SusannahINCEPTION
July 28th 2010 09:17
INCEPTION (2010)
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite, Tom Berenger.
Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays a man haunted by visions of his dead wife, and unsure if the reality around him is real or not; no, I am not talking about Shutter Island, I am talking about the other major DiCaprio vehicle for this year, Christopher Nolan’s Inception.
Inception falls into the mind-bender genre, yet, incredibly, it is almost spoiler proof. I could tell you how it ends, but it would not mean anything to you unless you had experienced what has gone before. Rather like The Matrix, with which it shares some similarities, no one can be told what Inception is; you have to see it for yourself.
Part mission-impossible, part action film, Inception follows a team of people whose job it is to steal corporate secrets. They do this by inducing sleep in the victim, who is plugged in via a machine to the rest of the team, who are also asleep. They then share the same, constructed dream, only the victim does not know that they are dreaming. The victim is then encouraged to reveal their secrets through the subconscious world of their dreams. The dream has to convince completely, otherwise they will wake, or, the person’s subconscious projections will start to attack the intruders within the dream. The inception of the title comes from the team being asked, at the behest of Saito (Ken Watanabe), to plant an idea in the mind of fortune heir Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), rather than to steal one.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, who has been dealing in dream espionage for a while. He has been on the run from authorities because they believe he was involved with the death of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). He has been separated from his children, and his goal is to see them again. He is assisted in his work by Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and they recruit Eames (an excellent Tom Ward) as their forger for the new assignment. Our introduction to the world of dream-weaving comes in the form of Ariadne (Ellen Page), as we learn all about their business through her eyes. She must become their new dream architect, whose job it is to construct the layout of the dream, hence the cool scene where she folds a city in on itself. Each dreamer must have a totem, she is told. Something they can hold that lets them know for certain whether or not they are dreaming. Leonardo’s is the guilt over his wife’s death but he also uses another totem, a spinning top, which has important repercussions later.
The brilliance of Inception is that it makes you think, while being an entertaining action film. Especially of note is the fight scene in the spinning corridor, followed by the zero-gravity sequence. It just looks cool. The pacing is tight, and, despite being over two hours, never feels long. It is a testament to the respect Nolan generates as a director that so many name actors have shown up to work for him in what are essentially cameo roles (Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite). If I have one complaint, it is that the chase sequence in the snow goes on for a little too long, and it is difficult to tell who is fighting whom in the snow, as the characters are all dressed the same. But that is a minor quibble.
When not making intelligent comic book films, Nolan chooses to make films in one of my favourite genres, the mind-bender. Following on from the ground-breaking backwards story of Memento, and the magician mystery, The Prestige, Inception explores more of Nolan’s preoccupations, exploring the very nature of what a filmmaker does within an intelligent, and action-focussed narrative. Just as The Prestige covered the way a filmmaker is like a magician, distracting us with awe-inspiring tricks and sleight of hand, all the while concealing from us the deception at hand until the very end, when they bask in the prestige of the trick they have managed to pull off. So does Inception explore the filmmaker’s ability to create a world so real for the viewer, much like a dream, that we believe it is real while we are in it. The way a film is constructed also bears a similarity to dream logic; cutting from one setting to another, without showing how the characters get there, much like the a smooth edit in a film.
With Inception Nolan has managed to pull off the feat of an intelligent, action film that is exciting, multi-layered and thought-provoking. Perhaps his greatest achievement are the ideas that he manages to plant in the minds of his audience.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite, Tom Berenger.
Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays a man haunted by visions of his dead wife, and unsure if the reality around him is real or not; no, I am not talking about Shutter Island, I am talking about the other major DiCaprio vehicle for this year, Christopher Nolan’s Inception.
Inception falls into the mind-bender genre, yet, incredibly, it is almost spoiler proof. I could tell you how it ends, but it would not mean anything to you unless you had experienced what has gone before. Rather like The Matrix, with which it shares some similarities, no one can be told what Inception is; you have to see it for yourself.
