Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) is a masterpiece that will take your breath away with its spectacular dream imagery, jaw-dropping action performances, thought-provoking theories about reality, CGI, and excellent plot.
The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb), Ken Watanabe (Saito), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur), Marion Cotillard (Mal), Elliot Page (Ariadne), Tom Hardy (Eames), Dileep Rao (Yusuf), Cillian Murphy (Fischer), Tom Berenger (Browning), and Michael Caine (Professor Stephen Miles).
Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a thief who steals ideas from dreams. He commits a robbery by entering his victim’s thoughts and stealing ideas from their subconscious, all without their knowledge. Cobb is wanted in the United States, and his sole wish is to see his children again. He might be able to do so if he pulls off one last heist, a procedure known as “Inception,” in which he and his team enter another man’s mind to plant an idea that would influence his conscious judgement.
Cobb’s ability to manage the dream and influence his target into believing the dream is crucial for him. If the target realises the illusion, and that they are in fact inside a dream, the world of dreams collapses and Cobb wakes up with nothing. The control over his dream worlds keeps deteriorating as his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) makes unexpected appearances in his subconscious, threatening to ruin his dream heists.
Cobb is assigned to a job requiring ‘Inception,’ rather than ‘extraction,’ by Saito (Ken Watanabe), with the difference to implant an idea into the subconscious of Robert Michael Fischer, rather than taking it. However, to fulfil such a mission successfully, the concept must be implanted deep into the subconscious, where it will grow naturally and the target will never realise it wasn’t their own. Going that deep is also dangerous since Cobb risks losing awareness of being in a dream state and if he forgets he’s dreaming, he could lose himself to his subconscious. Thus, Cobb assembles a team of talented dream manipulators to complete the seemingly impossible task of inception.
It’s understandable if it sounds confusing as Inception is one of the most complicated films ever made. The first half of the film is confusing as Nolan builds up the themes that will be completely revealed in the second half. He rarely takes the time to thoroughly explain what is going on. You will be tempted to pay attention to every single detail. The film is, at its core, a heist film, even if it takes a while for the pieces to come into place. When everything comes together, the film transforms into a brilliant experience.
It has to be noted that the director fails to explore much into the other characters as the entire focus is given to Cobb.
Dreams and reality, war, time, and guilt are all portrayed in this film. While the film tries to keep the concepts going, the audience can still sense the depth of the plot.
Inception won four Oscars including Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Achievement in Visual Effects.
I must say that Inception is one of those films that you simply must see multiple times. It’s a completely different experience.
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