subject: Inception Review [print this page] Inception Review Inception Review
`Inception' is a hard movie to judge. Basically, it is a mind-bender, and as such should be judged by two criteria: How good of a mind-bender is it? And, How much does it create a realm of its own with phenomena and rules of causality that work consistently?
In my mind `Inception,' despite some derivative elements, is an inventive movie that provides mind-enveloping reactions well after the viewing is over. Much like Lynch's `Inland Empire' before it, the movie coalesces well into one's imagination and lingers in the mind for days to come.
Being brief with the story is difficult, and I'm sure by now you've probably digested a great deal of material elsewhere. Washed up on an Asian seashore, American businessman, Cobb (Di Caprio) meets with an elderly leader to obtain a contract and defeat his enemies. To accomplish this, he offers to perform an "extraction," a means of obtaining secrets from a person`s subconscious during one's dream life. In the midst of their negotiations, an entire village riots and takes over the building where they meet, and Cobb and his sidekick, Arthur, (Gordon-Levitt) fight and flee to save their lives....
In this beginning scene the lines are partially drawn between dreams and awakening, but the surrealistic landscape also provides Nolan ample opportunities to provide his trademark action-adventure for his science fiction saga.
Cobb later meets an old professor (Caine) who sagely links him to a prodigy student, Ariadne, (Page) who can assist him with his next assignment and help straighten out his perspective and proper use of inceptions, or the use of subliminal persuasion, participating in another's subconscious perceptions and manipulating them during their dreams. In their first assignment together, he plans to have a rich man's son and heir, Robert Fischer (Murphy) change his mind about his father's will, so he will be able to either obtain or sabotage his inheritance.
There are dreams, and there are dreams within dreams, and one of Cobb's plans is to have three levels of dreaming going on at once to have the most persuasive power on Fisher.
Intertwined are revelations from Cobb's subconscious, revealed with Ariadne, who joins him on his subliminal journey and witnesses some of his life-changing events with his wife (Cotillard). In a partial revelation, Cobb admits he included his wife in some of his dream work with complications that has created strife in their relationship.
As you might imagine, problems develop that make the operation work less neatly and easily as planned, so discerning what level of dreaming and what level of reality are taking place also becomes blurred. The exposition and details are laid out more concretely than Lynch's worlds, but the caveats others have placed about paying attention are well founded.
Besides the mood of mind-benders like Lynch's `Mulholland Drive,' Nolan has borrowed and alchemized elements from inventive movies like the truly excellent Japanese anime' adventure `Paprika' and movies like 'The Cell,' but the results are truly new and effective.
I have to admit my biases. I love mind-benders, and it's no accident that Christopher Nolan and David Lynch are at the top of my list of favorite directors. This creates a problem because if you love mind-benders as a rule, it is sometimes difficult to separate effective works from those that don't work as well.
I was originally wavering between four and five stars for this film based on the ending. I'll give no details for that, but, I've decided, like 'Inland Empire' before it, `Inception' may seem abrupt, but its import as a surrealistic experience is nearly as mind-altering. 'Inception' deserves attention, awards, multiple viewings, and the time needed for a truly rewarding film experience. If you love Lynch's work, you will probably also love 'Inception,' but one could concede this movie isn`t as effective at playing with your noodle. On the other hand, if you find Lynch's films to be frustrating or too abstract, then Nolan's 'Inception' may give you a more satisfying sense of concreteness and closure overall.
(Tom Berenger and Ken Watanabe join an outstanding cast for a taut movie experience.)
(Some loose ends of `Inception' have been tightened from information from imdb.)
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