Inception Review

The Mindfuck. It's a common phrase on the internet (so much so that it spawned it's own picture meme) but for the mainstream audience, there first encounter of this phenomenon would probably have been mentioned from Puff Diddy Daddy in Get Him to the Greek, where Puffy explains a certain version of it, although it's more of a combination of mindrape and reverse psychology.

For an acutual quick definition, it's a term of phrase to describe an event either part confusing, part awesome, part surreal or at least two of the above combined.

Why am I explaining this, because we're looking at Christopher Nolan's mindfuck of a summer blockbuster; Inception.

Yep, it seems Warner Brothers really wanted another Matrix (not my words, apparently Nolan's first job by Warner Bros. was to make something like The Matrix as it was the flavour of the month) and while a decade late to the party, it's a rather refreshing and intriguing little gem of a movie.

The plot is an absolute nightmare to describe in detail but the main point is this. Leonardo DiCaprio (famous for his roles in Titanic and Critters 3) and a small group have the ability to get into people's dreams to steal valuable information. A Japanese businessman (played by Ken Wantabe) wants the group to infiltrate a business rival's mind (Cillian Murphy) and implant an idea in the form of a dream so he can sell his business before it becomes a monopoly.

Now that is the main plot, however like any good story, Nolan craft's his characters and the universe they inhabit and despite being way over two hours in length, the time will fly by (anyone (ok, everyone) who saw The Dark Knight should be confident that Nolan can carry a long story without the boredom fairy ruining it (...boredom fairy?)).

So, in a nutshell, Inception is basically a strange mix of The Matrix meets Insomnia meets The Cell. Within the first hour, the film expositions all the details about entering the minds, the risks, the lulz etc and we get a healthy dose of character build-up.

DiCaprio's character Dom (dubbed the Extractor because he's the main idea thief) has the largest amount of character background. Although Dom is confident and seems fully in control of the worlds he inhabits, he hides a very dark secret which could destroy everything the group strives to work for.

Rounding up the team of Inceptors is the intensely likable Arthur (played by potential future Riddler Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Arthur is the Point Man (responsible for research into clients) and sadly spends the last half of the movie in a long battle for survival full of gravity defying stunts and snogging Ellen Page (who plays the Architect, someone who builds the world the Inceptors inhabit). Page is thankfully not in Juno mode but plays the viewpoint character (as she's just as new as this as we are).

Tom Hardy plays Eames, a character who can manifest himself as different characters to get the dreamer the reveal more information and Michael Caine plays Dom's father in law.

So enough about plot, there's roll on the with rest. First of all, the set-pieces, camerawork and editing are fantastic. For the first time in a Nolan film, there are large amounts of CGI but rather than use it as a basis for the story, the added effects give more depth to the dream world setting of the film and that's all. Your focus is entirely on the predicament of the characters and trying to absorb the knowledge given to you.

Slow-motion is prominent but actually has a purpose other than looking good. Location's are surprisingly vast and always changing (due to the erratic nature of dreaming) and by the end, you'll notice there's four events leading to the climax, each never losing it's interest and everything plays an important roll.

Hans Zimmer returns to score and while nothing is as memorable as Why So Serious? from The Dark Knight, the music has a very Ennio Morricone feel; guitars are prominent but not distracting and make a welcome change to the usual string and drum affair to soundtracks for big budget thrillers.

By the end of this two and half hour roller coaster, Inception will leave you head scratching. Not from the overly confusing plot, but rather, why does Hollywood not go for more features like this? It's an incredibly engrossing, smart movie with plenty of action, twists and turns, but never once does it sacrifice a drop of substance or intelligence for a cheap thrill.

If The Dark Knight hasn't cemented Christopher Nolan and his close team of producers, writers, composers and actors as one of the most powerful forces in Hollywood, Inception will. It's by far this summer's most intelligent and outright best action thriller, but also easily one of the films of 2010 and possibly, this entire decade.

Well, what are you waiting for you? Get to the cinema now!

9/10

H