Hi All. Due to unforeseen circumstances I couldn’t make it to the screening of this so we sent Just Dave and I hate him for watching it before me. I hate him even more for loving it as I should be saying this not him DAMMIT!! Sorry about about that Dave. The Jealousy is killing me. Here is his review….Enjoy and get Jealous..
“It all begins with an idea”
So explains Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Dom Cobb during a key scene.
There are movies that come out every ten years or so that have the power to change everything...ideas that can inspire people all around the world. Cinema is a powerful tool and its because of the ideas...and considering the wasteland that has been the cinema of 2010 lets thank our lucky stars that this one idea was Christopher Nolan’s.
The idea is so good, so original and brilliant that Inception is a perfect movie, an absolute masterpiece of a film that is almost incomparable to anything in quite a few years. It’s a monster of scale, of ideas, of character... its the perfect film, it works on every level..imagine Inception to be an endless mine, you can chip away, and chip away but you just won’t reach the bottom. This is the real deal; films like Inception are the reason we go to the cinema in the first place.
Inception follows the story of Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) the greatest extractor in the dream business. The job is to enter the dreams of people; specifically the subconscious; and steal secrets and ideas for others. Things complicate when the question of whether it is possible to enter a dream and implant an idea, so that when the person awakens he achieves inspiration, and thus changes tactic. Is it possible to create the inception of an idea, when inspiration itself is an unknowable concept?
Thats all you should know about Inception I guess. This idea instigates a heavy going investigation into the workings of the human mind, and as complex as the mind could be the film still feels in-depth and engaging. Rest assured there is much, much more to the flick, but to spoil the surprises here would be criminal.
The funny thing is that Inception is a complete original idea. There are no underpinnings of studio interference or an attempt to franchise. Its not even in 3D.
Watching the movie is an experience in itself. I got chills during it. Like last years Inglorious Basterds it is evidently the work of an auteur, not a committee. It is uncompromising in its vision. Christopher Nolan’s entire filmography has led to this picture. It’s a summation of everything he stands for, everything he believes.
An interpretation of the film that I love is that it is about the power of cinema. Cobb and his team represent film-makers, with Cobb the director - the rest of the cast fit the archetypes of a film crew. The excellent Ellen Page is an architect, which could be construed as the screenwriter; the person who creates the world for the director; Tom Hardy is in the thespian role and so forth. From ‘producers’ to even ‘the audience’; every character has a role. And as for dreams themselves, they represent cinema, you see ‘dreams’ have the ability to generate ideas and create something of meaning and importance for individuals.
The cast is uniformly excellent, DiCaprio gives arguably his greatest performance; carrying the picture. How an actor accomplishes a film like this is beyond me, if shooting the picture out of order is not enough, maintaing that incredibly complex and layered performance is another. His performance is oscar worthy.
At the end of the line Inception remains a ensemble piece, every performance works wonders to gel the entire project together, from Joseph Gordon Levitt to Ken Watanabe to the excellent, excellent, Marion Cottilard - it’s such a collection of talent that only a script and film-maker this fucking good could have gotten them. Cillian Murphy, who I’ve always felt has been an incredibly underated performer brings the goods also.
The images that Nolan has achieved with his long time collaborator; cinematographer Wally Phister, are gorgeous and lush, often striking and breath taking. The decision to back away from 3D was an excellent one. The film is already incredible to look at, I only fear the unnecessary addition of the third dimension would sully the proceedings.
Technically the picture is flawless, Nolan has overcome his action weaknesses and has presented some of the most excellent and revolutionary sequences since The Matrix. There is no reliance on CGI really, everything that could have been done practically has been and more. There is a sequence involving Joseph Gordon Levitt in a hotel that is ridiculously amazing. Just like the whole ‘Bullet Time’ thing was back in the day. I do not have any conception of how the sequence was achieved. On top of this the sequence is part of a longer 25 minute sequence during the third act that is seriously unparalleled in terms of scale and brilliance.
Nolan manages to seamlessly blend an emotional bearing into the film through DiCaprio and Cottilard’s characters; that manages to overshadow the action to a degree - see even the action scenes are for reasons relating to character and idea. This is the true genius of the film - that every single development is not only striking in it’s genius and originality, but completely organic.
It’s a very powerful and moving film to say the least. My friend commented that “A smart film-maker plays to the dumbest and smartest person in the room” and this is perfectly indicative of what Nolan has done, wow them with the smarts and emotionality or wow them with the incredible action - or in a perfect film (which I believe this is) both!
I cannot stress enough how amazing it is that this entire picture, its scope and all originated from a single man. Christopher Nolan may very well be the next Stanley Kubrick, and Inception sure feels like a movie from that era.
With all the endless remakes, franchises, and crap that has populated cinema for so long, Inception comes as a huge sigh of relief. Rewind or imagine the 1960s - 1970s, people would flock to the cinema to make The Godfather, Star Wars, or 2001: A Space Oddessy number one box office films.
Since then, when studios realize the box office potential of a Star Wars for example; a cheap knock off comes out. And when that knock off makes money, an even lesser knock off comes, and so on and on, up to the point where Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen can be one of the top grossing movies of the year it was released.
There has been a real decline in cinema I feel, in previous times it almost felt as if true auteurs were gone from the multiplexes, Oscar calibre films like No Country For Old Men and The Hurt Locker don’t get mainstream releases until they win awards. However, seeing Inception do as well as it has done, and be enjoyed by so many; might just herald a new age. We don’t want crappy post 3D converted films or endless unoriginal properties. We want auteur cinema, we go to the movies to experience something new, something different.
“It all begins with an idea”
I suppose one key thing you can take from Inception is the idea that cinema, like dreaming; creates inception in people. It has the power to inspire.
To me Inception was a masterpiece; all about how cinema can inspire the individual. Nolan inspired me and I hope that he will inspire you too.
Go and see this movie, if only so you can tell your kids you watched Inception in the cinema. Better yet if you have kids take them to it, it is a small step to making sure the films and art of the next generation don’t decline in quality; after all “it all begins with an idea” right? Go and give them and your friends one.
10 out of 10