Screen Time With Chiderah: Inception Review

For a film that jumps through layers of the subconscious, the dream world, and the psyche… audiences would expect to be pulled into the imagination just as deeply. And they are. In fact, Inception can be likened more to an outer-body experience, a soul-searching adventure, and- dare I say, a toe-curling satisfaction.

Well, that last part might sound like an exaggeration to some, or may be spot on to others, but that’s the beauty of cinema- if there ever were a perfect venue for the “to each his own” mantra, this is it.

Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a trained expert in the art of extraction. With the ability to explore the human dream state- a new form of espionage proven beneficial to the corporate world- and gather information while the person sleeps, Cobb has earned a reputation of the most dangerous kind: one that self-incriminates, and one that alienates him from his family. Now Cobb and his team of specialists, including his right-hand technician Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), have been given the assignment of traveling farther than they’ve ever gone into the mind of a corporate heir.

Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) is an oceanic mirage in the dry desert of cinema, who couldn’t have been more right in saying that Inception is what a blockbuster ought to be. A director that not only constructs realms and worlds with the perfect combinations of mise-en-scene, but one whose unconventional choices in editing add instead of detract from the main ideas. You’ll see in this one: his jump-cuts serve purpose, his discontinuity of time and place connect the dots, and his movement between spaces and scenes are quick but rhythmic.

And it isn’t in 3D… It’s almost unheard of.

I’ll credit much of the success of this film to the director’s ability to write a cohesive, compelling script- equalizing the dream world we have to explore, with the characters that travel through it. But a lot of credit should also be given to the characters themselves. Oscar worthy performances from Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed, Shutter Island), and Ellen Page (Juno, Smart People), with additionally exceptional supporting performances from Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies, Nine) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer). It doesn’t stop there: from Ken Watanabe to Cillian Murphy, to Michael Caine and Tom Hardy… I don’t think a casting mistake was made anywhere.

Specifically, if anyone has been able to explore the mind as an actor and do so convincingly, it’s certainly Leonardo DiCaprio. It goes all the way back to What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, where DiCaprio portrayed mental illness with alarming accuracy. From there, his path to becoming one of the most prolific actors in the business has been laced with roles that require self-reflection, psyche analysis, confronting the truth, and being emotional. The latter being his most career-defining element.

Inception is going to be talked about for the stunt-work that literally defies gravity, for the mind-blowing story line that requires a bit more thought than some might like, for the comparison to The Dark Knight in ways that puts Nolan back on the “best director” map, and for the lack of 3D- which challenges the notion that everything new should be.

And as a reviewer who never cared much for the word “should”, Inception is a sigh of relief.

Rating: 4.7/5

(+) Entertaining, cohesive story with great acting, engaging and well packaged

(-) Might be confusing to some