Theatrical Release: July 2010
Genre: Thriller? Sci-Fi? Action? All of the above. A psychological triathlon...
Starring...
Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb and NOT in a Martin Scorcese film!
Ellen Page as Ariadne, a bitingly sarcastic pregnant teenage dream architect
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, the only cast member with Werewolf of London hair
Marion Cotillard as Mal, pronounced "Mall"... So why not just spell it that way?
Ken Watanabe as Saito; Watanabe played a samurai in The Last Samurai. He did not play THE last samurai, however, because that role should obviously be played by Tom Cruise
Cilian Murphy as Robert Fischer (not affiliated with chess)
Michael Caine as Miles, classin' things up a bit
An old fat guy who looks a lot like Tom Berenger
Lukas Haas as Nash, a forgettable character but it's nice to see the big-eared kid from Witness is acting again
Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb and NOT in a Martin Scorcese film!
Ellen Page as Ariadne, a bitingly sarcastic pregnant teenage dream architect
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, the only cast member with Werewolf of London hair
Marion Cotillard as Mal, pronounced "Mall"... So why not just spell it that way?
Ken Watanabe as Saito; Watanabe played a samurai in The Last Samurai. He did not play THE last samurai, however, because that role should obviously be played by Tom Cruise
Cilian Murphy as Robert Fischer (not affiliated with chess)
Michael Caine as Miles, classin' things up a bit
An old fat guy who looks a lot like Tom Berenger
Lukas Haas as Nash, a forgettable character but it's nice to see the big-eared kid from Witness is acting again
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| Mind = Blown2 |
Expectations: Initially, low. I thought it would be another three-hour, overblown DiCaprio movie. Then people wouldn't stop talking about how good it was and how I had to see it or I was an Obama-huggin' socialist who hates America. And hey, I was born in America, buddy. So my expectations were peaked for about two weeks before I saw the movie...
Finally. A movie that treats me, the audience, like I'm not an idiot. From the very beginning, Inception will keep your attention by making your brain perform the mental equivalent of The Triple Lindy. If you're not a conceptual thinker, if you're not a good multi-tasker, if you don't dream in color, or if you spend more time talking about people than events or ideas, you should probably just go see Step Up 3-D.
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| Look, they're dancing on their heads! In 3-D!! |
Inception opens, although we don't know it right away, near the very end of the film. Cobb (DiCaprio) washes up on the beach like a severed foot and is dragged to see an old Japanese man. In order to throw off any notion you might have that this movie is going to follow the rules of linear time, you're immediately treated to the next scene featuring the same Cobb, only now he's in a tuxedo and - hey, isn't that the same Japanese guy, just 50 years younger? Ok, so I guess we're doing a high socitey industrial espionage thing now. So then Cobb tries to steal some industry secrets from this Japanese guy, Saito, but then - now wait a sec, why is he asleep in a chair all of a sudden? Is he in a dream? Is Cobb invading the dream of Saito to steal his industrial secrets? Ohhhhhhhhhhhh... Ok. Good. Got it. Now I'm with you, 100%. So Cobb is rooting around in Saito's subconscious but Saito's wise to this kind of thing from the look of the precautions he took so when the whole plan goes awry, the only thing left to do is wake up the Real World Cobb by dropping him in a full bathtub. Now that everyone's awake we can get to the bottom of - are you shitting me? A dream within a dream? Now we're on a high speed train to Tokyo and I think something went wrong just now but there's that Japanese guy again. Why not?
And so goes your thought process upon the opening of Inception. The good news, however, is that if you do pay attention, you'll be fed all the necessary information you'll need to piece together this very complex film. And I appreciate the way the information isn't spoon-fed to me in a conversation taking place very early in the film that seems a little out of place. Think of the scene in the first third of Avatar where Giovanni Ribisi explains to Sigourney Weaver that the main character, Jake Sully, is a twin and what unobtainium is and how much it's worth, all of which her character undoubtedly already knows but in order to inform the audience, this is sometimes the only way a key plot point can be revealed. (For a great pirated copy of this scene from what I can only assume is the Russian Comedy Central, click HERE, comrade) And while I maintain Avatar is a great movie, that scene is a little forced. In Inception, however, you start with knowing very little or nothing about what's going on or how or why and you're slowly but steadily thrown bits of important information. You have to stay engaged while watching this movie. If you're too busy texting and you have to ask the person next to you why Cobb's little spinning top is important, then you should just leave the theater so no one else around you has to listen to you asking about shit they learned by paying attention. I'm talking to directly to the three loudmouth Red Hat Society ladies who sat directly to my right. But I digress...
