Movie Review : Inception

Genre : Sci-fi, psychological thriller
Rating : 4/5

The subconscious has been a favorite subject of filmmakers, because on it’s vast, unexplored canvas anything is possible. So also in “Inception” where Christopher Nolan uses the mysteries of the mind to springboard us into a journey to a place where there are no rules. The film does not get into the sci-fi genre per se, but does present to us a world where Extraction is a known and well-honed art.

An Extractor is a thief who uses shared dreams to extract a person’s innermost secrets. And because our hero is an expert Extractor already, and needs to push the envelope, he must try out a new and very, very dangerous technique called “Inception”. Conceptually the reverse of Extraction, Inception is embedding an idea into a person’s subconscious so skillfully that the victim himself is unaware of the procedure, and thinks of the idea as his own.The details of Extraction are never very clearly spelled out, but we know the basics – you do need a good amount of sedative, one expert Extractor, a dreamscape designer and the subject himself. The subject understandably, is often uncooperative.

Leonardo di Caprio is Dom Cobb, the melancholy, bleary-eyed Extractor beset with his own demons. He has but one aim in life – to get back to his estranged family. When a potential customer Saito (Ken Watanabe) promises him a return to his family, in return for Cobb planting an idea in Saito’s business adversary Robert Fischer’s (Cillian Murphy) mind, he (Cobb) grabs the offer with both hands. As he forges ahead with his plan, he recruits Ariadne (Ellen Page) a young, intelligent architect to design his dreamscape. Also assisting him are Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his long-time associate and researcher, Eames the forger (Tom Hardy) and Yusuf (Dileep Rao) the apothecary.

Because the task is so tricky, Cobb must use a three tier dream sequence, i.e.; a dream within a dream within a dream to embed the idea into Robert’s subconscious. With each dream level, time slows, and the dangers of losing oneself in a subconscious hellhole of no return increase. Cobb begins his journey of Inception alright, but from the very beginning things start to go very, very wrong.

Nolan writes and produces this film, and presents to us a novel, mind-bending idea. As with new concepts, this one requires watching the film closely for nuggets of the unexplained physics of Extraction. Nolan, does understandably gloss over many details, but throws us into the action from the get-go. We get to know the hero and his associates as they traverse their way through their dreams, their memories and real-life. But we do so removed and at a distance, for we never get close enough to the shuttered hero to root for him or his chosen path.

Caprio does as he is directed, and brings to this role the flighty, unstable personality that he displayed in “Shutter Island”. Too much of a good thing, maybe ? Marion Cottilard is quite fantastic as the forever-on-edge Mal. Gordon-Levitt, Hardy, Rao, and Michael Caine as Cobb’s support system are just right. Ellen Page as the intuitive dreamscape designer is great as the wide-eyed innocent delving deep into things not understood, and Watanabe stands his ground as Saito.

As the story wends it’s way into improbabilities, we go from one dream to another, treated to stunning visual effects. In one scene where Cobb is introducing Ariadne to the art of shared dreaming, we have them both in Paris, with the entire city folding in on itself. In another scene Arthur fights off an attacker in a weightless world, upended. The film’s settings seems Dali-like; no, there aren’t any melting clocks but with a strong weirdness quotient the film keeps us constantly guessing as to the reality of the dream-like world.

While I appreciated Nolan’s vision in bringing us this multi-layered piece of fantastical fiction, I do think that he was mired too deep in the technical details, the “theory” of it all, if you will, to give his full attention to the cinematical aspect. The film’s screenplay is intricately woven, but what this film lacks is emotional appeal – I watched it detached from the main protagonist’s plight. Yes, you want him to succeed, but are you hanging on to the edge of your seat wishing he would ? Not really.

Nolan isn’t too subtle about his style either, although I can’t fault him for that; if he won’t tell us that Extraction is dangerous and surreal – who will ? Some twists and turns in the story felt like hacks, and I could actually withdraw from the film enough to think about that while viewing it. “Inception” is intelligent enough, engrossing enough, but never to the point where I couldn’t tell how long it had been since it started. Still, it’s a good watch (the film did get a few audience claps at the end). And I’d recommend seeing it in 3D; I didn’t, but post-watch I’m willing to bet it will enhance the experience.