A stylised advertising campaign for the fashionista with added contorting architecture.

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2012)

Certainly Inception is by no means a terrible movie, but given its hype, Nolan's past record and the claims that this was an overtly cerebral blockbuster made this one that I was looking forward to quite considerably. The most disappointing aspect was that with its dream concept I was waiting for some genuinely interesting surreal imagery, what I got didn't look altogether unlike a stylised advertising campaign for the fashionista with added contorting architecture. Whose dreams actually look like that? Advertising executives possibly, or more than likely the new elite of Hollywood film directors.
Still it's not all bad, I found the Hans Zimmers soundtrack to be great, adorning the film with a dense atmosphere. DiCaprio's performance as Cobb is excellent, his relationship the subconscious manifestation of his deceased wife, Mal ((Marion Cotillard) providing an exceptional metaphor for grief and the emotional core of the piece. Unfortunately this is stark contrast with the supporting cast whose bare bones back story and lack of depth make them no more than emotional zeitgeists,whose sole purpose seems at times to provide mouth pieces In which to explain the intricacies of subconscious espionage.
And that would probably be my main qualm with Inception; the obvious self-love it has for the cleverness of its concept, this is an accusation that can be thrown at a few of Nolan's other films. Though the director himself has nodded to the likes of Jorge Luis Borges and the anime Paprika as inspiration, the main concept of the piece is still strong and quite original, unfortunately its necessity to explain said concept throughout the film becomes a little grating to say the least, surely while the concept is clever it doesn't go the such realms of ingenuity nor originality that it should exhibit such a flagrant self- love. And while some have been stumped as to the concept of a dream within a dream I have to confess more of outright ignorance to Ken Watanabe's at times impenetrable accent.