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan (who also wrote and directed Batman Begins, Memento, and The Dark Knight), Inception is a complicated movie. Complicated in the way that Mount Rushmore is a rock. At any given time, you're not sure if you're in reality or in a dream constructed by the lovely Ellen Page. The inability to separate dream-reality from waking-reality is one of the demons Cobb is trying to overcome. I like that I was never able to tell right away. You slowly learn the reasons Cobb wants to "chase the dragon" and escape back into his own subconscious and the depth of his character is gradually revealed. It's also very commendable that the supporting characters didn't seem two-dimensional, although they had little-to-no backstory to speak of. I'm tired of supporting characters who exist only to demonstrate how truly badass Neo is. No, the characters surrounding Cobb are played by some of Hollywood's real up-and-comers in roles I'm sure will be remembered for allowing us to see Juno and Tommy from 3rd Rock from the Sun as genuine actors. And for the record, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is very underrated.
I'm not interested in dissecting this film, mostly because it would be like trying to tell someone how to find their way out of a labyrinth. It's an individual experience and you're not going to explore it all in one visit, and you definitely shouldn't venture out in it in a snow storm. But that's sage advice anytime you agree to take the winter job as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. I think I went a little off track there... Let's use the labyrinth analogy again, as it's referred to often throughout the movie as more than just an analogy for the subconscious mind. Dream architects have to create simulated worlds so detailed that the victims of these Dream Thieves (I'm pretty sure they used to tour with Midnight Oil) would never suspect they're romping through someone else's staged dream. As if that's not a monumental task as is, all details of the simulated/pirated/fabricated/staged dream world has to be so precise that even the subjects own mind won't be able to tell it's not dreaming its own dream. Carpet fiber. That's the one and only detail overlooked by one dream architect, played by Lukas Haas, and his whole operation unraveled. The last you see of him, he's being dragged away by the Yakuza to be dealt with as the Japanese code of honor dictates... An appearance on Most Extreme Challenge.
As you can see, the last thing you want is the subject of your nocturnal invasion putting it together that the stranger in his dream asking about the Colonel's 11 secret herbs and spices isn't merely a figment of his imagination but - gasp! - a spy! And if the secret you're after is buried deeeeeeeeep in someone's brain? Or if that someone had an inkling a long time ago that Leonardo DiCaprio was trying to steal his thoughts while he was asleep and his tin foil hat wasn't enough protection, so he trained his subconscious to go Branch Davidian on your ass? What then? Well, you construct a dream within a dream. But like most people, I had no idea that the word "inception" meant "source" or "origin" and was the industry term for planting an idea in a subjects brain rather than stealing information that's already there. Many say it can't be done, since you always know where you get an idea from. Like if someone else told you your handlebar mustache looked gay, you would know that wasn't your opinion. But if you came to that conclusion on your own, you might act on your idea and go shave that stupid hipster trash off your face.
So this is where Inception takes a turn from "Ok, I kinda get what's going here" to "Holy shit, now we're in a Pakistani opium den?" The common belief being that inception (planting an idea in someone's mind and letting it take hold as their own) is impossible, Cobb accepts the challenge to implant an idea in an insecure millionaire with daddy issues' brain (Cilian Murphy as Robert Fischer). To accomplish this seemingly impossible task, his team of ragtag, uh, dream commandos have to go deep inside Robert Fischer's subconscious, using the false persona of a trusted friend who looks a lot like a pregnant Tom Berenger. Once they've convinced him they need to get deeper inside his own mind because "someone" is after the information locked away in his brain, he somehow gets talked into going under yet again, and keep in mind, this is all within his own dream... Or something like that. It's hard to keep up when you're watching the movie, let alone try to explain it all afterwards.
Now, to make sure you're following me, they went inside Robert Fischer's dream using a powerful sedative, and then had to dose him in his dream with the sedative. So a dream within a dream. Now in that second dream, Robert Fischer is convinced to take the sedative again (to keep the boogeyman away) so he ends up in another dream within a dream. That's right: A dream within a dream within a dream.
Good advice: Pay. Attention.
