Review of Inception (2010) by Vguru R — 04 Nov 2014

Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION (2010) is my favorite movie of all time, as well as the movie that actually got me into filmmaking in the first place. An immense inspiration in my life, Inception is without a doubt the epitome of awesomeness. This movie is an extremely well written, well thought out, superbly acted, emotional film that has become a milestone in film history as well as my life-hands down one of the BEST FILMS of all time. This movie is such a great feat-a cinematic masterpiece in my opinion-in terms of how Nolan executed storytelling and the astounding performances he brought out of talented actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, and Ken Watanabe; Inception also excels in all of its technical aspects too: score, cinematography, visual effects, and features one of the coolest action sequences that's been done with ONLY practical effects (Nolan is a big fan of practical over visual). As a matter of fact, for those who have seen the film, the hotel hallway fight sequence and the Penrose steps, among other parts of Inception, are ALL PRACTICAL EFFECTS. There were only 500 VFX shots total as compared to what ordinary sci-fi movies today would have: about 2000.

The film revolves around Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) a man who infiltrates a person's subconscious using dream sharing technology and then steals their ideas; a job known as extraction. However he's been struggling to find a way back to his kids, but the only way he can do that is to perform inception on Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) the son of a dying business magnate-all part of a deal with Saito (Ken Watanabe) the head of the company that rivals Fischer's. Unlike extraction (which Cobb is supposedly the best at), inception is the extremely difficult art of IMPLANTING an idea into the subject's mind instead. In order to accomplish inception he assembles a team-consisting of Arthur (JGL), who assembles all the information needed about the subject; Ariadne (Ellen Page), the architect who builds each dream layer; Eames (Tom Hardy), an identity forger who impersonates other people in the dream to manipulate the subject; and finally Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who creates the compounds needed for the dream sharing technology. What follows is an extremely complex, thrilling, mind bending, and thought provoking adventure into the world of dreams!! If that doesn't excite you then I don't know what will.

For those who don't actually know Nolan had actually wanted to make the film after Insomnia (2002) and the studio also approved. However he wanted to write a spec script first and then go back to the studio when he was finished... Except it took another 8 years to fully develop and craft out this ingenious screenplay of people entering another man's dreams, and essentially changing the man's whole perception of certain aspects of his life. I absolutely hate it when people say this movie is "confusing". There's a difference between a confusing movie and a movie that MAKES THE AUDIENCE THINK. Also, the characters actually do explain practically everything one would need to know to follow their mission. It is NOT confusing.

DiCaprio gives one of his best performances ever as this grief stricken man with a mysterious past who is attempting to do what many would deem impossible. FUN FACT: Will Smith and Brad Pitt were both considered for the role of Cobb as well. But, while I love those actors, I honestly don't think they could have pulled the role off as amazing as DiCaprio did. Cobb is a professional, but at this point in his life he's the most desperate man ever who is willing to endanger his team members for the sake of being with his family-and DiCaprio perfectly portrayed this character. I kid you not this is my favorite performance from DiCaprio, and his chemistry with the others was incredible. Marion Cotillard plays his wife, Mal, in the film who appears as a projection whenever Cobb is in the dream state. I don't want to delve too much into her character because there are certain aspects that everyone should experience for themselves; but, to put it simply, she was awesome.

HOWEVER, one of the standout actors in the film was Cillian Murphy as Fischer. Although he's being manipulated and is technically a pawn in the mission, this guy was still going on his own personal journey in coming to terms with his frail relationship with his father. And for those who have not seen it... SPOILERS! The moment Fischer's father (Pete Postlethwaite) says "I was disappointed... that you tried..." and then Fischer opens the safe and pulls out that pinwheel with Hans Zimmer's fantastical score playing in the background.... Holy shit what an unbelievable scene, with a magnificent performance from Murphy! Literally my jaw dropped and I was actually on the verge of tears. Just... Wow! That ties with the hallway scene for my favorite scene in the film, though it's definitely one of the most emotional scenes.

Inception was also the movie in which I was introduced to both Tom Hardy and JGL, two of my favorite actors working today to be honest. I loved both their characters, especially Eames whose role in the mission was really fascinating to me. But everyone please give a huge round of applause to JGL for both his acting and commitment to the action sequences; he did almost all of them including the infamous hallway scene. I had seen Ellen Page in Juno before Inception, but I have to say I loved Ariadne over Juno for multiple reasons; one of which being Ariadne was a far more adult and serious character than Juno. I have to fight with anyone who says, "She's just their so we can understand the plot. Other than that she's useless...." NOPE. I believe that she's one of the most essential team members especially since she acts as an anchor to Cobb whenever he drifts away from reality now and then (of course she finds out certain things about him that allow her to be an anchor but that's SPOILER territory). I also love the character in general, she's more than just a proxy to the audience; Ariadne is an intelligent, curious, and courageous girl and Ellen Page gives the performance of her life here. Her chemistry with Cobb was astoundingly good and without her the film would definitely be missing something special. And finally Watanabe's Saito... EPIC! I loved him in this more than Batman Begins, but a tier below The Last Samurai (underrated Tom Cruise film by the way). His relationship with Cobb was really cool to see developed throughout the film and Watanabe brings everything to the role.

Now we have to finally come to Hans Zimmer's score... To put it simply FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!! I cannot believe he didn't win the Oscar for Best Original Score. In the opening scene alone when (SPOILERS-it's so hard to gush about a movie I love when I can't talk about everything!) Saito reveals to Cobb that he knows he's dreaming and then the "Dream is Collapsing" song kicks in-how badass was that and the continuing action that follows?! I love every single one of Zimmer's beautiful melodies in Inception, and they were essential to tying together this cohesive story and bringing out some great character moments as well. And he popularized the "BRAAM" SFX and gave us "Time" which happens to be a lot of people's favorites (for me it's always going to be "Dream is Collapsing"). As for Wally Pfister's cinematography: remarkable. Every shot, every scene was beautiful in terms lighting, framing, etc. Also, the color palette for Inception is amazing and if you go back and watch it you'll see that each dream layer (on the actual mission) has a different variety of colors; this allows each level to have its own distinct look and vibe. Overall visuals in the film are spectacular.

I think it's come to the point where Inception is now a legendary movie (coincidentally it's produced by Legendary Pictures). Even to this day we are still talking about this grand film, especially because of that AMBIGUOUS ENDING. Is Cobb still in a dream? Of course Nolan himself said that the ending is supposed to mean that Cobb has stopped obsessing over dreams... But it's so fun to speculate. Personally I say he's in reality, but sound off in the comments what your thoughts are on it.

If I've noticed any pattern in Nolan's films it's that he keeps increasing the scope in every single one of them. I mean could anyone but him pull of that quadruple kick at the very end of the film, have it make sense and look fantastic at the same time? Every time he gets more and more ambitious, and Inception could have easily been a convoluted mess. In all honesty it COULD have been such an atrocity; but Nolan flawlessly directed this film. No matter how complicated things got I still understood what was happening and was purely entertained throughout; without a doubt Inception was one of the best film going experiences in my life. Like an idea, the film has come to define who I am today. It had emotion, action, tidbits of comedy; it serves as both a sci-fi espionage, a drama, a high octane thriller. It's just... INCEPTION!! If you haven't seen it- Actually why the hell would you have not seen it by now? Watch it! Sorry; experience the pure cinematic awesomeness that is Christopher Nolan's masterpiece: Inception - 100/10.