Inception (2010)

A movie of dreams and a dream of a movie. It's said that Christopher Nolan (one of the hottest directors out there today) spent 10 years writing "Inception". The (arguably) best movie of 2010 was the wake-up call not only for a lousy movie year that summer but also for all the big mainstream Hollywood productions that were reminded that a big blockbuster does not have to be dull to find a mass audience. Here is a movie that knows to entertain on a big budget and still respects its viewers' intelligence.

Regarding his former credits including one of my all time favorite films - Memento -, The Prestige and Batman Begins the consistency and level of Nolan's craft is absolutely remarkable. But it was probably the success of "The Dark Knight" - the film that made a billion dollars and resolved all doubts that Nolan is one of the most talented directors of his generation - that probably granted Nolan the 160.000.000 $ and all the freedom he needed for this original project.

Speaking of originality this is the first film Nolan is responsible for the story all by himself since his debut "Following" from 1998, which was shot with friends of his on a budget of 6,000 Dollars and which most people have yet to see and that said, it is worth it.

For his most ambitious film playing inside the human mind the studio and the audience had to take a leap of faith when Nolan does not hesitate to start his complex, dazzling puzzle with a sequence that puts us right into the dream world without any explanations. So be prepared to be confused.

Leonardo DiCaprio is playing Cobb, a professional thief - an "extractor" - who is stealing information out of the minds of other people. Advanced technology enables him to infiltrate their subconcious and extract hidden secrets. But for his next job he is hired to do the opposite which some say is impossible to pull off. An influential business man (Ken Watanabe) wants him to not extract but implant an idea in someone else's head - in this case Robert Fischer's head, who is the inheritor of a rivaling corporation and played nicely by Cilian Murphy who already worked with Nolan in the Batman films. This task is called 'Inception', a complicated and dangerous undertaking.

But Cobb has no choice. There is a background story involving him and his wife. He had to leave his home and flee to Europe because the police is after him in his home country. Watanabe offers to help him out when the Inception is successful.
Cobb teams up with other professionals to do the job. Those include a great ensemble of actors like Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ellen Page. She provides guidance for the audience as she is new to this as well. Throughout the movie she asks for explanations on what's exactly going on.
That expositional dialogue even in the movie's later acts has often been criticised by some but I think Page comes across really natural and delivers it in a sublte way. Apart from that it is really helpful for the viewer's orientation.

When the mission is set up and ready to begin we enter not only one dream but eventually a dream within a dream within a dream. Nolan masterful handles an insanely, entertainingly complex narrative on multiple layers that all play simultaniously and depend on each other. It was a shame that Nolan wasn't nominated for an academy award for Best Director that year even though the film got a Best Picture nod.

On top of that the group of thieves have to deal with a whole lot of different problems that endanger the success of the mission. Nolan creates an epic world with countless rules that you have to be aware of to catch up with the picture. It gets really complicated and unpredictable considering that any moment a train could crash into your car ... for instance. Aside from the confusion there are so many details that need be considered (on the way in and on the way out) that you must see this film at least twice.

I've seen Inception 5 times now and it really deserves to be seen at least twice - in fact as much as I loved it after I had seen it the first time I really felt like it was a masterpiece the third time around.
Everytime you may find something who had overlooked before and you might wanna check if Nolan's maze holds all together and has no dead ends.

An ingenious idea and super clever plot is the inception of any good movie. But also in technical terms this film is state of the art. It won four academy awards for its achievements in sound editing and mixing, visual effects and of course the beautiful cinematography by Wally Pfister.
Some scenes may feel a little conventional at first but it all feels appropriate and fitting the more often you see it. Nolan stated he wanted to keep it as real as possible and his vision - once you accept is - feels nothing short but a perfect creation of smart filmmaking.
For that matter Nolan does a great job filming many scenes on set, in camera, making little use of CGI and working with a greenscreen.
We see a real set shifting 25 degrees, and fights in "zero gravity" that are not made with a computer.
Joseph Gordon Levitt did all of his stunts himself by the way (except for one shot).
In that particular scene you get that sense of a most accomplished vision of filmmaking where everything from plot to astounding visuals all work together.

Inception deals with the theme of dreams in a complex and artful fashion and manages to mix a sophisticated, challenging idea with an action heist movie plot that leaves you breathless. The score by the great Hans Zimmer is completes the whole thing.

Inception will be talked about for a long time. It may not only make you discuss this picture but also dreams in general. That most existential theme makes it so accessable. Everybody dreams, and everybody will find something in there. It also offers a wide range of emotion. It can be taken as an action film or a drama, it has psychological depth, science fiction roots and a love story at its center.

Some people claim it was just a rip off of "The matrix" but that is not true at all. There is some similarity for sure, but Inception stands alone as a unique and also much more trickier film than "The Matrix" was. In summer Nolan will be back with his final installment of the Batman-Franchise "The Dark Knight Rises", with Tom Hardy as the villain "Bane".

It will be hard to beat the financial success of its predecessor.
It will be hard to measure up to Heath Legder's memorable performance.
It will be hard to fascinate in the same way "Inception" did.

But it's easy to say that you can't go wrong with Chris Nolan who has yet to make a bad film.

With "Inception" he created a (near) masterpiece and the perfect hybrid of grand scale entertainment and intelligent art cinema. Once you have seen it, you won't get it out of your mind again.

A film for the ages. A film to lose yourself in. A film to dream of. A dream that has come true.