And so goes your thought process upon the opening of Inception. The good news, however, is that if you do pay attention, you'll be fed all the necessary information you'll need to piece together this very complex film. And I appreciate the way the information isn't spoon-fed to me in a conversation taking place very early in the film that seems a little out of place. Think of the scene in the first third of Avatar where Giovanni Ribisi explains to Sigourney Weaver that the main character, Jake Sully, is a twin and what unobtainium is and how much it's worth, all of which her character undoubtedly already knows but in order to inform the audience, this is sometimes the only way a key plot point can be revealed. (For a great pirated copy of this scene from what I can only assume is the Russian Comedy Central, click HERE, comrade) And while I maintain Avatar is a great movie, that scene is a little forced. In Inception, however, you start with knowing very little or nothing about what's going on or how or why and you're slowly but steadily thrown bits of important information. You have to stay engaged while watching this movie. If you're too busy texting and you have to ask the person next to you why Cobb's little spinning top is important, then you should just leave the theater so no one else around you has to listen to you asking about shit they learned by paying attention. I'm talking to directly to the three loudmouth Red Hat Society ladies who sat directly to my right. But I digress...
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| When movie tickets are $10 each, you need to shut up, Nana. |
I'm not interested in dissecting this film, mostly because it would be like trying to tell someone how to find their way out of a labyrinth. It's an individual experience and you're not going to explore it all in one visit, and you definitely shouldn't venture out in it in a snow storm. But that's sage advice anytime you agree to take the winter job as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. I think I went a little off track there... Let's use the labyrinth analogy again, as it's referred to often throughout the movie as more than just an analogy for the subconscious mind. Dream architects have to create simulated worlds so detailed that the victims of these Dream Thieves (I'm pretty sure they used to tour with Midnight Oil) would never suspect they're romping through someone else's staged dream. As if that's not a monumental task as is, all details of the simulated/pirated/fabricated/staged dream world has to be so precise that even the subjects own mind won't be able to tell it's not dreaming its own dream. Carpet fiber. That's the one and only detail overlooked by one dream architect, played by Lukas Haas, and his whole operation unraveled. The last you see of him, he's being dragged away by the Yakuza to be dealt with as the Japanese code of honor dictates... An appearance on Most Extreme Challenge.
As you can see, the last thing you want is the subject of your nocturnal invasion putting it together that the stranger in his dream asking about the Colonel's 11 secret herbs and spices isn't merely a figment of his imagination but - gasp! - a spy! And if the secret you're after is buried deeeeeeeeep in someone's brain? Or if that someone had an inkling a long time ago that Leonardo DiCaprio was trying to steal his thoughts while he was asleep and his tin foil hat wasn't enough protection, so he trained his subconscious to go Branch Davidian on your ass? What then? Well, you construct a dream within a dream. But like most people, I had no idea that the word "inception" meant "source" or "origin" and was the industry term for planting an idea in a subjects brain rather than stealing information that's already there. Many say it can't be done, since you always know where you get an idea from. Like if someone else told you your handlebar mustache looked gay, you would know that wasn't your opinion. But if you came to that conclusion on your own, you might act on your idea and go shave that stupid hipster trash off your face.
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| It takes a lot of work to look like you don't care. |
Now, to make sure you're following me, they went inside Robert Fischer's dream using a powerful sedative, and then had to dose him in his dream with the sedative. So a dream within a dream. Now in that second dream, Robert Fischer is convinced to take the sedative again (to keep the boogeyman away) so he ends up in another dream within a dream. That's right: A dream within a dream within a dream.
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| Scientific representation of Russian sleep study results... |
By this point, you're having a lot of trouble remembering what's real, who's left in what stage of whose dream, and you're wondering why Charlize Theron hasn't made an appearance dressed in Princess Leia's gold bikini (it is a dream, after all). To give the knife a final twist, time slows exponentially from dream within a dream within a dream so that if you went four layers deep in your subconscious, the 20-30 minutes you're actually asleep seem like decades. In level four, you can experience 50 years in your mind until The Kick pulls you out of all levels of your dream state. Baffled yet? The Kick, by the way, is the real-world physical jolt forced on the sleeping subject in order to awaken them from a deep sleep. It could be a drop in a full bathtub, a van driving off a bridge, your ex finally pushing you down the stairs, anything that gives you that feeling of falling that will wake you up.
The movie is perfect for watching with a group of friends and talking about it afterwards for days and days. I wouldn't recommend seeing it in the theater, rather you should watch it at a friends house who has an awesome surround sound setup. You can pretend to care when he talks to you about the different listening environments his Dolby 7.1 puts out with the DTS optimized, just make sure you have a good picture with optimal sound to enjoy everything coming at you. You'll contemplate this film for days after you've seen it and you'll watch it again to see what you missed. It's the LOST of movies. It deserves discussion between the "initiated."
