Inception is quite possibly the best movie I have ever seen. The movie does not reward without effort from the viewer. Those that sit there mindlessly watching and waiting for action will not follow it, and will not "get" it. It begins quite messily, and I'll be honest - I thought Nolan had completely botched it at first. Almost incomprehensible, the film launches ahead without ever really explaining the process we are witnessing. Flashes of dreams...perhaps reality, dart in and out of each other as Nolan throws you from one location to another, never really explaining the link between them. Someone's dreaming, or do they only think they're dreaming? Is someone else dreaming for them? Or, is someone dreaming that they're dreaming?
Be prepared to put up with 20 minutes to half an hour of asking yourself that, and wondering if you're going to have the stamina to sit through over two and a half hours of obvious cuts from scenario to scenario, with only the tiniest sentences to tie it all together. Then it happens, we reach reality (or what seems like reality) and a plot is introduced. Cobb (Leo) is a criminal (Or is he? If he is, what are his crimes? If he isn't, what do people think are his crimes? Do people think he is a criminal, or does he think he is a criminal?) who possesses the technology to enter the minds of people when they are asleep, and to trick the subconscious into divulging their secrets. A businessman offers him a deal to the opposite of this process, to implant one very simple idea into the mind of a competitor - a process called Inception. Cobb then assembles a team to perform this seemingly impossible task.
That, on the face of it, is the very simple plot of this movie. And it is a very simple plot - but I don't think that's the real plot of the film. To the person watching the movie without thinking, waiting for the action scenes...it may indeed appear to be the plot and Inception would run like a satisfactory movie like this. But the real plot is something much more sinister and somewhat disturbing and much, much more interesting.
The characters in this script aren't well developed - but for good reason. The acting is superb, there is not a single weak performance anywhere (nor would you expect there to be, Inception is probably the most talented cast assembled in years, despite many not being popular names). There is, however, one stand out performance - Marion Cotillard as "Mal". Who is Mal? Mal is The Shade, and it's a disservice to her character and Cotillard's performance to describe her as anything else. That probably means nothing to those who haven't seen it - but Cotillard's performance and role is powerful, frightening and undoubtedly schizophrenic in the way it's written. I cannot recall a role like it, and there's a reason why Cotillard (probably the most acclaimed - at least recently - of the cast is absent from promotional material). I was not affected by any character in this movie like I was Mal, and I'm not sure I've ever seen such a role for a female performer before.
There is also The Architect (Ellen Page), The Mark (Cillian Murphy), The Forger (Tom Hardy), The Point-Man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), in addition to The Tourist (Watanabe) and The Extractor (DiCaprio). These mean nothing to you, but they will once you watch the movie. What you cannot expect from Inception to be brought to tears, frightened or perhaps even shocked in a massive way. Those familiar with Nolan’s style of filmmaking will find it hard to believe that there is no shocking twist in his movie. Nolan is famous for sending the viewer down a path where they form expectations, only to have it violently pulled the other way – blowing all expectations out of the water.
Nolan is subdued here, and indeed I think this has been another source of wrongful criticism from some people. Quite early on in the movie, after the initial flurry of events, Nolan does something quite scary. At the same time a character is pulled into a dream, the audience is pulled in with them. We do not realise this, nor do they – until we are told. From this moment onwards, the film flows impeccably well – picking up the nightmarish-mess from the beginning and neatly unfolding it in front of the audience over the rest of the two-hours or so duration of the movie. I was not shocked by Inception the way you would expect. Instead, the film has had a more powerful impact on me. While I let Nolan weave me in and out of this dream world, he did something profound that I’m not sure many people noticed. He planted an idea, and one that has prevented me from concentrating on anything else all night – and it’s the reason I’ve written this massive review / evaluation. I want to watch the movie again, to return to this dream world to try and decipher this idea that’s been put in my head by it.
This probably will not make sense until you see the movie, and once you have and you experience something similar, you’ll realise why Inception is the best piece of filmmaking you’ve probably ever seen.
