The Dream Is Real
Christopher Nolan did it. He took a concept that’s been rolling around in his head for a decade, convinced a studio to give him $160 million to film it, and created the most original and spectacular blockbuster in, well, a decade. It really happened.
Think about the BIGGEST movies of the past 10 years. They are comic book adaptations, or television cartoon adaptations, or novel adaptations, or sequels to comic book adaptations, or rebooted franchises — you get the picture. The one obvious exception would be Avatar — the highest grossing movie ever. Unfortunately, while “original”, it was also one of the most derivative, predictable, and hollow movies you’ll ever see. But it sure was a 3D spectacle, I’ll give James Cameron that.
But I don’t want to even get into this argument. I really don’t. I just felt the need to address it before anyone challenges the claim in that first paragraph. Sorry, but Inception is THE most audacious blockbuster in years in ways other than just special effects and filming technology. But it’s not exactly a slouch with regards to the former, either.
I will keep this post as spoiler-free as possible, and probably make ANOTHER post about it later on, where I totally go off about everything within the film. And there’s certainly a lot to interpret here — including an ending that seems to have pissed off some and totally impressed others. I personally think it fits perfectly thematically.
The movie drops you right into the action, almost immediately disorientating you, slowly feeding you some explanations, but also leaving some questions unanswered until later on; you might not have even realized you had these questions, but the answers shed even more light on what you saw. You learn about “extraction” first, and then hear the word “inception”, which almost seems to be a dirty word. It’s apparently never been done before, but a powerful man named Saito (Ken Watanabe) wants it done. Dom Cobb, the character played brilliantly by Leonardo DiCaprio, insists it’s possible, and once Saito offers the only thing Cobb wants in the entire world, he has no choice but to accept.
And that’s where we’re off. Cobb needs to fill out his team with specialists, and in the process you learn what each of them have to do, and also what they need to figure out in order to accomplish the job. As a result, much of the next 45 minutes or so are filled with exposition, and it seems to be the part of the movie most detractors focus on, but I was enraptured the entire time. How could you not be interested in the intricacies of such a cool fucking concept? I just don’t get it. But this is coming from a guy who absolutely loves I, Robot — the book, not the Will Smith movie that killed Issac Asimov all over again — which is just a collection of logic puzzles based around three fictional laws of robotics. So yeah, I’m going to enjoy listening to people talk about entering people’s minds and the rules of time and world manipulation and subconscious projections and architectural paradoxes. How could you NOT love that stuff?
Even the discussion about how to implant the idea into the mind of the mark (played by Cillian Murphy) was fun to listen to, aided by the banter between Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Eames (Tom Hardy), who both fit their roles perfectly. Ellen Page plays her part as Ariadne wonderfully as well, playing the role of inquisitive, but aggressive, novice thrown into the world of dream manipulation. She quickly picks up on the problems Cobb’s subconscious — manifested in his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) — has created for his team, which forms the emotional core of the film. And it’s a heartbreaking core that reminds one of DiCaprio’s other film this year (also the only other movie I’ve seen in theaters this year), Shutter Island. One scene in particular features DiCaprio’s tremendous acting ability, where he manages to hit the perfect note of anguish and shock with only two words.
The only other relationship that truly matters in the film is the one between the mark, Robert Fischer, and his dying father. Admittedly, this relationship could have been fleshed out some more, but there was just no room, and I think Murphy sells its payoff as well as any actor could possibly have. Murphy’s work in the movie as a whole, even with the relatively small part he has, is phenomenal. Maybe I’m just letting out some built-up praise here, but the man is just a great actor.
But as I’ve already started to say, everyone does great work: Page, JGL, Cotillard, Watanabe (when you can understand him) — with Tom Hardy probably being the standout, if only because his shit-eating grin and accent just make for an awesome combination. My friend and I agree that Nolan will try his best to get him in the next Batman movie. At least I hope that’s the case.
Have I even touched on the action? And how this is not the same Nolan who filmed the action scenes in Batman Begins? You can actually tell what’s going on, and the entire last hour of the movie is just one big interlocked action set-piece, set up in the most goddamn brilliant way possible. There’s a car chase scene in the rain that includes a train and a motorcycle and a bridge. There’s a hallway fight scene — actually two — that will blow your fucking mind. And then there’s a snow fortress firefight that is straight out of a Bond movie. But it’s really all about the hallway and the choreography needed to come up with THAT fight. Shit, I clicked on Jimmy Fallon two nights ago as a clip of the fight started and my eyes were tethered to my television until it cut off halfway through and made me wish I could see the whole thing all over again.
And that’s what I did tonight. Yes, I am writing this after my second viewing in three days. Inception is everything I wanted and more. Christopher Nolan went balls-out with this movie. It is packed with an insane amount of ideas, combines a heist movie with a tragic story about love and obsession, questions how we perceive reality, and serves as an amazing showcase for sharp men’s clothing. I just don’t know where he goes from here. As an internet buddy said, “How the fuck does he go back to making a Batman movie after this?” I don’t know, but I’m anxious to see if he can continue to top himself.
EDIT: SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS
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