Let me first just say how refreshing it is to have a highly anticipated, big-budget summer BLOCKBUSTER coming out that seems to have people genuinely excited for its release based largely on the director of the film. That’s cool. The last director to have such marquee value was probably M Night Shyamalan and he seems to have blown it. INCEPTION director Christopher Nolan, on the other hand, seems to be intent on delivering the goods each time out. With his newest, he’s delivered an intelligent, exciting, cerebral thriller that singlehandedly raises the average IQ of this summer’s movie crop.
I’m basically going to write this using only the barest of plot details for a couple reasons. One is that I wouldn’t want anyone thinking they would like/dislike the movie based solely on the premise. And the other is that it’s a whole lot more fun when you’re not sure exactly where this ride is going to take you. Short version: Cobb (DiCaprio) leads a team of operatives (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy) who specialize in “extraction.” That is to say, invading peoples’ dreams and stealing valuable information contained therein. A shady businessman (Ken Watanabe) hires the team for the dangerous and seemingly impossible opposite task of “inception” or planting an idea in a subject’s mind without them being aware of the outside interference. What follows is a sort of James Bond meets The Matrix thriller as the team invade dreams and battle elements of their subjects’ (and their own) subconscious.
From his debut Following to Memento to The Prestige, Nolan has a gift for making intelligent “puzzle” movies that double as grand crowd-pleasing entertainment. While his version of dreamscapes may be too literal and linear for fans (like me) of the twisted dream logic of directors like David Lynch, his skill in plotting and building suspense tend to make up for it. Our protagonists dive from dreams into dreams-within-dreams and Nolan (along with his skilled regular editor Lee Smith) skillfully weaves back and forth between these different levels as we see parallel action unfold across a spectrum of unconscious minds. This all culminates in some breathtaking setpieces, including some hand to hand combat that seems to take place in constantly shifting gravity.
While working in heady sci-fi territory, it’s often easy to let the concepts and spectacle drown out the emotion and characterization. Fortunately that’s not the case here. Despite a few too many scenes explaining the science of dreaming, Nolan’s screenplay ensures that we care about the players in this drama as much as the action around them. DiCaprio is especially effective as the super-operative whose closet-skeletons may literally threaten everyone around him. Between this and Shutter Island, he plays tortured very well, imbuing his hard-ass agent with a vulnerability that earns our sympathy and empathy right up through the gloriously ambiguous final shot.
I’m basically going to write this using only the barest of plot details for a couple reasons. One is that I wouldn’t want anyone thinking they would like/dislike the movie based solely on the premise. And the other is that it’s a whole lot more fun when you’re not sure exactly where this ride is going to take you. Short version: Cobb (DiCaprio) leads a team of operatives (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy) who specialize in “extraction.” That is to say, invading peoples’ dreams and stealing valuable information contained therein. A shady businessman (Ken Watanabe) hires the team for the dangerous and seemingly impossible opposite task of “inception” or planting an idea in a subject’s mind without them being aware of the outside interference. What follows is a sort of James Bond meets The Matrix thriller as the team invade dreams and battle elements of their subjects’ (and their own) subconscious.
From his debut Following to Memento to The Prestige, Nolan has a gift for making intelligent “puzzle” movies that double as grand crowd-pleasing entertainment. While his version of dreamscapes may be too literal and linear for fans (like me) of the twisted dream logic of directors like David Lynch, his skill in plotting and building suspense tend to make up for it. Our protagonists dive from dreams into dreams-within-dreams and Nolan (along with his skilled regular editor Lee Smith) skillfully weaves back and forth between these different levels as we see parallel action unfold across a spectrum of unconscious minds. This all culminates in some breathtaking setpieces, including some hand to hand combat that seems to take place in constantly shifting gravity.
While working in heady sci-fi territory, it’s often easy to let the concepts and spectacle drown out the emotion and characterization. Fortunately that’s not the case here. Despite a few too many scenes explaining the science of dreaming, Nolan’s screenplay ensures that we care about the players in this drama as much as the action around them. DiCaprio is especially effective as the super-operative whose closet-skeletons may literally threaten everyone around him. Between this and Shutter Island, he plays tortured very well, imbuing his hard-ass agent with a vulnerability that earns our sympathy and empathy right up through the gloriously ambiguous final shot.
Extraction? Inception? HUH? Just give me some old Adam Sandler movies and a homemade Orange Julius. Just kidding, bro. I'm even more excited now. And the extraction and inception techniques weren't something I had, um, extracted from anything I have seen or read yet, so, yeah, a spoiler for the greater good. And also, screw you people that don't have linear or literal dreams. See, you got all sorts of emotions and ambiguity going on with me--so helluva review. Blog on, you movie unbuff.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Nolan is also great at character development. He's clearly an ingenious concept creator but does not make the all to common mistake of sacrificing character for plot and story. Inception has a fairly hefty cast (which includes 2 rare strong female roles) none of whom seem one dimensional.
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