Inception - Review of the Mindbending Blockbuster

When most people think of big summer movies they think of big explosions, big gun fights and minimal intellect. Inception is not one of those movies. Sure there are big explosions, gun fights, car chases, a huge star in the lead and all the usual trappings of a summer movie. Truth be told this really is a big summer movie, but what it is not is a big dumb movie. This is a not movie in which the audience can sit down and switch off for two and a half hours. It demands the audience's full attention, more than that in fact it demands their active engagement and thought. Inception has far more layers, complexity and depth than would ever be expected of a big summer movie. And all it's executed to near perfection.

In the world of Inception corporate espionage has reached a whole new level, one where "extractors" can steal ideas directly from people's minds while they sleep. When people are in a dream state their minds are vulnerable to being penetrated and ideas and thoughts being extracted from them. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio of Shutter Island) is quite possibly the world's most skilled extractor, but he's also a wanted man. With his latest job going sour his former employer is now hunting him down and he's desperate for a way to return home safely to his children. The chance to go home again comes to Cobb in the form of a unique job offer by Saito (Ken Watanabe from Batman Begins.) The job is not extraction of an idea, but inception which is the implanting of an idea. No one else has ever succeeded at inception and most, including Cobb's partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt of (500) Days of Summer) believe that it's not even possible. However with the prospect of finally being able to go home Cobb can't turn the job down and he assembles a team to do the impossible. Things are even more complicated than they first appear as the team must construct dreams within dreams in order to implant the idea deep enough for it to take. But Cobb brings along another layer of danger altogether, a mental projection of his late wife Mal (Marion Cotillard from La vie en rose) who stalks him through his own dreams, reeking havoc whenever she appears.

Inception is only writer/director Christopher Nolan's (best known for The Dark Knight) second completely original screenplay (the other being his debut film Following.) All of his other works have been adapted from comic books, other movies, novels or short stories. In many ways it feels as though the work on his other films has been building up to this. The scale is reminiscent of his work on the Batman franchise but the story being told here is much more intimate. While it may have the trappings of a very elaborate heist film the core of the story is the damaged character of Cobb and his obsession with returning home (obsession being something that Nolan has dealt with in every film he's made.) The balancing of the very personal emotional stakes for Cobb and the large scale mind-bending nature of the dreams the characters are working in is expertly handled. The film never forgets that Cobb is what is driving everything forward while at the same time always being sure to have something amazing up on the screen to look at.

The cast of Inception is top notch, starting with Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio doesn't go for the tough guy act he's been trying on lately and instead opts for a more beaten down character and it's something that he's much better at. Cobb has been through a personal hell and would do just about anything for a chance at coming out the other side of it. It's Cobb's skill as an extractor as well as his drive to get home that brings all the other characters into play. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is steady as a rock playing Cobb's point man, and he also gets to play around in a highly entertaining zero gravity fight. The combat sequence in question will bring back memories of the best parts of The Matrix but never feels derivative. Marion Cotillard has a tricky job playing Mal, playing a character who is not fully explained for some time yet is seen frequently. She manages to make Mal both enticing and dangerous and she also has a strong chemistry with DiCaprio.

The smaller parts in Inception are also expertly played. Ellen Page (from Juno) plays the architect, effectively building the dreams that the characters inhabit. As the new member of the team she's shouldered with being on the receiving end of most of the exposition, which is usually a thankless job. However she's a skilled enough actress to be active and engaging. Page never becomes something as trivial as a receptacle for information, she pulls off a fully formed character. Cillian Murphy (of 28 Days Later) plays the mark who the team is attempting to perform the titular inception on. The character is a slightly troubled one and the roots of those troubles actually factor heavily into the story. Murphy is in some ways both a protagonist and antagonist in the story and he walks that tightrope very well. Also of note is Tom Hardy (from Bronson) playing a "forger" who uses the dream state to actually appear as other people. As one of the flashier roles Hardy is given many of the best lines and he delivers them with the entertaining flair of a con man.

There is a great deal of effects work at play throughout Inception, the best of which is uniquely imagined. Certain sequences have already been teased in the trailers, such as the city of Paris folding in on itself. It's effects like that which truly solidify the dream state that the characters are working within. There's also some expertly handled zero gravity work (including the aforementioned fight) that is always fun to watch. Most of the effects are seamlessly integrated and really the only way that audiences will know they are effects is because the things being shown simply aren't possible to do in reality. This is the best kind of effects work, the kind that shows the viewer something that they have truly never seen before, on the screen or in real life.

What may be the most impressive thing about Inception is not how complex it is, but rather that it's presented in a way in which that astounding complexity can be followed by the audience. That's not to say that it's a cakewalk, the audience has to pay careful attention. However so long as the viewer is actively engaged and not trying to just let it all wash over the film follows its own rules perfectly and it all tracks and makes sense. As the film builds towards it's climax the leads find themselves in a dream within a dream within a dream. The story cuts between each layer of dreaming, effects from one ripple through to the others yet time functions differently in all three. Despite these many layers of complexity and complications the film is carefully assembled so that the attentive viewer can follow the story and fully understand all that is happening.

There's been a more than a little talk made about the ending of Inception and it's possible implications. The ending of the film is open to interpretation for a number of reasons but it's thankfully not some M. Night Shamalyan style twist. Rather it simply leaves an open question about the final resolution that has multiple interpretations. There are more than a few competing theories and interpretations popping up all over the internet. Some are wonderfully intricate and some much simpler but all point to a desire for movie goers to want to keep talking about this movie. The fact that most viewers seem more interested in engaging in active conversations about the meaning rather than complaining that it was somewhat open ended says a great deal about the film and how well it succeeds.

Inception is a truly rare thing: a big smart movie. Films of this scale and with this kind of budget aren't allowed to be this intellectual. Studios are always paranoid of audiences not getting it and prefer to dumb things down, allowing movie goers to sit down and more or less switch off for a few hours. Inception has no time for people who are looking to just switch off. Viewers must be attentive, but thankfully they will want to be as the story is completely engrossing. Warner Bros. put an amazing amount of faith into Nolan's ability to pull off this massive idea and their faith was very well placed. Nolan cashed in his clout from The Dark Knight to make this film and thankfully it has paid off in spades, and everybody is a winner. So go see it and collect your reward.

Final Score: 5 out of 5