DiCaprio's Inferno: INCEPTION Review
"What's the most resilient parasite? An idea."
Don Cobb (played by DiCaprio) knows this. Christopher Nolan (writer & director) knows this. The audience know this, because the characters know an idea is the most resilient parasite; it's the theme of the brainy thriller Inception. Writing or talking about this film is as tricky as writing or talking about a dream; one doesn't know where to begin or if they should begin at all. This is a film that explores dreams, and the human mind. That's as tricky as it gets. Luckily, we're lead by the director of The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan, Cobb, and a crew of actors up to the task. The task being: enter the mind of a human subject, steal (or implant) an idea, and leave quickly, while awake and alive.q
Corporate espionage has existed for a long time. The wonderful Duplicity shows the lengths corporations will go to sabotage competition, and Inception shows us a world in which, if the price is right, people can be hired to commit the ultimate monetary sabotage. In this film there exists a technology capable of sedating humans into the most deepest forms of sleep; a form of sleep that would enable them to dream, deeply, while trained individuals navigate through their dream, and the subject's mind, with a kind of unethical intention. Cobb and his crew steal ideas -- possibly before they are fully realized consciously, subconsciously, and probably unconsciously. To do this, one needs an extractor to find the ideas (which in the dream world could be represented by material objects locked in literal safes), an architect to design the dream worlds (played by Juno's Ellen Page), a Point Man (played by (500) Days of Summer's Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to research the human subjects, and a Forger (played by Tom Hardy) to impersonate real people in the subject's dream. The latter is most interesting....ever notice in a dream how trusting we are? People assume everyone is who they appear, despite any real detail to backup the assumption. Such a detail is but an example of the depth this high concept story contains.
Without a certain structure and approach, this story could lose many audience members because of it's complicity. What makes it accessible at all is the heist aspect -- Inception is a heist film, 007 or Ocean's Eleven, merely set in a different world with different rules, and very, very, different tools. What James Bond could accomplish with such an ability makes my mind wander. Cobb and his crew are hired to implant an idea into billionaire (played by Cillian Murphy) Fischer's mind, an idea that could change the world, for the better we hope. To do this, they have to plant the idea so deep, so simply, and so subtlety, Fischer thinks it's his. Oh -- and they have to avoid any mental defenses Fischer's mind has against manipulation, like a mental immune system and with the use of machine guns. Moreover, there is an emotional narrative that demands its attention throughout the film, keeping viewers attached and involved not just from an intellectual level. Cobb may be a thief of minds, but he's got a problem. His dead wife invades his dreams, thus his jobs, since his jobs invade dreams. Of course it would help if he didn't refuse to let go of his memories of her. It's what people all do, especially if their memories are linked with regret. Emotional masochism is as human as it gets. Such a detail is but an example of the depth this high concept story contains.
Story aside, Inception more than delivers in its thrills. You'll be picking up your jaw when a city in Paris folds onto itself, creating a cubicle dimension city with streets going every which way. You'll marvel at an action sequence that sees Joseph Gordon-Levitt try to adjust to a constantly-shifting gravity upon rooms and hallways that spin and sink, whilst fighting an adversary. Fred Astaire would be proud, as would Neo.
It's as if Inception is the art-child of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind & The Matrix. We navigate through vivid levels of dreams and subconscious, at times whilst its falling apart, bending, or destroyed. The journey is one full of complexities and twists -- it'll be the smartest multi-million dollar film you've ever seen. Trying to merely keep up is exhilarating. Then again, who can keep up with a dream?
