Nolan's Magnum Opus

Rating: 10/10 (27 July 2010)

'Inception' is Christopher Nolan's magnum opus. Nolan takes Freudian concepts in pop psychology and somehow makes them his own, commanding a compelling vision of the the human psyche and the intriguing territory of the dream. This introspection is not without its flaws, however: occasionally the movie meets hiccups through expository and technical details, and the audience is lost as Nolan attempts to be a little too intelligent. But we can forgive these minor setbacks with repeated viewings and the movie's formulaic and digestible Summer blockbuster vibe.
Indeed, 'Inception' is a smart movie meant for smart people — but it never forgets to have a blast while it attempts to disseminate its complex maze of ideas. Action, romance, suspense, and thrills somehow permeate our reality as we disentangle unreality.
I will never forget the 'twisting hallway' scene, suspending gravity and disbelief in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's beautiful rough-and-tumble dance against time; nor will I erase the dystopian images of Limbo from my mind, the towering and crumbling monoliths lingeringly haunting. The physical surreality of a city unfolding on itself, the slow-motion shots of water gravitating into a speeding car, a freight train appearing on a metropolitan city street through an abrupt collision with a street car even a simple spinning top in my theater had the power to make audiences gasp and hold their breath. For me it was a testament to the power of image and Nolan's mastery of it, delivering shock and awe at the level of a headrush all with the slick charisma of the classic caper.
The love story was a little less engaging. Perhaps it was hard to truly reach out to you given the unconventional setting in which it took place, but at the very least the feelings it tried to conjure were ultimately believable. Cobb and his wife Mal negotiate eternal longing and eternal loss as the demands of the dream clash with reality on a timescale spanning hundreds of years. Yes, it is not your typical love story. Perhaps as a consequence it failed to stick with me, but it tied the loose ends together wonderfully and gives Cobb his driving motivation — to see the one thing that remained even after the death of his wife — home and his children.
It is a story of letting go and remembering to live on, delivered cogently by Leonardo DiCaprio along with solid performances from Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cilian Murphy, Ellen Page, and Ken Watanabe.
It's been a while since a movie was able to wow me as much as 'Inception' has. I haven't felt this much visceral excitement about a movie since Chan-wook Park's 'Oldboy' — and I have to say (for lack of a better clichéd phrase),
that was one hell of a ride.