Part mission-impossible, part action film, Inception follows a team of people whose job it is to steal corporate secrets. They do this by inducing sleep in the victim, who is plugged in via a machine to the rest of the team, who are also asleep. They then share the same, constructed dream, only the victim does not know that they are dreaming. The victim is then encouraged to reveal their secrets through the subconscious world of their dreams. The dream has to convince completely, otherwise they will wake, or, the person’s subconscious projections will start to attack the intruders within the dream. The inception of the title comes from the team being asked, at the behest of Saito (Ken Watanabe), to plant an idea in the mind of fortune heir Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), rather than to steal one.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, who has been dealing in dream espionage for a while. He has been on the run from authorities because they believe he was involved with the death of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). He has been separated from his children, and his goal is to see them again. He is assisted in his work by Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and they recruit Eames (an excellent Tom Ward) as their forger for the new assignment. Our introduction to the world of dream-weaving comes in the form of Ariadne (Ellen Page), as we learn all about their business through her eyes. She must become their new dream architect, whose job it is to construct the layout of the dream, hence the cool scene where she folds a city in on itself. Each dreamer must have a totem, she is told. Something they can hold that lets them know for certain whether or not they are dreaming. Leonardo’s is the guilt over his wife’s death but he also uses another totem, a spinning top, which has important repercussions later.
The brilliance of Inception is that it makes you think, while being an entertaining action film. Especially of note is the fight scene in the spinning corridor, followed by the zero-gravity sequence. It just looks cool. The pacing is tight, and, despite being over two hours, never feels long. It is a testament to the respect Nolan generates as a director that so many name actors have shown up to work for him in what are essentially cameo roles (Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite). If I have one complaint, it is that the chase sequence in the snow goes on for a little too long, and it is difficult to tell who is fighting whom in the snow, as the characters are all dressed the same. But that is a minor quibble.
When not making intelligent comic book films, Nolan chooses to make films in one of my favourite genres, the mind-bender. Following on from the ground-breaking backwards story of Memento, and the magician mystery, The Prestige, Inception explores more of Nolan’s preoccupations, exploring the very nature of what a filmmaker does within an intelligent, and action-focussed narrative. Just as The Prestige covered the way a filmmaker is like a magician, distracting us with awe-inspiring tricks and sleight of hand, all the while concealing from us the deception at hand until the very end, when they bask in the prestige of the trick they have managed to pull off. So does Inception explore the filmmaker’s ability to create a world so real for the viewer, much like a dream, that we believe it is real while we are in it. The way a film is constructed also bears a similarity to dream logic; cutting from one setting to another, without showing how the characters get there, much like the a smooth edit in a film.
With Inception Nolan has managed to pull off the feat of an intelligent, action film that is exciting, multi-layered and thought-provoking. Perhaps his greatest achievement are the ideas that he manages to plant in the minds of his audience.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I think we both agree on this one.
An exert from my own review:
"Inception is a smartly scripted, visually astonishing accomplishment that reminds not all bigscreen behemoths need to be dumbed down adaptations of existing works. Constructed with eye of the needle care and calculated pacing the film’s delicate stealth seeps originality taking an intangible truth and manipulating it to maximum effect.
inception, christopher Nolan, film director, the dark knight, memento
Christopher Nolan weaves his web of wonder.
Compelling and riveting, Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) proves once more he is a consummate storyteller. Focused and avoiding the pitfalls of over complicating a simple “idea” to deliver complex, intellectually stimulating entertainment that never plummets into incoherence. An architect of the cerebral cortex, instead of a frustrating paradox of riddles the film is a fluid exercise in the tapestry of structure.
A labyrinth of dream within a dream plotting, the screenplay mechanics tell exactly what we need to know at just the right time for optimum viewer investment. The characters are all vessels that serve the larger story either to share exposition or provide an emotional reflection of intent. They are not so much underdeveloped as whittled down to exact measurements of purpose."
If your interested you can read the whole thing HERE