THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Dreams can be the most creative part of a mind because the limitless imagination can be a strength or a weakness. The trick however is to remember the importance of reality, something I learned very well through Inception.
PLOT
The film follows Dom Cobb, a man who performs corporate espionage by using experimental dream sharing technology to infiltrate one’s subconscious and extract information. He’s been on the run from the law after being falsely accused of murdering his wife Mal and hasn’t seen his children since he left. During one mission with his partner Arthur, where their target was Japanese businessman Saito, it would backfire due to it all being sabotaged by Dom’s memory of Mal. However, the businessman would be so impressed that he recruits him for another mission. He requests him to perform ‘Inception’, where one must implant an idea into a person’s subconscious. Dom agrees to do it in exchange of his name being cleared and getting to go home. With the assist of his father in law Stephen Miles (Michael Caine), he recruits Ariadne to be his architect which she must construct various dreamscapes. Dom can’t do it himself out of fear of the memory of his wife committing further sabotage. He then recruits a fellow acquaintance named Eames whose role is the forger, where he impersonates others in the dreams. He also recruits a pharmacologist named Yusuf (Dileep Rao) to make a sedative strong enough for Inception. To make sure he sees firsthand the mission succeeds, Saito insists on taking part of it. He then shares with the team who the target is: Robert Fischer, whose father Maurice (Pete Postlewhaite) is dying and will pass on the company to him. The idea he wants implanted is to dissolve his father’s company. With three layers of dreams needed to perform Inception, the plan is to have someone in each layer to wake everyone else simultaneously through a music synchronized kick. When Maurice passes away, the team acts fast in performing the task in a 10 hour flight. In the first layer that is set in a raining city shows the team succeeds in abducting Robert, but the defense of subconscious surprises him to the point where Saito gets wounded. This would be a bad things compared to past missions because while people normally wake up after being killed in dreams, Yusuf’s sedative is so strong it will take them to Limbo instead. Before setting up the second layer, Eames impersonates Robert’s godfather Peter Browning (Tom Berenger) to introduce the idea of an alternate will to dissolve the company. At the same time, Cobb reveals to Ariadne he performed Inception on Mal to help her return to reality as she became confused after she experimented with dream sharing. She chose to take her life by jumping off a building and frame her husband of her death to convince him to do it as well, believing that would help her wake up. After leaving his children and having Stephen to take care of them, the only physical memory he has left of his wife is her totem, a top that’ll spin indefinitely in a dream to confirm whether or not he’s dreaming. Yusuf would defend the others while they go through the second layer, driving around to avoid being attack by Robert’s subconscious. In the second layer that takes place in a hotel, Cobb is able to persuade Robert that Peter abducted him to stop the dissolution, while also making him believe he’s a defensive projection, allowing him to make third level possible to officially enter his subconscious. Arthur watches over everyone else and hides them in an elevator after fighting off subconscious for a quick period. In the third level that is set in an alpine fortress, a projection of Maurice is inside for the inception itself to be performed. When Yusuf starts his kick too early, this leads to both Arthur & Eames improvising by setting off both the fortress and the elevator with explosives to make a strong enough for everyone to wake up all at once. Just when Robert reaches the fortress with Eames and Saito, the memory of Mal appears and shoots the target. This causes the former to join Saito in Limbo. With no choice, Dom and Ariadne reach there to save Robert in time to return to the third level and shoots Mal’s projection. When Fischer wakes up in the fortress, he receives the planted idea where his father tells him to create something for himself. Accepting the idea, each kick happens as planned. Just before everyone wakes up, Cobb makes peace with his past loss while also saving Saito from Limbo. With everyone awake before the plane lands, Saito keeps his word and makes the call to clear Cobb’s name. It’s proven to have worked when he passes through the checkpoint without delay. As Dom reunites with his children, the film ends with him spinning his totem one last time, only to not check if he’s awake or still dreaming.
