Inception (2010)
Sometimes, a movie comes along that leaves an indelible mark on our culture. Movies like Casablanca and Psycho are obvious examples of this sort of effect, but there’s plenty of modern ones, too, and few leave such a lasting impact as Inception. Legend says that the Dark Knight trilogy only exists so that director Christopher Nolan could make this very film, and in the end, he ended up creating two evergreen entries into cinematic canon.
Inception follows a professional crook named Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a thief who uses a special technology to infiltrate people’s dreams. Once there, Cobb and his teammates create a specific world and scenario, so as to find their secrets and extract them in a process fittingly called “extraction”. Dom can’t return to his home in America due to some sort of incident that forced him on the run. However, Cobb is approached by a man named Saito who offers him a chance to return home with a clean slate if he can pull off the opposite of his usual job: inception.
In an inception, an idea is planted rather than extracted. However, Dom’s partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is dismissive of the idea, saying that it’s impossible to achieve; the dreamer will always reject the planted idea because it isn’t their own. However, Cobb is adamant that it can be done, but is extremely difficult. Eventually, Cobb bites, and the two assemble a crew to tackle the job of their lives.
Inception was probably my first foray into “cerebral” movies. I’m not snooty about this sort of film, but I do appreciate a good mind-bender, and that all starts here. Inception can be hard to follow at times, but not due to lack of clarity, but rather due to the concepts that are being tackled. Lucid dreaming is something that eludes most people, myself included, so the approaches often taken by the crew are occasionally strange.
However, the narrative being told throughout the film is deeper than just a simple crime thriller with a twist. Themes of loss, guilt, and self-image are all approached parallel to the caper at hand, and Cobb’s past is fed to us slowly through a character named Mal, his ex-wife. I wouldn’t dare spoil anything about Cobb, even with a movie that’s over a decade old, but the heart of the film lies with Mal and Cobb’s relationship, and how it got to the point where she was actively sabotaging his every move.
The totem concept, an object that only you know the behavior of, is another classic touch in the narrative.
Aside from that, the visual storytelling on display deserves all of the praise I can give it. There are four distinct layers to reality in this film, yet all of them are uniquely post-produced to have their own color palettes and feels. The grift is only possible, according to Cobb, if the idea is both planted deep enough into the target’s psyche and seems to come from themselves, not from an outside force. As such, every layer of dream gets more complex and esoteric, and the film reflects this beautifully. Layer 1 is cool colors, layer 2 is warm colors, and layer 3 is stark white and gray tones. It keeps the viewer grounded without sacrificing anything.
The cast of characters is amazing, too, with each character having a role that would fit right in in a heist film of normal circumstances. Arthur is the researcher and Cobb is the thief. Alongside them are college student Ariadne (Elliot Page, credited as Ellen at the time), who is the architect that plans out the dreams; Eames (Tom Hardy), a forger who, in this case, forges entire people in the dream world; Saito himself (Ken Watanabe), who plays the role of financier and “tourist” when it comes to the heist; and Yusuf (Dileep Rao), the chemist. All of these characters are just like a heist movie’s crew should be, starkly contrasting in many ways, and all with various levels of experience and knowledge.
The mark, on the other hand, is Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), who is so deeply cynical that it actually gives Eames, the most laidback character in the film, a case of worry. He’s not an easy mark, and actually is more intelligent than one might expect. Of course, there’s also Mal, the fly in the ointment, played by Marion Cotillard. Her dark yet alluring aura is phenomenal, with every scene changing completely simply by her entering it.
What Inception does well is the subtle things, but there’s plenty of not-so-subtle moments as well. Given that we’re dealing with dreams here, the nature of reality can be, let’s say fickle, and this is reflected in numerous, fantastic ways. The city in layer 1 can be manipulated and changed however it’s needed, and at one point a train goes barreling through a normal intersection, tearing away at the blacktop as it goes. In layer 2, all of the physics are dictated by the layer above, and since by this point layer 1 has devolved into a car chase, that means that gravity is spinning and tumbling all the while. This leads to the most iconic moment in the movie, the hallway fight, where Arthur and a dream security goon fight in a spinning hotel hall. Layer 3 is a straight-up Bond villain lair, with ski-riding guards and fancy, metal vault doors.
The entire movie is a ride, an around a third of the way through it, the gas gets put to the floor and doesn’t let up. Even then, as I’ve said before, much of what Inception does right is the little moments between the characters. Things like Eames surprising Saito with a forgery, or the light flirting between Arthur and Ariadne. It’s all so grounded, contrasting the setting and plot well, and every actor gives performances worth praising without fail.
I could go on for hours about Inception, but the truth is, you probably know much of what I would say. Like I said at the top, this movie has left a permanent mark on culture as a whole, to the point where a certain kind of score moment, where deep horns blast in rhythm, has essentially been dubbed “the Inception horns”. It’s a modern classic, and a film that will likely be studied in film classes for generations to come.
Make sure to check your totem when you can, though.
