Movie Review: Inception

As a dweller of the internet, it is very hard to go more then a few days without having a new movie spoiled completely for myself. So to go five days without any spoilers for Inception was a difficult task, to say the least. Still, I’m glad I pulled it off, as Inception was worth the wait, proving to be not only one of the best films of the summer, but possibly one of the best films of the entire year.

I had high hopes from this film from the onset, even before the critics were showering it with praise. Director Christopher Nolan has proven his ability to create stunning blockbuster successes before, with movies like The Dark Knight and The Prestige, along with beautiful artistic pieces, such as Memento (a personal favorite of mine). But even for someone with his track record, this movie looked to be almost too weird for its own good. Take a look at this first trailer here to see what I mean.

Now what did that tell us about the movie kids? Absolutely nothing, that’s what. Even when the third and final trailer rolled around, the only revelation we got was that the entire movie’s strangeness revolved around dreams. Enlightening, but it still gave no real indication as to what the plot was. Still, it’s important to go into the movie with a positive attitude, and I had faith in the director, so I paid the ten dollars for my over priced ticket and sat down to enjoy the show.

(WARNING: The next sections contain some minor spoilers to the plot of the movie. I’m not going to reveal any of the big revelations, but if you’re going to be bothered by even the smallest plot details, you might just want to skip ahead.)

The movie starts off by introducing us to our protagonist, Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Cobb is a specialist in dream extraction, a skill that involves entering and manipulating a person’s dreams in order to reveal important information to the extractor. The physical limitations behind this are fairly interesting, as the extractor must also be hooked up to the same machine as the dreamer and go to sleep as well. While never really focused on, these limitations come up multiple times in the film as obstacles that the characters must be clever to overcome.

After an important job goes south, Cobb is hired by an influential businessman, played by Ken Watanabe, to pull one last extremely difficult job, something that supposedly can’t be done (hint; it has to do with the movie’s title). In order to accomplish this, Cobb and his partner Arthur, played by Joesph Gordon-Levitt, set out to find the most talented people for the job, a story element that felt very reminiscent of Ocean’s Eleven. Among these specialists are the young mind architect Ariadne (played by Ellen Paige), the charismatic con-man Eames (played by Tom Hardy), and the pragmatic chemist Yusuf (played by Dileep Rao). Using a complex, heist style plot that manipulates the laws of the dream world, the group delves into their target’s head to attempt to accomplish the impossible.

END OF SPOILERS (Trust me, you didn’t miss much).

The acting in this film is absolutely top notch, and while I don’t think any of them will be winning an Oscar, every actor is strutting their best stuff on screen. DiCaprio in particular delivers a complex and deep performance, as he wrestles with his own guilt and inner demons over his past transgressions, the impact of which literally has him facing his own psychological obstacles in the dream world. Ellen Paige’s performance synergizes extremely well with DiCaprio’s, as she slowly convinces him to reveal more and more about his mysterious past; this roll definitely shows her potential as an actress who is more then capable of handling more dramatic and adult characters, as opposed to the younger archetypes she usually is associated with (such as in Juno). Even the minor roles are extremely well done, such as a short cameo by Michael Cain, and it’s a mark of Nolan’s skill as a director for bringing out the best in his actors.

Watching Inception is a strange roller coaster ride of shifting expectations, as the movie is in a constant process of changing its focus and evolving its theme. The first act of the film is very reminiscent of The Matrix, as you we are still unfamiliar with the rules of this world and wonder at the strange happenings occurring on screen. As the second act rolls around and the confusion is abated, the movie feels more like a heist film with a unique twist, as the characters plan their impossible deed. But by the time we’re well into the third act, the movie has turned into an action packed race against time, where the all the hidden revelations play out and blend with the tension to create an experience that feels truly original to behold.

Speaking of original, Inception’s special effects are some of the best I’ve seen all year, and I’m not just referring to the CGI. In fact, the CGI in the movie is actually rather downplayed, used only when necessary to show the changes of physics and matter in the dream world. It’s actually rather refreshing to see a movie that doesn’t feel it needs to rely on overblown CGI in order to be a good film. Where the effects are most impressive though is in the shifting gravity fights that occur late in the film. The changes in camera angles combined with the actors free floating and effortless orientation shifts are breath taking, and the anti gravity brawl between Author and one of the Dream Projections is one of the coolest fight scenes I’ve seen in years, rivaling some of the original Matrix choreography in terms of originality.

While I could endlessly praise the film, it wouldn't be fair of me to say this movie is flawless. Ironically enough, Inception’s greatest failure is also one of its most necessary elements. While Inception does not lack in tension or action, it does fail to ever reach an emotional pitch to truly move the viewer. Rather, it crescendos at a certain level of tension about halfway through the movie, and remains at that level for the rest of the film. And for a movie that’s almost two and a half hours, that’s a long time to not be getting the true emotional depth you’re subconsciously craving. The trade off to this is Inception uses all the time it could have taken to build emotional energy, and uses it to make sure the plot and fantastic elements of the movie are able to be understood and easily followed. This is almost necessary for Inception, as the concept and execution of dream extraction would be impossible to follow without the level of detail and pacing that the script gives to the story. Because of this, the movie always remains fairly easy to follow (as long as you’re paying close attention), and while the trade off is unfortunate, I’m not sure if there was a better way Nolan could have pulled it off.

In all, Inception is a great film with a unique concept that really shows off the growing talent of Christopher Nolan. You really aren’t going to see a better non-Pixar movie this summer. Also, if you think this is one of those movies that you won’t like or get because it’s going be too “smart” for you to be entertained, get off your high horse. The plot is not as hard to follow as everyone says, and there’s more then enough action and cool effects to satisfy those of you who don’t care about depth (though you really need to reconsider how you watch movies if that’s not important to you with a film like this). And now that you’re done reading this review, its time to wake up and go see Inception. Or perhaps that too will simply be a dream….

WEXIOMATIC RATING: 9/10 [Absolutely Amazing]