Inception | Review
I must be dreaming… because I think I’ve just seen the best film of the year… and we’re only half-way through the year! I must be dreaming… because ‘Inception’ was way too good. I must be dreaming… because I loved ‘Inception’ even though I probably only understood about 90% of the film, if that! However, I’m not dreaming, and I’m glad I’m not dreaming. ‘Inception’ is an amazing, imaginative, innovative, clever, exhilarating, and (there are way too many positive adjectives to describe the film) badass film. I think Christopher Nolan has finally found, no, created, his magnum opus – an amazing feat, considering how early Nolan really is in his directorial career.
In ‘Inception’, director Christopher Nolan takes us into a world where entering peoples’ dreams is a reality. In this world, there are people called ‘Extractors’ whom are able to enter peoples’ dreams and steal any type of information from practically anyone. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Dom Cobb, is the most skilled Extractor, and he has a very important job to do – a job that the basic plot revolves around. Dom Cobb is hired by a very powerful Japanese businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe) to do the impossible – implant a brand new idea into another person’s mind; this task is called inception. The target is another businessman, a rival of Saito’s, named Robert Fischer, Jr. (Cillian Murphy). The task of inception requires in-depth planning, and requires experts in a variety of fields. Thus Cobb must assemble a team of top-notch professionals in those certain important fields.
The remarkable Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays Arthur, Cobb’s right-hand man, and has the important task of researching and learning about his targets. The lovely Ellen Page portrays Ariadne, an architect whose sole responsibility is to create the complex world of the dream. Tom Hardy portrays Eames, a wise-cracking shape-shifter, of sorts. And Dileep Rao portrays the chemist, Yusuf, who provided the special drugs that enabled everyone to enter dreams – he’s also important for driving that van; you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Cobb’s team is amazing, and each and every one of them is unique and likeable in their own ways. These characters’ unique-ness and likeability is helped by the fact that they’re portrayed by a bunch of strong actors and actresses. The ensemble cast in ‘Inception’ truly is remarkably strong and superb. So many characters in ‘Inception’ are portrayed by well-known actors and actresses that I’m glad none of them were wasted. From the trailers, I figured the characters of Saito (Watanabe) and Fisher, Jr. (Murphy) would have minimal screen-time, because I figured their characters (the former the client, the latter the target) just wouldn’t be focused on as much. However, I’m glad I was wrong. Watanabe’s character stuck around for the entire film, and is actually important, though you won’t know it till the end of the film. And Murphy’s character was also featured a lot and important to the overall movement of the plan. Gordon-Levitt’s Arthur is very charming and goofy, and the funny scenes that were actually included in ‘Inception’ were all funny because he was in it.
I loved Ellen Page’s character. Christopher Nolan was actually very smart for putting a character like Ariadne in the film – her character helps us understand the film better. Since Ariadne is new to the concept of entering other people’s dreams (as are we) and all of the complex rules that apply to them, it’s extremely helpful when she asks questions since she’s as confused about certain things as we, the audience, are. Page’s Ariadne is like our senator or representative for the film, since she practically does represent us, and raises the same question as we do.
I loved how ‘Inception’ actually got better as it went along. From the first ten minutes of the film, I couldn’t understand anything that was going on. I was so confused and aggravated that I felt disappointed at the film, and I thought I had perhaps over-hyped the film way too much. I’m glad that I was able to understand the rest of the film, or at least most of it. As we got further and further into the film, and as the characters kept delving into one layer after another, I grew even more interested and more captivated by it. ‘Inception’ truly does just gets better and better throughout the film.
The complexity of ‘Inception’ is purposely frustrating and confusing. The film worksbecause of that. And I love movies that make the audience frustrated and make them have to work with the movie in order to enjoy it (if they’re done right, which ‘Inception’ definitely did). Films like ‘Inception’ are more enthralling when they’re challenging, because you become even more satisfied when you actually succeed in understanding them.
The screenplay for ‘Inception’ was just perfect, and it’s actually written by Christopher Nolan. Nolan actually worked on the story for ‘Inception’ for about ten years, and it looks like all the hard work he’s put into it has paid off! The script was genius. I loved the many twists and turns the film had. I loved how our opinion of Cobb’s wife was ever-changing. I loved how we continuously learned new things about the world of ‘Inception’ as we went along. And I loved the design of the dream world.
The only major problem I had with ‘Inception’ was the fact that many times I couldn’t understand what Saito was saying, and most of the time he was saying something important. It’s important to pay attention to every single line spoken in the film, so when I couldn’t understand Saito in his many important scenes, it left me clueless and confused. Also, I couldn’t get over the fact that Saito promised Cobb that he would be able to fix all of Cobb’s problems with just one phone call. How is he able to do that? Although I’m disappointed that the film never really explains this, I think it’s actually better that it didn’t.
‘Inception’ is a near-perfect film, and requires multiple viewings to truly understand its complexity. Christopher Nolan is an amazing director who hasn’t made one bad film yet! I trust his ability to continue this streak. Freaking-A! I cannot get over the very final scene of ‘Inception.’ That final moment, I think, was the perfect way to end off the film. It’s the kind of ending that will frustrate people, but it’s also the kind of ending that’s debatable, and is either praised or hated. I, personally, loved the ending. However, I did, along with almost everyone else in the theatre, go “Awww” and “Omg” after that last, important scene. I just love how that ending teases everyone. ‘Inception’ definitely lives up to, or even surpasses, the hype surrounding it! The film is amazing on multiple levels, and in multiple ways, for multiple reasons. It’s the movie of the summer. It’s the movie of the year. And, quite frankly, it’s one of the best movies of the decade.
Four out of four Kent's.
PS: ‘Inception’ reminded me, in many ways, of ‘Shutter Island’, which coincidentally also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, and is also a confusing, complex, mind-f*** type of film. ‘Shutter Island’ was really, really good. ‘Inception’ is even better.
PSS: ‘Inception’ was one of two movies that I’ve waited all year for. The other was ‘Toy Story 3.’ I’m glad that both films lived up to their hype.
