Christopher Nolan, the director and writer of Inception, takes you on a mind-bending ride that gets everything right. Releasing in a year with many big names in film such as Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, and Iron Man, Inception sticks out from the crowd with its originality. With all elements working together, all of the pieces come together in what I believe is 2010’s movie of the year. An ingenious plot, top notch performances and high production values make Inception a must see film.
Inception is the concept of planting an idea into someone’s mind through their dreams. That’s Inceptions plot in its most basic form. Christopher Nolan tells a story of Dom Cobb, an “Extractor”, who enters people’s dreams to steal their secrets and sells them to their competitors. A man gives Dom Cobb a deal he can’t refuse if he can pull off an “Inception”; Dom assembles a team to try to pull off an act that has only been achieved once before. With a plot that has so many twists and turns this is not your usual leave your brain at the door story. Expect to be confused at times but trust Nolan in giving you answers later in the story. In this instance, the destination is nothing without the journey.
Inceptions story is also somewhat spoiler proof. If I told you the ending you would be clueless, as the story leading up to it is just as important. In this movies story the beginning is the end. It opens up leaving you confused and clueless but every piece of the puzzle is given to you as the movie rolls on. The story never lets up and will constantly have you hooked as the next element in the refreshingly original story is revealed. The end of the movie, to some, can be a tear jerker but with Dom getting to where he wants to be it leaves you with a truly happy ending.
With a plot so ambitious, performances need to be top notch. In some occasions having so many high profile actors sort of takes you away from the story and your left thinking, “I’m watching Leonardo DiCaprio, wasn’t he in Titanic?” That isn’t the case in this film. Nolan brings in a cast full of talent with names such as, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page and Michael Cain. This ensemble puts on performances that make you forget about who they are, but draws you into the characters that they are portraying. Each character in the story has specialties such as the expert thief, the architect, the alchemist and the forger, and each actor is placed perfectly in the role chosen for them and plays the part perfectly. Without actors that can pull of such authentic performances the story is nothing, but due to the talent brought into this exceptional film, the story is allowed to shine.
While Leonardo DiCaprio is the lead actor the supporting cast is one of the stronger groups in recent memory. His performance is boosted by the supporting actors’ ability to make the characters they are playing their own without making DiCaprio carry them through the film. The job of a supporting cast member is to give an added dimension to a main character by adding a relationship with this character. This job is done throughout the entire movie with every character having a complex relationship with the main character, enhancing the story and the performance. You won’t find yourself wishing the plot would take you back to the main character, as each actor can hold their own with excellent acting and intriguing character storylines.
Special effects are somewhat abundant in Hollywood these days. You can’t see a movie without there being some sort of special effect. While Inception is no exception to that, they do it right without overdoing it. While the characters are within a dream it can start to collapse, the effect of a dream collapsing consist an apocalyptic style effect of buildings crashing and structures crumbling. It gives it a realistic effect rather than a cheesy magical feel. While in the dream within a dream state, the characters are in a situation that affects them within the second dream and the world starts to rotate around them giving the films best fight scene an extra dynamic. The importance of making everything believable is achieved by making sure every situation, reaction and consequence is done realistically while throwing in a mix of over the top action.
Hans Zimmer, one of the industry’s most innovative musical talents, composed the score for Inception. Known for his works in The Lion King, The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean and 131 other films, he creates a sound that immerses you into the world. Driving the emotional story through the ups, downs, twists and turns his soundtrack keeps you intrigued as clues to what lies ahead. His creations in the music serve almost as an additional actor in the movie reacting to events and going along with the journey. Expect your emotions to be driven with such a talented composer at the wheel.
Inception has been well received both by critics and viewers. Receiving a Meta score of 74 on the website metacritic.com, this compiles all reviews into one Meta score. The film also received an 8.9 on the international movie database website from 296,732 votes. The film has been nominated for 8 Oscars, won 29 awards and is nominated for 57 various awards throughout the film community. As voted on by the users of imdb.com, Inception was placed 8th on the list of top 250 movies of all time. Great reviews of a movie don’t go without naming some negative aspects, no movie is perfect. While the reviews are generally favorable, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One person might thoroughly enjoy a movie, while another may believe the same movie to be lifeless and uncreative. Taking reviews with a grain of salt and making a personal decision is normally the best route.
As amazing of a film Inception is, all movies have things that could be improved on, changed or fixed. Inceptions biggest issue is separating dreams from reality in the movie. If you stop paying attention for even a minute it will be difficult for you to get back on track on whether the characters are in reality or the dream state. If you start the movie expecting to watch an action movie you will be disappointed. While there are action sequences, they aren’t very extravagant; there are bits that are more exciting than others but nothing that competes to those of a Michael Bay movie. Another issue would be some continuity problems but those exist in about every movie ever created.
In conclusion, see Inception if you’re looking for a solid movie that will be sure to impress. A story that is fresh with innovative ideas takes you somewhere creative in a sea of films that are remakes and sequels. The actors give performances of a lifetime in making this a believable, thrilling and emotional story. Supporting the main character, the group of talented actors invigorates the main character with an added dimension and gives everything the depth that’s needed to drive film to its destination. Audio and Visual aspects act as a team to give everything a realistic feel. Without these two the movie has no life to it and both are done with crisp and precise work. All elements synergize together to create one of the greatest films of all time. Don’t miss out on a great piece of film, see this movie for yourself.
Reply to Topic
yeah TUS, I gotcha! Funny thing - I one started a game thread on another forum where we described a movie in one sentence - it got quite interesting in the race for clarity.......and parity! (especially when we did the same movie) 
This one? I'd say I described it in a paragraph.
