Inception

Inception, now I’ve held of jumping into the blog with this review. I’ve been back to see it again before I was sure I wanted to write something about it. The 2nd time was at the IMAX, but that wasn’t the experience I was expecting, but more of the IMAX later.

Christopher Nolan is a director who I have a lot of time for, not only bringing Batman back to life he has also made some extremely good films along his career. Thinking about it his films they are all very strong, clever ideas transferred to film with great skill, possible he is one of the best directors around at this time. He doesn’t rush his visions, his dreams, as with the case with Inception, 10 years in the making from idea to production.

Nolan also does something else many directors miss, he gets the best from his actors, not just the stars but all his cast, they all seem to perform at the top of their game. Nolan also manages to get the best from his scriptwriters as well, which possible helps the actors, I don’t know what it is but the performances are all top notch.

So Inception, a film about dreams, a film about planting an idea in the mind of somebody, an idea which can change them, define them. An original concept or as somebody pointed out to me did Dreamscape already tackle this idea. Anyway Nolan’s dream is here, and that’s just the point, it is his dream. Or this is one theory I’ve formed, I have others but this one I like the most so I’ll run with it.

What got me was how much DiCaprio’s character (Cobb) was like Nolan. I found a set picture of them together and Cobb is Nolan. Nolan is showing me his dream, the director dreaming up his Inception, placing the idea of a film, a story into my mind.
But that could be wrong, that’s the beauty of this film, you can form your own idea and the film still works, the whole film is a dream, only parts are dreams with some reality. I assume Nolan does know the true story, and what his film represents, I would hope he does, maybe it’s something I will find out on the BD release, I do hope so!

I’ve skirted round the theory and I’m going to leave it at that, you make up your own mind. So now to the film………

To me this is a perfect film, I couldn’t really fault it, in-fact I can’t fault it. To me everything was right. The story was engaging, interesting and exciting. The production values are outstanding, the cinematography is stunning, the script is great, giving the actors everything they need to perform and they all perform.
DiCaprio is superb, even outshines his performance in Shutter Island, for me an actor who seems to be improving all the time. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is brilliant as Arthur, another underrated actor. I think his turn in Brick is brilliant. Ellen Page, an actress who can go on to great things, I liked her from Hard Candy and in Inception she again is faultless.
The supporting cast, well not really supporting the rest of the ensemble are all brilliant, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger and Marion Cotillard. Great cast!
And finally the music, another aspect of Nolan’s films which always seem perfect, Hans Zimmer delivers a super soundtrack which captures, the scale and beauty of this film, and adds the final touch to this outstanding motion picture.

Now to the IMAX, the film didn’t suffer, it was the actually experience, or the experience I was expecting. With The Dark Knight, Nolan filmed certain sequences on IMAX reels, and this was what I was expecting again. However he didn’t with this film, so we got a bigger picture and better sound, but not the full IMAX screen, but I can live with that!

(10/10) – And my Number 1 film! EVER!