REVIEW: Inception

Inception

Written & Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring:

Leonardo DiCaprio

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Ellen Page

Tom Hardy

Ken Watanabe

Cillian Murphy

Marion Cotillard

Michael Caine

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout

IMDb Page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2438307/

How do you follow up a movie that is not only critically-acclaimed, but earns your studio one of the biggest box office takes in history? That is the question that faced Christopher Nolan as he walked away from the cinematic powerhouse that was 'The Dark Knight', his $1,001,921,825-earning sophomore effort with the Batman franchise, with Warner Bros. eager to empty their pockets for him to do whatever he wants, as an interval between Batman projects. Taking advantage of a desperately supportive studio, Nolan pulls out a project that has lived in the tangled web of his mind since he was a much younger man, and he begins to tell a story about a subconscious heist film where people use technology to invade a person's dreams and steal their secrets. "Whatever you want, Chris..." And thus, $250 million dollars are bestowed upon Nolan, and the best summer blockbuster of 2010 is born.

It's hard to discuss the plot of 'Inception' in any degree, without giving away part of the plot, so I will keep my plot summary as short, and spoiler free as I can. The film focuses around the character of Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), an expert "extractor" of secrets and information, who is haunted by a dark memory of his past, and his antagonistic wife Mal (Cotillard). Cobb is hired by a wealthy businessman named Saito (Watanabe), who asks Cobb to perform the nearly-impossible inverse of his extraction method, and instead plant an idea into the mind of a given target, a process known as "Inception." In order to try and pull off this highly complicated feat, Cobb must assemble the ideal crack team to build the dream world, populate it, and lead the target towards their goal, through various obstacles and veils of false reality. Things quickly become complicated though, and as the dream goes deeper, the stakes become higher and the dangerous nature of the job comes into focus. I will leave the rest to the eager sense of wonder and the unknown to bait readers into the theater, because the true power of this film lies in what is not understood, and the thrill of what might happen next.

Let me start off by simply stating the obvious, Inception is an incredible film. Nolan has found a way to blend his best works together, while taking the thrilling, psychological guessing games of his 2000 masterpiece, 'Memento,' and blending it with the huge scale action set piece work from 'The Dark Knight,' the director's newest work stand alone as the most original and impressive movie of the summer season. Despite Warner Bros. desire to have the film presented in a 3D format, Nolan and his go-to cinematographer, Wally Pfister, refused to give into the gimmicky presentation, worried that it would "distract the storytelling experience of Inception," and instead presented a tremendously stimulating visual feast, filled with twists and turns, and one of the most simultaneously satisfying and angering endings ever seen. 'Inception' also boasts one of the most impressive collective casts seen in a long time, with stellar performances from DiCaprio, Cotillard, Gordon-Levitt, and Hardy, all of which compliment the film with believable, solid, and exciting portrayals of experts in the field of dream theft. The film is also supported by another brilliant score from composer Hans Zimmer, master musician and half of the team that created the Oscar-deserving score for 'The Dark Knight', complete with assaulting dissonance and appropriate swells to intensify the action. Zimmer also took the time to plant a stunningly original idea into his score by hiding a key piece of music from the film into the orchestral score, see the link below for the best explanation of the trick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM

But what really sells 'Inception' is the tremendous camera and effects work, with a perfect blend between the practical and the CGI effects. As we surface from the seemingly endless wash of shoddy computer-generated effects seen in movies this summer, Nolan and Pfister show that there can be a happy median between mind-blowing digital effects of cities folding on themselves, and incredible practical shots of hallways rotating 360 degrees while actors move from wall to wall. This way, we get some of the coolest, mind-squeezing perspectives, while not compromising the overall look and feel of the movie. The digital effects are incredible, and have very few seams to differentiate them from the real, but Nolan's love of practical effects shines through; let's not forget that this is the man who flipped a semi-truck end over end on a real city street for his last film. The masterful camera work of Wally Pfister, who in my opinion has been robbed of his Oscar for the last time, paints some of the most exciting moments I've ever experienced in a darkened theater, so much so that I found myself forgetting to breathe at several points during the final act of the film. Pfister has also now filmed the most exciting hand-to-hand fight sequence I've ever watched, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt performing all of his own stunts.

With all this praise and attention to detail, it is hard to find flaws with the film; they are there, but they are few and far between. There are some small plot holes throughout the film, but nothing that suddenly jars the audience out of the fantasy and forces them to realize that they are simply watching a movie. The first hour of the film is tremendously helpful on the initial viewing, as it explains the rules and restrictions of the dream world in a very audience-friendly way, but having seen the movie multiple times now, I can tell you that that hour starts to become tedious when you have a fully-formed understanding of how things work in the movie. And with the fantastic cast I mentioned before, it's disappointing to see actors playing characters that serve next to no purpose to the story, but simply are there to spoon feed expositional points and emotional arcs to the audience, a role filled by Ellen Page's Ariadne, the young architect of Cobb's team. But all of these small nitpicks are far from enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of Nolan's latest masterpiece, a film that in my opinion showcases him once again as one of the most talented and ambitious film-makers working today.

Inception: A

I also realized that I forgot to post my new "Netflix Reviews" section on my last post, so I will address two pieces this week for the Netflix section:

Netflix Review:

With Steig Larsson's Millenium trilogy still rocking "Best-Seller" lists around the world, and the pre-production ramping up for the American adaptation of the first novel in the series, the Swedish-made original has found its way across the Atlantic, and into the Instant Streaming queue for Netflix. Telling the story of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist in the native language, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a very enjoyable, appropriately dark service to Larsson's excellent novel. I would, of course, recommend the novel over the movie, but if you have read the book, the movie is an enjoyable afterthought. Despite a few glaring omissions, it follows the story well, and holds a satisfying performance from Michael Nygvist as Blomkvist, and an outstanding performance by Noomi Rapace as Salander. So if you can't wait to see the story of Mikael, Lisbeth, and the Vanger family played out in English, the Swedish version is now available on Netflix Instant Streaming.

My Review: B

I know I'm late in joinig the Dexter craze, but I'll come out and say it now; Dexter is awesome! I've always been an HBO hound over a Showtime fan with "Weeds" being the one exception, but Michael C. Hall and the cast and writers of Dexter consistently produce engaging, well-written episodes of one of the most original dramas I've seen in a long time. Dexter, a blood-spatter analyst by day, and seasoned serial killer by night, is as far from hero as you can get, yet he keeps you cheering for him with every swing of his cleaver, and on the edge of your seat as we watch him navigate his "real" life with practiced normality, while trying to keep his true self unseen by those who would deem his talent as "odd." Exciting, gruesome, and very, very fun! The first two seasons of Dexter are now available for Netflix Instant Streaming.

My Review: A