Awesome Effects, Try and Keep Up!

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2018)

Cristopher Nolan's Inception is quite grasping in the sense that you can't look away for long or you may lose your grip on the storyline. There are plenty of action packed scenes with out of this world digital effects to keep your attention, but the reason we lock our eyes to this film is truly to keep up with it. Taking us in and out of many of the characters including Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Mal (Marion Cotillard), Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe), and Robert Fischer's (Cillian Murphy) dream state and subconscious, we are forced to engage the analytical portions of our brain in an effort to stay with the story.
The overall theme of the movie came in mixed signals, leaving me initially unable to decide whether the film was centered around corporate espionage, a father's willingness to do anything to see his children, or learning to let go of the past. After some more thought, I have to go with a father's willingness to do anything to see his children again. Mostly due to the fact that the majority of the film in which they are trying to plant an idea in Robert Fischer's head was spawned as a result of the decision Dom made to accept the job in an effort to see his children again. Thereafter and even before, there are scenes that cut to projections of his children as he can't seem to shake them or his dead wife's subconscious projection. The dream glow lighting effects used in these projections of his children are enough to make you feel his pain and sadness further emphasizing the reason he has taken an almost impossible job to get back to them. These repetitious projections provide a motif that is evenly spread throughout the film in an effort to remind us why he is there in the first place.
As you are taken either gracefully or forcefully from one scene to the next in the many altered dream state realities, Cristopher Nolan does a fantastic job making sure part of you goes with the character while you also remain thoughtful of the true reality of the dreamer and those along for the ride. The digital effects in most scenes are astounding and the thoughtful use of various speeds of slow motion to produce the effect and understanding of their dream state was masterfully done. This is especially apparent during the crux of the film as they immerse themselves into a three-level deep dream state in which each level's time passes differently in hours, days, months, or years! Overall, this film is a pretty mind-blowing work of art that goes way beyond our imagination to show just how far a father will go for his children.