Inception Review

Oh Inception, the ridiculously hyped and super awaited follow up to Chris Nolan's 2008 Dark Knight.  Inception is written and directed by Nolan, and as such is another brain-bender by the man who brought us mind-fuck movies such as Memento and The Prestige.  Inception is very well-written and the writing is backed up by a very strong cast, with equally strong performances by everyone involved.  Leo DiCaprio stars as the very obviously troubled Cobb, a man who specializes in something called "extraction."   Which is the art of invading someones dream to uncover very valuable secrets.  It is hinted at that this form of Cyber robbery is generally bank-rolled by major corporations and people with a lot of money, and in this world of mind-robbery, Cobb is the best.  He has a very talented and professional partner-in-crime, Arthur, portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in one of my favourite roles by him in a long time!  Rounding off the cast is Ellen Page as the architect Ariadne, Tom Hardy as Eames, who is basically a dream shape-shifter, Ken Watanbe as a very powerful man who employs Cobb for the film, Dileep Rao, in his third feature film to date, as Cobb's technical help/science whizz, Marion Cotillard as Mal Cobb, Cobbs (crazy?) wife, and Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer Jr. the focus of the films major heist.

The plot of the film revolves around Cobb trying to pull off one last major heist in order to make his way back to his home in the States and perhaps more importantly, his family.  This last heist comes with a twist however, instead of Extraction he is asked to perform the near impossible Inception.  Inception is the thought (pun intended) of planting an idea instead of stealing one and is believed to be impossible, but you later learn that is has been done once and once only, conveniently done by Cobb himself years earlier.  The basic plot has been done before but that is the only part of the story that can be considered done before, as the plot thickens Nolan takes you on a mind-bending and very pretty journey through the minds of the main characters.

The story deals with some very confusing ideas but one of the best parts of this film (and a huge testament to the very strong writing) is that you never really get lost in the story.  Nolan does an amazing job of walking you through this very complicated concept of Extraction and Inception, using team new-comer Ariadne to explain all the concepts to the audience, and not once does this seem forced, instead it absolutely works well with the story-line of the film.  The action does not pick up in this film until about half-way through (first half is dedicated to explaining Exraction and Inception), but once it picks up it does not slow down once as Nolan takes you on a wild-ride through the subconscious.

There are some awesome action scenes in the film as the team battles it's way through the many "levels" of the subconscious, meeting the human minds many defenses along the way and having to fight their way through every moment of it.  This causes a very tense hour and a half of the movie, but not only is it tense it is very well done and very fun the entire time.  There are some awesome "money shots" as well.  If you have seen the trailer than no doubt you have seen the city folding onto itself, that part is impressive in trailers but even cooler in the actual movie.  This movie is definetely a major blockbuster and has all the makings of one, good action, some great laughs, a few really really really cool moments and strong performances all around.


Perhaps one of the best part of this film, other than all of the awesome moments in it, is the depth of the characters.  Nolan does a great job of making you care for these characters, even though many of them (especially Cobb) are very flawed.  There is just as much arguing and tension between the team of heroes, as there is tension between the team and the villains.  This causes for some good nail-biting moments and a whole lot of fun throughout the film.

To top it all off is the main emotional story concerning Cobb and his wife (ex-wife?  Who knows but these are some of the best parts of the film, and hard to explain).  These moments lead up to a twist of sorts concerning Cobb's relationship with his wife that personally I did not see coming, but was very cool and explained a lot once it did happen!

Despite all this positive praise, the movie is not perfect.  I did say that almost all characters are well thought out but the key word there is almost.  Dileep Rao gives a good performance but his character feels too much like a stereotype, he has some fun moments but so much more could have been done with this character!

The only other problem with this film does not necessarily have to do with the film itself, but rather the hype surrounding it.  This movie was definetely over-hyped, I expected to see the next absolutely perfect summer blockbuster so I was slightly left down when i saw it.  That was my first reaction, but having watched it again quite recently I realized that even though it was over-hyped that fact should not take away from what is a really fun, really well-done summer action flick!

Inception is a very well-written movie (probably its strongest asset) it is a very entertaining flick as well!  It features strong performances from all of the major characters and features a very entertaining twist-ending.  It is not a perfect movie but it is not a movie that should be ignored.  If you enjoy Nolan's previous mind-bending flick such as Memento and The Prestige than this is a movie people should definetely check out!  This movie is above all, fun (as you have probably guessed by my generous use of that word throughout the article) and there are enough "woah" moments that will have you riveted throughout!  A must-see for someone who wants a bit of intelligence with their explosions and gunfights!!

(P.S. I wrote this review after it had been announced that Tom Hardy was going to be playing Bane in the upcoming Batman movie by Chris Nolan so i could not stop imagining him injected with venom and trying to kill the Batman!!!)

4 Tom Hardy "I Just Woke Up With This Beard" Beards out of 5