Name of the Film: Inception
Date seen: Many, many times.
Format: Cinema, Imax and Blu Ray
So I have a confession to make. I think I love Christopher Nolan. He is like the human version of Pixar. Even his weaker films are better than most.
Also I have to admit that since having kids of my own, films about fathers and their children affect me on a more personal level.
So here we have a film about a man trying to get back to his children directed by one of my favourite directors... God I hope this doesn't suck!
Christopher Nolan likes to play with his audience. We know this from his films Memento and The Prestige (both amazing in my humble opinion). Memento is a film told backwards and the Prestige performs the tricky act of changing it’s tone (and possibly genre) in the final act. In Inception he ups this playing to vast proportions blurring the line between reality and dreams.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, a man that enters dreams to steal other peoples thoughts aided by a dependable (if slightly by the numbers) Joseph Gorden-Levitt. However when he fails a job an opportunity arises that gives him the chance to return home to his children. Of course when they attempt to enter the victims dreams not everything goes to plan. So it’s a heist movie with a twist. But it is also so much more than that.
Every character has depth. Every one in this film is a fully developed person with hopes and motivations that are their own and not just convenient to the plot. That lends the story more weight because we sympathize with every character and I found myself really willing Cobb and his team to succeed.
The story is complex enough to reward repeat viewings without falling down to any obvious plot holes and the ending is a tour de force both rewarding and baffling in equal measure (is the spinning top actually his totem???)
Nolan performs the clever trick of making a complex story with no obvious villain unless you accept Cobb’s unconscious, in which case his feat at story telling is even more impressive as the stories hero is also it’s villain (in some ways). In a lesser skilled directors hands this can be distracting as often the audience need the polarisation of characters to help us follow and understand the different elements at play within the story. Nolan instead relies on well written characters that are nuanced enough to feel like real people.
If we take Cillian Murphy's character as an example. In order for the audience to really support Cobb in his endeavour it would be very easy to make him (Murphy) a very predictable stereotype, the power hungry, greedy, corporate CEO that has inherited a major multinational company and will now strive to control the world to one up his more successful father. There are elements of this character in there but we are also shown his weaknesses, his lack of a relationship with his emotionally stunted father. As such his character has an arc as through the course of the 'heist' we see that relationship be rebuilt, even if it is in his own mind. We still root for DiCaprio but we feel for Murphy too.
The interplay of characters and their journey is what is important here, the story is merely the background. Not to say that the story isn't brilliant, it is. Some may find it's complexity too much but when you get to the bare bones of it, it isn't as complex as it may seem. And that again is part of Inception's charm for me. You can watch it as a big noisy summer effects film with explosions and gun fights, or you can sit down and ponder the nature dreams and the choices we make in our lives, for good and bad, even if they come back to bite us in the ass (as they do with Cobb before the film begins!)
If we take Cillian Murphy's character as an example. In order for the audience to really support Cobb in his endeavour it would be very easy to make him (Murphy) a very predictable stereotype, the power hungry, greedy, corporate CEO that has inherited a major multinational company and will now strive to control the world to one up his more successful father. There are elements of this character in there but we are also shown his weaknesses, his lack of a relationship with his emotionally stunted father. As such his character has an arc as through the course of the 'heist' we see that relationship be rebuilt, even if it is in his own mind. We still root for DiCaprio but we feel for Murphy too.
The interplay of characters and their journey is what is important here, the story is merely the background. Not to say that the story isn't brilliant, it is. Some may find it's complexity too much but when you get to the bare bones of it, it isn't as complex as it may seem. And that again is part of Inception's charm for me. You can watch it as a big noisy summer effects film with explosions and gun fights, or you can sit down and ponder the nature dreams and the choices we make in our lives, for good and bad, even if they come back to bite us in the ass (as they do with Cobb before the film begins!)
Of course you can’t talk about a 200 million dollar summer event film without mentioning the visuals, and my god are they stunning with the scenes in Paris where Ariadne starts to build her world and the anti gravity fight in the hotel a stand out. Every dollar seems to have been put up on the screen and Wally Phisters cinematography is stunning as ever, giving what could have been a film over reliant on special effects and hemmed in by the special effects, the cinematography gives everything an expansive feel as though the dream worlds presented go on for ever even when we are told that they dont.
This film is epically good with visuals and score that synch perfectly. Nolan clearly enjoys complex structures and theme and he has never been on better form then in this movie.
I cannot recommend this film highly enough.
Roll on Batman 3!
Did I enjoy the film? Yes, one of my favorites of all time
Would I recommend it to my friends? Yes
Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray? Yes
If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister? Complex, intelligent and worth a shit ton of money, hell yes!
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