THOUGHTS
Every decade is guaranteed to bring us something new and while it's nice for the past to be relevant, the future is always more exciting to go through. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan made a name for himself thanks to redefining the superhero genre with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Before concluding his trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises, his name reached household status for this film alone that truly put the highest note possible to be excited of what was to come from cinema at that point, the 2010s. Never in my own wildest dreams would I ever imagine a heist film centered on implanting and extracting ideas from one's mind would be so immersive like the standards that came before it. With every passing moment, Wally Pfister's cinematography pulls you in that every thing is possible if you set your mind to it, which has us gasping with every glimpse of the dreams we witness. The visual effects were already a great trait to let loose on the imagination because I keep remaining in awe when seeing a city get bent to one's will. The real kicker though goes to the practicality of every dream sequence. The way there was a moving hallway and legit minor detonations at the cafe was indeed breathtaking because I could've not seen it coming. Hans Zimmer's score also sets the tone on how grand the stakes are despite being different from what we're used to. Now when putting aside all the technical feats, I think the real reason this film has been capable to stand the test of time is for its beautiful perspective on embracing reality as is and to remind us to not forget the difference of what is and isn't real. It is nice to explore our fantasies to distract us from our issues, but it will always be reality that will guide us in overcoming all our troubles. If we choose to ignore what's in front of us, we will never be able to evolve as we wish. None of this would have been any more embraced thanks to the finest ensemble for this kind of picture. Leonardo DiCaprio has had quite the handful of protagonists to play in his career, but I'm sure to myself when I say there isn't any like Dom Cobb. The man is in such a self loathing process and he has the right to feel such because the condition his wife was in was partially his doing due to their experimentation. The grief is so strong that he can't even trust himself in his line of work, nor could he upfront with his allies about it because he didn't want to be doubted on success. He hates himself for going too far and has to cope with it everyday he's away from his kids. Mal was the definition of tragedy because she became aggressive when she never had to be which proved how lost with reality she was. Her death is unbearable to process because you wished she had the right way to be mentally healed before it got too far. And from there, Marion Cotillard pulls us in by maintaining that aggression in her subconscious state. He was working to survive until he found his way out. He knew if he pulled off succeeding in something that crippled his family, he would find his path in redemption. It was a journey he definitely wasn't prepared for but was worth taking because he had to find a way to overcome his demons. And by the looks of it, it worked. The true selling point of this ending is questioning if he is still awake since we do not see the totem fall before the credits roll. In my opinion, I believe it is due to how we get to see the faces of his children for the first time after spending past occasions blocking it from his memory to maintain important focus. If he were to still be in Limbo, at least he has regained whatever happiness he had left. Of course, he would've not made it that far with the team willing to trust him. Joseph Gordon Levitt shook things up whenever he portrayed Arthur as the most logical which is ironic since their line of work involves high imagination. Despite having said limits, it's still put to great advantage and he chooses to trust Dom because he knows he's the best at what he does, nor would he work with anyone else beneath him. Ironically, Eames comes off as his polar opposite because Tom Hardy gets the most creative in his position since he chooses to be whoever he wants to be in dreams, which is the whole point of dreams as is. He's the true innovator and even that is put to good use. Whether or not he knew what Dom was going through, he chose to trust him as well because he was sure he would figure out a solution amidst the chaos. Elliot Page, formerly known as Ellen, was another standout for making Ariadne a curious individual but still brought determination when it came to whatever she was assigned to do. We relate to her because we follow her half the time to process the story properly which works in the long run. She's a great student to where Dom is the teacher and she returns the favor by helping everyone do everything correctly in order to escape awake. She is the savior Dom needed to get it all done right otherwise everything would be all for nothing. The way she considers entering Limbo to save Robert was smart because it became a three birds one stone scenario that had to be completed which it did. When she and Arthur woke up, you bet they are proud of Dom doing the absolute. This opportunity of redemption would have not been possible had it not been for an unlikely hand that guided him. Ken Watanabe makes Saito such a driving force because despite having a personal motive, he's an honorable man and respects those who put their talents to good use. He experienced that said talent with Dom and saw him at his best, defending exactly why he chose him of all people to help him get what he wanted. There is no certainty if he wold still keep his word if he never got shot in the dream, but you're relieved he did after Dom saved him. With so much interesting people, it's obvious we would've not met him had it not been for an unlikely target. Cillian Murphy spoke volumes as Robert because he ends up proving he was more than a rich man. He was someone who felt misplaced due to the disconnection he had with his dad. From that alone, he didn't have the motivation on what he wanted to do with his life. Little would we or he expect a heist be the reawakening of his first chapter. When he finds the pinwheel in his subconscious safe, it's the ultimate tearjerking moment because he finds the love his dad always had deep down. While you're happy Dom has reunited with his family, you can't help but smile knowing Robert got through his own healing process to be better than he was. Whatever he does after the dissolving, there is no doubt he'll be proud of every bit of it. This film will only get better the older it gets, but it won’t excuse some things I still question about it. In all honesty, I think the first architect before Ariadne, Nash (Lukas Haas), is an idiot because you can’t be part of dream extracting if you don’t remember what a kick is. I mean that’s just worse than not getting the carpets right. You want to talk about continuity errors, I would have to say how the curtain is closed by the flight attendant in one shot, only to be open by the next shot. If she needed to pass the tech to Arthur, there was no point in her closing the curtain especially since Robert is in too big of a grieving state to notice. The worst part about Mal’s death is how there wasn’t a witness to defend Dom. You would think how everyone goes out at night, they would’ve been alerted of him screaming at his wife trying to save her. Yusuf does keep the ball rolling by driving around but why not in a tank? That would’ve been a stronger defense for him enough to do the jump on time instead of early. And how the hell does Robert not recognize Saito during the third layer? If he’s working with his dad’s company, he should be aware of what the competition looks like. In conclusion, Inception is one of the best movies ever made for being a true equivalent in what being thought provoking is all about, earning its Best Picture nomination in the process. If you love sci fi and want to think outside the box, see this now.
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