Leaves your mind spinning like a top

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2010)

The first time I saw a promotional spot for this movie my immediate reaction was that this had to be the stupidest looking thing I'd ever seen. But before the spot had finished I had done a complete 180 and was convinced that this was going to be a great movie. And sure enough it is. What was it that instantly changed my mind when seeing that first commercial? A seven-word phrase popped up on the screen. "From the director of The Dark Knight". Ah, this is a Christopher Nolan movie. Well then it's going to be great. Because Christopher Nolan makes great movies. Every single time.
As he has shown in the past Nolan likes stories which are, shall we say, complicated. He seems to revel in making the viewer's head spin round and round. And with Inception he sets your head spinning more than ever. This plot is the most intricate puzzle Nolan has ever constructed. And that's saying something because this is a man who sure does like his puzzles. With this film Nolan takes you inside the human mind. Specifically inside dreams. And then there are dreams within dreams, levels upon levels. This could get out of hand in a hurry. It's OK to play with your audience but if you leave them utterly confused and baffled your movie is doomed to fail. With this film Nolan takes things right up to the edge but manges to hold it all together just well enough to allow the audience to keep track of what's going on. And for his characters to keep track too. Wait, whose subconscious are we going through exactly?
A story this complex requires a great cast to make sense of it all. And Inception certainly has a great cast. The key role of dream thief Cobb is handled expertly by Leonardo DiCaprio. Cobb is really the only character who gets much in the way of character development. He's a bit of a tortured soul. And DiCaprio captures that wonderfully while also fulfilling what in this movie is an absolutely critical task, explaining what the heck is going on. This is a story which has to be explained to the audience in rather painstaking and exquisite detail in order for it to work. And that could certainly cause things to drag but DiCaprio keeps things moving along well enough as he gets through all the necessary exposition. Surrounding DiCaprio are a team of fine players. Marion Cotillard is particularly notable as it is her character who gives the film much of its emotional weight. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy all turn in excellent work. And Michael Caine pops in too. It's a Christopher Nolan film, you knew Michael Caine would show up.
Inception is a movie which asks a lot of its audience. You'd better be ready to do some serious thinking when you sit down to watch this one. If you're willing to play along this movie will suck you in like few others. It's such a great story, one that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. And that story is performed so wonderfully by the terrific cast. Toss in some beautiful cinematography, amazing visual effects and a wonderful musical score and you've got quite a package. That's not to say the movie's flawless. For as well as Nolan, aided largely by DiCaprio, works his way through it the movie does require a lot of effort to set itself up. So that leaves a lull here and there in the first half of the movie. But it's worth it when the movie kicks into high gear. There are times in the second half of the movie where the brilliant story is kind of shunted aside and this threatens to devolve into just another standard action movie. One particular wintry action sequence clearly goes on longer than it probably should, the film losing a little momentum just when it should be building to a big climax. And there are moments where no matter how closely you're paying attention it is a little difficult to keep everything exactly straight in your mind. But that will just make you want to go back and watch the film again. And again and again and again. You need to see it more than once and that's OK because you desperately want to see it again just as soon as you've finished watching it for the first time. For whatever little quibbles you may have with it the film is that good. Nolan did it again.