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Real Thoughts: Inception — Description

Yes I know I'm ending Musical March early this year but I'm out of ideas.
Anyways to prepare for The Odyssey I thought I should check out some of Christopher Nolans films starting with arguably his most iconic one outside of The Dark Knight. Nolan has given us a host of future classics over the years, like his 2014 space flick “Interstellar,” but I believe that it will be “Inception” that will be the longest lasting in collective memories. Following a group of dream invaders as they plant an idea in a man’s head, “Inception” is filled with rapid-fire editing, heart-tugging emotion, and enough glorious action to keep all eyes glued to the screen. For sure to be a future classic, “Inception” will forever be seen as an unforgettable experience in the imaginative power of film.
Trying to figure out the film based on the trailer alone is a fruitless effort, particularly given the complexity of the entire film altogether. Nonetheless, the preview does an incredible job of making you HAVE to see this Christopher Nolan movie. Between the folding cityscapes, frozen action sequences, and surreal dream elements, it succeeds in looking immensely interesting. And watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a fight is always entertaining.
After you watch the trailer for “Inception,” it’s the astounding effects and incredible action that may get you into the theater, but it’s the characters and performances that keep you watching – and coming back for more. Dominick Cobb comes off as slick and stylish at first glance, but all that belies his inner sorrow. He’s haunted by the death of his wife and his inability to be involved in the lives of his children as said wife committed suicide and implicated him in her death so that he’d kill himself, too. It was a romantic gesture gone horribly wrong, as his wife lost sight of reality after she and Cobb spent too much time in the dream world. This is the reason why he’s a criminal on the run, estranged from his kids, and jacking people’s dreams for a living. Although “Inception” has many compelling characters, it would fall apart without somebody to provide a strong emotional core. Luckily for the film and its many fans, Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the greatest actors of this or any generation. He holds the narrative together with a multi-layered performance that feels entirely human.
With Joseph Gordon-Levitt marking his first collaboration with director Christopher Nolan before “The Dark Knight Rises,” the actor portrays mastermind researcher Arthur. Playing opposite Di Caprio’s Cobb, Arthur is his right hand man, the guy that has to ensure all the details of their inception crimes. As the Point Man, he’s an essential part of the team. And lucky for Gordon-Levitt, the character also gets to be the star of one of the most fascinating action sequences ever.
Played by the extraordinarily talented Tom Hardy, Eames is the expert forger of the group. In the dreams where a lot of the movie takes place, he perfectly impersonates others. He and his cohort, Arthur, are the glue that holds together all of the plans and schemes the dream team attempts to pull off. Effortlessly charismatic, Eames steals every scene he’s in. My only complaint about his role is that there just isn’t enough of him. While most of the “mind heist” crewmembers in this sci-fi thriller are given very little development, Eames stood out as the worst example. As such, Hardy's performance just left me wanting more of him.
Then there's the wife of the main character in Mal played by Marion Cotillard who went too deep and could no longer accept the true world and thus had to face deadly consequences. She served as a warning of what could go wrong. She even becomes the heart of the sci-fi thriller despite the fact that she’s no longer living, so it’s truly devastating to find out how she died… and you feel the weight of it through every subsequent scene.

With this many memorable characters there is also a lot of iconic set and action pieces. Nolan’s entire heist movie is based on the premise that anything you’re seeing, hearing, or experiencing could be a dream. Because its characters can influence the world around them even when they’re dreaming, “Inception” actually pulls the “it was all a dream” card while we’re in the middle of a dream. It’s almost more noteworthy when something isn’t a dream. The confusion about the nature of reality is also central to its main character’s personal dilemma. Without this constant reminder that the line between dreams and reality can be blurry, the long-discussed open ending wouldn’t be nearly as impactful.
You know how every time you try to explain a dream you had to someone else; it turns into one of those “you had to be there” moments? Well, imagine if someone else could be there. In a world where someone can enter your dreams and implant ideas, you can be extremely vulnerable. But mastering world bending abilities in the dream world and sharing them with others would be beyond awesome. But you may never know if you are in your own dream, someone else’s or Limbo.
This film is often described as a clever mindbender for its dream-within-a-dream complexity, but before those observations can even be made, we’re teased early on with some action-packed dream symbolism. The slightly surreal chase through the streets of Mombasa is depicted as Cobb’s reality, yet the panic-triggering stumbling blocks look like classic nightmare material. Notice the maze-like design, constant danger in every direction, and walls literally closing in. Metaphors aside, it’s still a great watch for its cool stunts and action.
With each level of the unconscious operating at different speeds, it was necessary to shift gears as characters go deeper into the mind during their reverse heist. Most astonishing of which is the slow motion car chase in which the crew are fast asleep as they get tossed around in their chairs, while their sleeping faces are pelted with rain and broken glass. Of course the real kick is the kick, a free fall off a bridge designed to wake everyone up. Don’t know why rolling down the hill didn’t count but it’s best not ask too many questions.
Meanwhile In what was easily the most stylish scene in an already extravagant movie, the rotating hallway is without a doubt one of the finest action set pieces in years. This sequence sees Arthur fighting a guy in a rotating hotel hallway, due to Arthur spinning in another layer of the dream. It’s a master class of both editing and action staging, and it’s even more impressive considering that they filmed inside a constructed rotating hallway to give it a look of authenticity. Nolan always goes all out, both in technical terms and creativity, and the rotating hallway is a fantastic example of both.
Meanwhile Hans Zimmer has been making a powerful name for himself in recent years as Christopher Nolan’s golden boy composer. Not satisfied with creating the heart pounding drums featured in “The Dark Knight,” Zimmer produced the iconic horns that are such a standout in “Inception,” incorporating hints of Édith Piaf's “Non, je ne regrette rien” throughout. Zimmer has said that the hoped the score would feel like huge foghorns over a city, and with the electronic flavor he’s added the mixture is instantly compelling. While shaking seats across cinemas, the track entitled ‘Time’ is a slow climb to triumphant success that drives the film and brings us all along for the ride.
Nolan not only knows how to kickstart his movies, but how to end them as well. Case in point, The sequence with the characters riding the synchronized kick is a thing of filmmaking beauty, complete with some of the finest editing of Nolan’s career. After a brief scene with Cobb, they wake up on the plane, giving us a moment to breathe and reflect on what we just experienced before watching Cobb clear customs. The movie then opens the tear ducts when he reunites with his children. It’s a roller coaster of emotions, especially with the spinning top, which continues to spin as the film cuts to black. The camera lingers on the spinning top, leading many viewers to debate whether Cobb was dreaming or not. And even ignoring the famous wedding ring theory, the idea of Cobb being in a dream or reality is not the point. The point is that Cobb chooses his own reality by ignoring the totem. It doesn’t matter if the children are real or not; what matters is that Cobb has finally found peace and acceptance.
My only complaint is that it does take a while to fully understand the plot of the film and even requires multiple viewings. Although the initial concept is enough to make your eyes cross, this film heavily relies on the concept of dreams within dreams, plays with the flow of time, and then has the cahones to leave you guessing at the end. But not a big issue for me. Overall I consider this to be one of Nolan's best.