The Most Relentlessly Awesome Films Ever: Inception

Here's an article I've been meaning to write for a while, carrying on what will eventually become a semi-regular series.  Enjoy!  But be warned, there are SPOILERS!!! so proceed with caution if you've never seen this film...

THE MOST RELENTLESSLY AWESOME FILMS, EVER - PART TWO

INCEPTION (2010)

"You Bastard!!!"  It's probably not the response director Christopher Nolan was intending to elicit with the ambiguous ending to his film; but those are exact words spoken (quite loudly) by a male cinema-goer sat somewhere behind me, in that moment between the screen cutting to black and the credits started with the film's title in large, white letters.

I just smiled.  On the one hand, it provokes an inevitable debate as to whether Dom Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio) was genuinely awake, or still dreaming.  The spinning totem stumbles for a moment, but carries on, creating many unanswered questions, infuriating (and amusing) some.  On the other, to me it completes a beautiful symmetry - Inception is full of dreams within dreams, and as Nolan's masterpiece ends, the viewer is 'awakened' from the 'dream' that is the film watching experience.  If you go with this metaphor, it simply adds another level to one of the most impressive films of the last few years.

I love 'Inception' on several levels.  Firstly, as a piece of high-profile, blockbuster cinema entertainment, it raises the bar.  Certainly, there is spectacle - cities fold, collapse, or crumble in to endless seas; fights take place in skewed gravity as a room twists around the combatants; and there is action - as the plan plays out like a daring heist, or military raid.  But there is emotional heft that under-writes this - a son emotionally estranged from his father; a father separated from his children due to circumstances beyond his control (but in some ways, by his own making).  Add to this the way the film examines how Cobb's psyche may be fracturing as he deals with his own guilt at the loss of his wife, there is a depth to 'Inception' which sets it apart from almost every other Studio tent-pole Summer movie.  And that's before you start to consider the genius way in which the film tries to examine the way our minds organise and work through dreams.  There is a profound truth, not touched upon before in cinema, that time does seem to expand during dreams - we've all woken from a dream which felt to have played out over hours, and found we've only slept for a few minutes..!

Guns can't kill you in dreams, but getting shot still hurts, apparently!

Secondly, 'Inception' is a subtle blend of several genres, using the cinematic language of the Thriller, Action Movies, Science Fiction - making them work together effortlessly to serve the story which Nolan is telling.  It works brilliantly in each of these - the heist-like plan of bringing a team together to create 'Inception' in someone's mind, or the elements of espionage which under pin it, would feel at home in great films of the Thriller genre.  Similarly, Nolan's love of Bond movies is evident, as in the final act there is an action sequence which could have come straight from a number of that series' better efforts.  All of these are hinged upon a Sci-fi device - the ability to enter another person's dreams, to shape them and, in turn, be affected by them.  Other films would bog themselves down in trying to explain or justify, to make plausible, this device - yet with a very simple prop (can you imagine other Sci-fi films centring a significant mechanism on a couple of vials in a suitcase and a few IV drips?), and a few lines of dialogue, it is clear how entering another's dreams is possible - and there is no cause to question this.

This scene is all the more impressive when you consider it was filmed practically, without CGI!

And yet, at the same time, whilst being an action sci-fi thriller would be the raison d'être of most blockbusters, Nolan cleverly subverts these by making them serve the emotional and psychological drama of the film.  That is the third reason why this film is so great.  I know one or two critics felt that the action and spectacle of the film was underdeveloped, thatit lacked the impact of contemporary summer tent-pole movies.  But that's part of the point: the thriller, action and sci-fi elements are there to serve the emotional and psychological journey of the characters through the plot - unlike most other films, where it is the other way round.  It's almost as though Nolan set out to make a blockbuster that wasn't really a blockbuster, but did it in such a way that you didn't notice.  There's something subversive and at once ingenious about that, which is another thing I love the film for.  This is an action blockbuster that is not about conflict, not about saving the world - it is really a story about a man dealing with his grief, his estrangement his children - and his efforts to get back to them.

I've not even yet touched upon the performances of the actors in this film, and they are noteworthy.  Firstly, the dramatic heft of the plot would not have any resonance were it not for the key performance of Leonardo Dicaprio, whose understated and believable Dom Cobb centres the film in a sympathetic and quiet manner.  He is surrounded by solid turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard,  and Cillian Murphy - who all help to make the story Nolan has crafted not only believable but one in which the viewer can invest emotionally.  Standing out from the supporting cast is Tom Hardy in his breakthrough role, stealing the show on more than one occasion with his wry delivery and knowing lines.

Here's Mr Hardy as Eames... if you listen carefully, you can hear my wife swooning! :-p

Another thing which makes 'Inception' so remarkable is Hans Zimmer's incredible and influential score.  It is rare that I emerge from a cinema showing of a film thinking 'I must buy that soundtrack!', but this was definitely one of those occasions.  Zimmer's score complements the film perfectly, providing moments of emotion, drama, and a sense of pace and action exactly when needed.  When I listen to the soundtrack (quite often when I am at work, with my headphones in), it always strikes me that this is a score that at times evokes other great movie scores - the great Bond themes of John Barry, or Vangelis' 'Blade Runner'; and that feels to me entirely appropriate, as the film has elements which show not only the influence of these, but a sharing of concepts and vision.  It was recently voted the Best MovieSoundtrack of the Decade so far, and it is an accolade that is greatly deserved.

Often a truly great film is one that impacts you in different ways each time you watch it; you may be drawn in by an actor's performance on one viewing, a superbly executed action sequence on the next; or it might be an impressive piece of cinematography, or a special effect that makes you wonder 'how on earth did they do that?'  Or it may be a moment in the story which affects you in a way you hadn't considered previously.  Each time I watch 'Inception', I always find that to be the case.  It draws from, and stands alongside, several different genres - but it never feels derivative; it is cerebral, without being aloof; it is emotional and moving, without being sentimental or manipulative.  It is a film that demands your attention and rewards it richly.  If only other film makers would show the same breadth of vision, story-telling skill, and technical expertise that Nolan did with this film.  But then, it's precisely that this film stands so far above its contemporaries that highlights what a unique talent Nolan is.  And he still has many films ahead of him..!  He may never equal 'Inception' - but neither will almost any other director.