Posted on: July 15th, 2010 REVIEW: Inception
As someone who writes about, and is simply in love with film, I watch a lot of movies. The keyword there being watch. I find myself immersed, to a degree, while I take everything in, the writer in me taking notes while the film fan in me enjoys the entertainment. Again, I watch a ton of movies. But rarely am I lost in one. Inception, Christopher Nolan’s finest film to date, had me forgetting I was in a movie theatre. I was simply mesmerized.
Inception is that good.
I’m going to keep this review short and sweet, avoiding any spoilers nor explaining the plot in great detail. You’ve seen the trailers, as minimalist and cryptic as they may be, and frankly that is all you need to see. Inception is a truly unweaving story that demands every fibre of your attention and submission. Just as the title suggests, you need not work at all; just let Nolan plant this seed in your mind and let it grow naturally. What evolves from then is a perfectly crafted, perfectly paced, perfectly executed thriller. But it’s more than just a thriller. It’s a heist film. It’s an action film. It lives and breathes emotion and philosophy and science. And it does each and everyone of these things flawlessly. Most importantly though, Inception is extremely interesting and fun. You take the subject matter, dreams and heists and corporate sabotage, and it’s easy to paint a dry picture. I think that the majority of audiences will be surprised at just how into this film they will be, and how much excitement they’ll feel, regardless of their anticipation going in.
For a film with a significant amount of its run-time taking place inside of someone’s dreams, Inception is very much grounded in reality. Granted there is very little content that comes off far-fetched or surreal, the events, the locales and the reactions are incredibly tangible. There’s no obvious sound-stages; when the film takes place in a skyscraper, you’re in a skyscraper. If a fight breaks out in a Japanese mansion, you’re in a Japanese mansion. A huge aspect of Inception revolves around the architecture of the mind, and it’s a brilliant concept to treat the subconscious as a literal landscape where an actual architect could create and contort and twist and turn, while keeping everything entirely believable.
There’s a reason why Nolan keeps bringing back his regular talent, from crew to cast to composer – they are perfect for the job, and Inception is no exception. Nolanverse regulars Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine and composer Hans Zimmer all delivery wonderfully, while the new additions to the director’s repertoire outperform themselves. Both Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are magnetic in their roles, two actors that seem to have no ceiling in sight to their success. Ellen Page has shaken all of her Juno stigma as young architect Ariadne, bringing a subtle neutrality to the film, sort of a psychological anchor if you will. The lead of the film, Leonardo DiCaprio, could very well have given one of, if not the best performances of his career as Dom Cobb, a man whose job it is to protect people’s ideas from being stolen from their subconscious. For once, DiCaprio has shed all of his baby-face wonderkind presence (I mean that in the best way possible, Leo D is undeniably an amazing actor), instead becoming Cobb’s skin, Cobb’s mind. With stars as huge as him, you tend to always see the actor as the character. Not once did I associate DiCaprio with Cobb, they are one and the same and entirely genuine.
There are some films that are undeniably of a higher calibre than most. They are unmistakable quality. You could give two shits about dreams or ideas or physics and architecture, but if there were an ounce of recognition of art and accomplishment in your body, it’s painfully obvious that Inception is one of those films. It’s frightening and astounding just how good Christopher Nolan is at what he does. Storytelling. Creating. Entertaining. I most certainly believe Nolan has taken his talents to another level with this film; in an instant, Inception (though it’s unwise to compare the two) is a far greater film than The Dark Knight, The Prestige or even Memento. It’s wild to think that not only did this come from his mind, but he crafted it so precisely and wonderfully. It kind of makes me want to quit everything I will ever do.
With this one film, the worst movie year in a long time has been saved. It’s also crushing though, as I sincerely doubt it can get close to as good as Inception.
5 Responses to “REVIEW: Inception”
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ProMovieBlogger Says:
July 17th, 2010 at 7:20 amInception was a great film. I loved it.
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Olaf Blomerus Says:
July 18th, 2010 at 9:37 pmCinematic Perfection.
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Steve Morris Says:
July 19th, 2010 at 11:11 amlol, Dicaprio is pretty cool in his latest movie. I love Inception! It’s such a wild movie that I think it ruined the chances for me to enjoy any other movie!
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Ben Rankel Says:
July 20th, 2010 at 12:13 pmCompletely immersed. I didn’t once think that I was sitting in a theater. What more can I ask for?
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Adam Says:
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:43 pmYeah this was great! Leo is definitely in my top three actors!