September Issue 2010

By | Arts & Culture | Movies | Published 14 years ago

Big screen releases this summer mostly consisted of remakes, reboots and sequels to movies that have previously rolled in the big bucks. However,Inception is a truly refreshing movie and a reminder of how far Hollywood has strayed from originality for the sake of making profitably safe movies. This is not to say that Inception doesn’t have its share of antecedent movies that resemble its concept, but by taking this dreams-inspired plot to new levels of mind-bending metaphysics with a flawless cast, famed director Chris Nolan has produced a gem that will keep movie-goers talking for months to come.

Masquerading as a heist movie — but really speaking, it has more to do with the logistics of dreaming — Inception doesn’t fit into any one specific genre. It has elements of science-fiction, action, a little drama, a little mystery and, most importantly, a lot of intellectual thrill. Such multifaceted movies usually require multiple viewings to fully comprehend the action — and this movie is no exception.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief with the rare ability to enter and manipulate other people’s dreams. By seeping into the subconscious of his sleeping subjects, he extracts their deep-rooted secrets and sells information to interested clients. Now, he has been assigned a task by a powerful businessman, Saito (Ken Watanabe), to use his skill not to extract a secret but to plant an idea that will mess with the head of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), a soon-to-be heir of Saito’s rival company. The task is not impossible, but the only other time Dom attempted it, it resulted in the death of his subject, his wife Mal (Marion Cottilard). However, the reward is tempting; Saito promises Dom a way back to America, where he is accused of murdering his wife, and where his young children eagerly await his return. Dom accepts, and forms his team to put his task into action. His team includes a point man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a forger (Tom Hardy), a young architecture student (Ellen Page) to construct the dream, and a chemist (Dileep Rao) who creates the drug that enables multiple people to share dream states that will help the team to enter and collectively manipulate Fischer’s dreams. Together, the team enters a kind of sub-reality that obliterates our understanding of what is real and what is just a dream. Nolan masterfully uses the viewer’s confusion to switch from different layers of the same dream to a reality that may not even be real. If the plot sounds confusing, wait till you watch the movie!

The perplexingly thrilling plot aside, the movie has plenty of rave-worthy elements that have contributed to its worldwide success. Shot in six different countries, Inception is not only a mélange of different locales but also has some spectacular action sequences, sometimes gravity defying, that leave viewers enthralled, with eyeballs glued to the screen. Exciting music accompanies the swift plot as viewers are taken on an exciting psychological journey. The star-studded cast gives a brilliant performance and the handsome Leonardo DiCaprio once again proves why he is amongst Hollywood’s most sought after actors.