supposed to make you think. It's not like Nolan wants to go kindergarten teacher on us and make a Cliff Note version on a project that took him ten long, hard years to make! This is Inception, not The Wizard of Oz! Considering the complexity and the multiple layers of thought in watching the film, you got to give Nolan credit for creating a film where you have to think throughout. It's something that hasn't been perfected since the films of Alfred Hitchcock. And that's something to be proud of.

Unlike Gravity, where the visuals were the star of the show, Nolan makes sure that story comes first, then create stellar visual effects. And they are some of the best visual works in the past decade, more so than Gravity, Avatar, and Life of Pi combined! When you have a film involving revolving hallways, buildings going on top of each other, a van flying off a bridge in slo-mo for at least 30 minutes, and trains going beserk on the streets, you know this is an epic genius masterpiece. To be honest, I have no clue how Nolan and the visual crew managed to do it. And that's also something to be proud of, as not knowing how to create something visually wonderful is always a massive achievement.

Casting is something Nolan is good at, and in Inception, Nolan doesn't disappoint. While I'm not much of a Leonardo DiCaprio fan (mostly because the only films I've seen him in are this and that horrendous modernized adaptation of Romeo and Juliet), I must say I was impressed with what DiCaprio pulls on the table. In the first minutes, we automatically root for Cobb in his shot at redemption. Leap of faith is a major plot device in the film, particularly in giving DiCaprio's character room to grow in the continuing issue of his dreams and others. I'm surprised he didn't get an Oscar nomination for his captivating performance, but it is what it is. Tom Hardy? Awesome, nuff said. Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Great, as usual. Ellen Page? Well, considering she's not one of my favorite actresses, Nolan makes her about as compelling is drama as DiCaprio! Marion Cotillard? Wonderful, complex performance! Ken Watanbe? Enjoyable in being the overly-serious guy! Cillain Murphy? His most compelling performance, having issues in what to do in life and is the best performance I've seen in him, much more chilling than Scarecrow! There's also a very entertaining appearance from the always great Michael Caine.

Hans Zimmer is one of the most original modern composers out there. And in Inception, his originality doesn't stop! Considering I'm not that big a fan of techno-sounding, as proven in that highly overrated Steven Price Gravity score, but Zimmer always knows what to do, and his score is flawless, possibly one of his greatest scores ever!!! The unique instrumentation fits in well with the complex material of the film, and the main theme is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

There's been debate on what Nolan's masterwork is, Inception or The Dark Knight. It's a really tough debate, and considering I initially thought Inception to be slightly overrated, I have seen the massive acclaim on it, and with that said, Inception is one of Nolan's best. It doesn't top The Dark Knight, but with it's great performances, particularly Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Leonardo DiCaprio, stellar visual making, a genius ending that raises lots of questions, and original, thought-provoking ideas and one of the most highly creative modern blockbusters in the past 14 years, Inception comes really, really close. It's great that the Academy recognized Nolan for his phenomenal work on Inception, considering all the Oscars it won, after the massive snubs they gave on all three Batman films combined, but with the upcoming Interstellar looking to be another original masterpiece as Inception, it's safe to say that hopefully, he'll have a Best Picture or Best Director win in his resume.

"An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you.".