It's just about impossible to do a review of this movie that does it justice. You need to be able to think in four dimensions to grasp it and you need to be able to think fast. Those two semesters at community college are finally gonna come in handy. If you like to watch movies that make your brain run on high octane, check this film out.
Overall: 10 out of 10. My favorite movie of 2010, so far. DiCaprio is still a terrific actor. Chris Nolan consistently makes films smarter than all the Harry Potter books combined. Best Picture Oscar nominee (possible winner), Best Original Screenplay winner.
Best Scene: The last scene, duh.
Seriously, if you've read this far without watching the movie, stop reading NOW.
The movie is perfect for watching with a group of friends and talking about it afterwards for days and days. I wouldn't recommend seeing it in the theater, rather you should watch it at a friends house who has an awesome surround sound setup. You can pretend to care when he talks to you about the different listening environments his Dolby 7.1 puts out with the DTS optimized, just make sure you have a good picture with optimal sound to enjoy everything coming at you. You'll contemplate this film for days after you've seen it and you'll watch it again to see what you missed. It's the LOST of movies. It deserves discussion between the "initiated."
It's just about impossible to do a review of this movie that does it justice. You need to be able to think in four dimensions to grasp it and you need to be able to think fast. Those two semesters at community college are finally gonna come in handy. If you like to watch movies that make your brain run on high octane, check this film out.
Overall: 10 out of 10. My favorite movie of 2010, so far. DiCaprio is still a terrific actor. Chris Nolan consistently makes films smarter than all the Harry Potter books combined. Best Picture Oscar nominee (possible winner), Best Original Screenplay winner.
Best Scene: The last scene, duh.
Seriously, if you've read this far without watching the movie, stop reading NOW.
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| May cause severe tire damage. |
My friend Helen raised a few convincing arguments...
1) Michael Caine lives and works in Paris, remember? Why is he suddenly ahead of Cobb and meeting him at the airport?
2) Cobb walks into the house where his kids are and it's deserted. What about the grandparents who didn't give a crap about him? Does the key still work or something, he seemingly just let himself in.
3) Also, why are his kids still young when he finally gets to see them again? Weren't they noticeably older on the phone at the beginning of the movie? And they're sitting in exactly the same position, wearing exactly the same clothes he always remembers them in? C'mon... The rest of this movie is so well made, this just doesn't add up.
My favorite dissection of Inception, though, comes in this article. You get a full explanation of the seven (yes, seven) dream layers and a final twist you probably didn't even think of but is totally plausible... My hat's off to Taylor Holmes.
Ultimately, I think the ending would've sucked if it were revealed whether it was a dream or not. Here's the final scene, one last time. Judge for yourself...
What my wife said: "I just want a f***in' answer... and for those clucking hens sitting next to us to SHUT UP."
Likely Porn Spin-off Titles: Insertion; Incestion
Likely Porn Spin-off Titles: Insertion; Incestion
Who would enjoy this movie: People who hate Larry the Cable Guy movies; Freud; My dad... Yes, Dad, if you're reading this, you need to take Pat to see Inception. Also, I'm buying you the LOST box set for Christmas. You, of all people, would appreciate that show.
Watch it if you like: A Beautiful Mind; Memento; Flatliners; The Prestige
Next in the Q: It might be a while before I get the time/motivation to post another review. All my free time is now consumed by homework and pre-winter "battoning downs" like cleaning out the garage and stuff.
I leave you one final observation from Inception that'll blow your mind, provided you have anymore mind to left to blow by this point...
I leave you one final observation from Inception that'll blow your mind, provided you have anymore mind to left to blow by this point...
No Rick-roll this time, I promise...
Isn't that the star wars theme slowed down? I fuckin hate you Wes!
ReplyDelete....great observations though. I wanna see this movie more than ever now!
ReplyDeleteWESSSS! Yeah it was worth waiting for- hats off to you for describing acuratley the dream within a dream layer- your right, if you manage to hold on through the movie thats one thing- trying to explain it all later is another.
ReplyDeleteAnd heck- I even get a shout out in your review whoop whoop :)
Good job man- excellently written- oh but- best film of 2010?? Without a doubt, its one for Blu-Ray baby :)