Stepping out of “Inception,” you will immediately begin to try and piece together the fractured sections of the films that just didn’t connect for you. How many layers truly existed? Was that ending one I can be happy with? Depending on the person, this list of questions could expand exponentially as the films primary goal of delving deep into the subconscious mind. Though these questions and how they are explained are what makes the movie worth seeing: simply because the originality and ingenuity of the writer and director Chris Nolan’s work.
Taking the idea of inserting yourself into another’s dream and using his thoughts to create a vast and changing world has been something that’s been touched on for generations. In essence, it’s one of the reasons why the film industry was created: to expand on the ideals that a dream can evoke. Looking back at things like Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner,” or even the Wachowski’s “The Matrix,” the combination of reality, fiction and the surreal play pivotal parts in the pictures.
So as we see Mr. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) wash up on the shore of an unnamed beach, we enter a muddled reality. Cobb — along with his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) — deals with Extraction: a way of slipping into a person’s mind via fancy hookups and sedatives to communally join the person’s dream. As long as the person doesn’t realize that they are dreaming, Cobb will be able to sneak in, and steal the most precious and hidden information from their mind — things even the subject didn’t realize they knew.
Yet there is another way to play in a man’s mind: Inception. To go deep enough into people’s subconscious and plant the simplest thought, so that it may take root and the subject will make it their own. While it was always thought undoable, Cobb swears that he can do it for his would-be employer Saito (Ken Watanabe). Wanting to sneak into the mind of a business rival (Cillian Murphy), Cobb puts together a team to orchestrate an impeccable amount of dream escapes and fortified action.
Throughout the film, the action comes up and down with the occasional superimposed chase sequence, yet most of your viewing pleasure comes right from following the films mantic plot. You hear them explain the idea of the dreamer, the delving into the mind’s eye, and while it may sound watery as Cobb or Arthur explain it, the audience understanding what is really happening makes it worth while. It’s the “I wonder what would happen if...” moments that make it work and bring the story along so well, captivating you in the fantasy film.
It also doesn’t hurt that, while the entire story was solely character and acting driven, no one dropped the ball. With DiCaprio coming out of his “rough n’ ready” attitude from “Shutter Island,” he was able to calm down and keep face, giving a focused and determined leader. Unfortunately, somebody always has to make him the forlorn lover, and with him all he can do is look like a puppy that needs to be taken outside.
Luckily, with the help of Marion Cotillard it wasn’t so bad. Her display of emotion and level of power was perfect to offset DiCaprio’s “bad dog” flare. Not to mention Ellen Paige stepping in, trying to fit into her adult shoes with a film that had more depth than her previous ones did her well. It’s a shame that she will always look and act like a 15-year-old, but working beside Gordon-Levitt, it seemed natural.
Nolan’s limitation to the film is his tense perception of how things should have played out. Bringing up several ideas — but not actually expanding on them — Noland’s need to let go of inhibition and create keep him from standing up beside the other head turners like Kubrick. Perhaps like Hitchcock, he was limited by his own ideas and forced himself down, rather than up. The difference is Hitchcock came back later to amaze us all.
This doesn’t change facts that “Inception” is still a well-crafted and well designed film. It does what few are really doing anymore in the industry and simply makes something up, wildly abandoning what others may think and doing what feels right. The only problem is that, like the memory right before you open your eyes, the best part is just out of reach.