I finally got down to catching Inception and it really lived up to its hype, bringing a level of brilliance, genius and originality last seen about ten years ago with The Matrix.
Inception poster
In many ways, Inception played out as a comic book or graphic novel in my head as it had all the staples of the Science Fiction genre – think the opening scene to set the stage, an intense backstory, the gathering of the team and so on. Christopher Nolan clearly has an amazing imagination and he understands how stories need to be told, as proven time and time again in his Batman movies and now, Inception.
Without going into the story in too much detail, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, someone who has the ability to get into people’s dreams and steal secrets from his victims. Something terrible has happened in his past and because of that, he can’t go back to the United States ever, which places him apart from his kids. Later, Saito (Ken Watanabe) provides Cobb with an offer he can’t refuse, with the condition that Cobb perform an “inception” – planting an idea into a victim’s head in such a way that the victim thinks it’s his/her own idea.
Needless to say, Cobb takes up the deal and gathers up a team to get the job done.
What I Liked
The sheer insanity of the show – dreams within dreams within dreams? The story is complex and you can’t leave your brain at the door, make no mistake about it. It opens in a confusing manner and only after Cobb recruits Adriadne, the Architect (Ellen Page) do things get any clearer. Not many would be able to take on such a complicated plot and execute it brilliantly (hell M. Night Shyamalan can’t even execute a good vs evil plot properly), but Nolan does it very well.
The characters – I loved that everyone has their little “nickname”. The Dreamer, the Point Man, the Architect (not to be confused with the Matrix’s Architect), the Chemist, the Forger, the Shade, the Mark and the Tourist. This is an element I also enjoyed in the 100 Bullets graphic novel.
Ellen Page – seriously, this girl has talent (and is gorgeous to look at). Necessary, strong female character in a testosterone filled cast (and a rather unlikeable other female character, which I’ll talk about later).
The effects – whether it’s the Architect trying out her new skills for the first time or the crazy hotel battle sequence with the Point Man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Nolan manages to imagine scenes that are revolutionary the same way the Matrix’s Bullet Time was revolutionary, and let’s face it, since the Matrix every movie has looked the same, until Inception.
What I Didn’t Like As Much
Mal – whether intentionally or not, the Shade (Marion Cotillard) was an immensely unlikeable character, I feel partially because the actress overplayed her role. Ultimately I didn’t feel much for the connection between her and Cobb because she’s portrayed as crazy and psychotic in almost every scene. I felt more for the connection between Cobb and his kids throughout the show, and we don’t even see their faces. Also, her accent was crazy annoying. And what kind of name is Mal anyway? Malevolence? Malice? Come on.
Leonardo DiCaprio – I know some people think he’s a great actor, but I felt he wasn’t as consistent as Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Ellen Page in the movie. Some scenes I felt like he underplayed the emotion, and in others it felt like he overplayed it. I wonder how much of this can be chalked up to Mal’s character.
Dreams within dreams – It’s not so much dreams within dreams that I have a problem with, but the final act of Cobb and Adriadne going down a level. In each of the previous “levels”, the person whose dream it is is left behind, awake (Yusuf the Chemist in level One, Arthur the Point Man in level Two, and Eames the Chemist in level Three), but in the final level, both Cobb and Adriadne go under, leaving no one else to give them the “kick” to wake them out of the dream state. I could have missed something, but this part doesn’t make sense to me.
The Ending
Finally, I don’t think any review of Inception is complete without talking about the Ending. Personally, I thought the long con was put in place much, much earlier in the show. When Cobb wakes up after trying the Chemist’s sedative for the first time and is splashing his face with water, he spins the top and it falls to the floor. I suppose the reason is he was too shaken up to spin it properly, but I thought that would have been the point where everything from that point on would be revealed as a dream. Although, who’s to say it isnt? Maybe the Chemist’s drug really did put him under and he couldn’t get out although he thought he did.
Ultimately, I think the ending is meant to be open-ended, and I feel it doesn’t matter which side you choose to believe is “reality” because the important thing is Cobb had to go through the whole series of events to get to where he is and finally be happy.
Is Inception perfect? Nope. Is it the most original thing to be released this decade? Arguably, yes. If this isn’t the best movie I’ve seen since the Matrix, I don’t know what is.
