A complex yet brilliant film for the ages

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2015)

For many, this film is synonymous with complexity—and rightfully so. Its intricate plot has more than just dreams within dreams but also ideas within ideas. There is more to Inception than just its plot twists, however. Inception is above all the most innovative idea to come out of Hollywood since Donnie Darko but is also an exhibition of fantastic cinematography, good acting, a moving score, and a compelling plot.
There are too many unique elements to dreaming and inception in this story to cover them all, but a list of some of them would include: that five minutes in the real world gives an hour in the dream, the concept of architects who design dreams as mazes, that there are projections of the subconscious who can turn on those who do not belong in the dream, totems, that dreamers use bank vaults as places to hide secure information, the concept of a forger as someone who imitates real people within a dream rather than the conventional definition, etc. Because Inception has so many of these original ideas, all of which are new to the audience, much of the movie must be dedicated to explaining these concepts to the audience. How these ideas are explained and how much time is given to their explanation is critical to the film's success because there is a balance that must be met between providing enough information that the audience can understand what's going on but not so much that the audience is overwhelmed and loses interest in the story. Nolan's execution of this balance is flawless. By using multiple characters to teach the audience (Cobb, Arthur, and Eames) and dividing new concepts up between scenes, Nolan keeps his ideas fresh and manageable for the audience.
"An idea is like a virus: resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you." This is how Cobb characterizes an idea and is clearly the definition at work in the film. The audience learns about the process of inception very gradually over the course of the film. We are initially told that it is a means of planting an idea into a dreamer's head and, if successful, making them believe it is their own. Then Eames makes it clear to us that this process is very difficult to master because it requires the most basic stage of the idea in order for it to work. Lastly a much darker piece of inception is introduced: that the idea can destroy the one who receives it. Nolan intentionally leaves out this information until the final confrontation between Cobb and Mal, as it is the key to understanding what happened to Mal and the reason for Cobb's guilt. Part of the Nolan's genius in this film is the way he presents the story of the inception of Fischer and the bargain with Saito to the audience as if it were the main story of the film when really he is distracting us from the real story which is Cobb's relationship with Mal.
A dream within a dream and the concept of inception are the defining characteristics of Inception for most viewers but the real heart of the film is the back story of Cobb and Mal. Throughout the film we are aware that their relationship is significant since Mal works as a multifaceted bridge between the real world, the dream world, and Cobb's memories both for Cobb and for the audience. She is the real antagonist of the film as her character is constantly at work to stop Cobb from succeeding. We see her interference in the dream world from the very beginning of the film where she tells Saito about him and attempts to torture Arthur. She is Cobb's cause of pain in the real world (the reason he cannot go home to his children) and she also haunts his memories' Ariadne discovers Cobb keeps certain memories of her locked away off an elevator in his mind ("These are memories I have to make right" he tells Ariadne.) Part of the genius of this story is that at first the audience is meant to believe that Mal and Cobb's relationship is a vehicle for explaining Cobb's character and the reason he must perform inception on Fischer to be able to go home. But towards the end of the film when Cobb enters Limbo and reveals that he performed inception on Mal which led to her suicide, we begin to realize that it's the other way around; the Inception of Fischer is just the vehicle to explain what Cobb did to Mal and the reason for his guilt. Mal is the basis for the film's theme of questioning the reality we live in and the source of doubt for Cobb and for the audience as to whether Cobb lives in the real world or whether he is still dreaming while his children keep him grounded in the real world.
A film to be watched again and again, Inception is a thought-provoking, mind-bending film for the ages. Its complexity is not limited to its story, but extends to its cinematography, and its score. This film takes special effects, which are sometimes the downfall of a film, and uses it as a strength to build on an already creative script. In today's age of movies where three sequels to Avatar are being made and Hollywood is often criticized for its lack of imagination, Inception is the creativity we've all been searching for.
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