Inception will make you question what is real and what is a dream

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2015)

The film Inception (2010) is a cinematic roller coaster that will thrill your imagination and force your sub-conscience to come to the forefront. The picture essentially begins in medias res with Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) washed up on a beach in his sub-conscience mind. Then, the story starts over, relying heavily on flashbacks throughout the film to define important aspects of the movie. Cobb is essentially a thief who specializes in extracting information from a person's mind when that person is dreaming. After an incident involving his wife, Cobb is forced to flee and leave his children. Cobb is eventually offered the chance to go home again if he successfully completes one last job; inception. Cobb is asked to plant an idea into the mind of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Cobb puts together a rather unusual crew of criminals to complete the job. This leads the group to create dreams that mimic the real life of Fischer. This eccentric film is spent jumping back and forth between real life, dreams, dreams within dreams, dreams within dreams within dreams, and so on, until even the audience is questioning what is real.
The theme of the film Inception (2010) is the struggle of finding a balance between what is true and what is not. Cobb delves into the many layers of his sub-conscience in order to relive memories of his past. In doing this, he confuses reality with his dreams. Parts of this concept felt similar to The Matrix (1999), but not enough to feel like a rip- off. It is apparent that Cobb is struggling with problems that are hidden from the audience, but as the movie progresses, the problems become visible. As mentioned previously, Christopher Nolan (the director) relied heavily on flashbacks. With every flashback that follows the previous flashback, more information about the main character, Cobb, is revealed. As I watched this film, I thought that there would be unanswered questions that would leave me either filled with wonder or unsatisfied. But even though the movie does end with a cliff-hanger, the story makes remarkable sense with only one question left to the imagination of the audience.
There were several techniques used in this film in terms of special effects, but a scene definitely worth noting is the anti-gravity scene. During the film's climax, the second layer of the dream becomes weightless. I am not sure why this effect did not carry over into the other layers, but regardless, it was visually stimulating and very impressive.
Another element that is sure to please the imagination of the audience is the motif of dreams. Nobody really knows why we dream. It is a fascinating and confusing concept. The statement that sums up the mystery of dreams best is when Cobb tells Ariadne (Ellen Page) that dreams only seem strange when we wake up. This is one of my favorite references to dreams in the movie.
Overall, Inception (2010) is a deep movie that will leave the audience thinking about what they just saw after they have watched it. The concepts within the movie are creative and fresh. To witness the work resulted from a director tackling an idea like dreaming is a jaw dropping experience. I highly recommend this film to everyone!