INCEPTION... I saw Christopher Nolan’s latest flick this past weekend, and much like his 2008 mega-blockbuster The Dark Knight, this movie was...AMAZING. Inception was just as richly complex as Nolan’s last Batman film. Much like The Dark Knight, Inception had lots of dialogue-driven scenes, but these scenes paid off at the end when they conveyed a nicely-told tale of a group of agents carrying out a very unique form of corporate espionage. Inception is also just like The Matrix (unsurprisingly) in that it shows us an awesome but easily manipulated world within the minds of the movie’s main characters...displayed through eye-popping visual effects that should no doubt be nominated for an Academy Award next year.
However, Inception is without question much more cerebral than the Wachowski Brothers’ 1999 sleeper hit (The Matrix’s two 2003 sequels were um...nevermind). And much like James Cameron’s Avatar, Nolan presents us with another provocative science fiction tale (though this might sound too complimentary of Cameron’s visually rich but otherwise derivative Best Picture nominee) that delves with how the human mind can be used to control other beings for the sake of financial gain. It sounds cynical, but it’s still interesting nonetheless.
In terms of casting, Inception had lots of amazing actors in it. Leonardo DiCaprio was great as the main character Cobb; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who was in last year's um, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) was cool as Arthur, the "Point Man"; Tom Hardy kicked ass as the "Forger" named Eames; Ellen Page was nicely casted as the "Architect" named Ariadne; and Ken Watanabe was just as commendable as Saito, the "Tourist", in Inception as he was a samurai in 2004’s The Last Samurai. Not to be forgotten is Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer; Michael Caine as Cobb’s father-in-law; and of course, Marion Cotillard as Cobb’s very beautiful and ultimately deadly but deceased wife Mal. In terms of Cillian Murphy’s character, it was kinda odd seeing him play a good guy in Nolan’s new film after he was known for playing the villainous Scarecrow in Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and a terrorist in Wes Craven’s 2005 thriller Red Eye. And Inception would actually be the second film for Leonardo DiCaprio this year where he played a character whose psychopathic wife wrought havoc within DiCaprio’s mind right after she died a horrid death (I’m referring to Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, of course).
In terms of nitpicking, there isn’t that much to criticize about Inception. Sure, Inception had lots of dialogue scenes in it as pointed out in the first paragraph above, but this is because Nolan wanted to make sure we understood his unique take on dreams and how they could be used to influence other people. Nolan superbly makes up for this with the visual effects, but I already mentioned that in the first paragraph as well.
One thing about Inception that you definitely need to suspend disbelief on is how Cobb and his posse physically manage to connect themselves to each other, as well as their oblivious targets, as they are about to venture into a dream. A cable extending from a special suitcase is inserted into the main characters’ wrists like an IV tube... How this cable exchanges brain signals among Cobb and Company through their arms is perplexing. I understand that this tube injects some kind of sedative to make them fall asleep, but I guess Nolan wanted to visually simplify the way "Extractors" penetrate the minds of their subjects to steal secrets from them. Oh well. This in no way tarnishes the extraordinary film that Inception is.
If you’re a die-hard video gamer who likes SOCOM and/or Grand Theft Auto, then you’ll like certain action scenes in Inception that unintentionally pay homage to these games. That being said, Hans Zimmer’s music score for this flick is phenomenal. Gotta buy it on CD... It’s available on Amazon.com now.
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