Christopher Nolan's "Inception" (2010) is a complex science fiction thriller about a group of people with varying specific skills that create a perfect team of dream-sharers. Dom Cobb, the main protagonist, is an extractor who is able to find out people's secrets by intruding into their dreams. His right-hand is Arthur, who researches and plans what they are trying to accomplish in a dream. Bright graduate student Ariadne is the architect for the dreams, meaning she literally constructs the physical aspects of a dreamscape. Eames is a professional at turning into anyone else in a dream, almost like shapeshifting. Lastly, Yusuf is a chemist who creates perfect concoctions of sedatives to achieve ideal conditions for the dreams to take place. This elaborate combination of characters is asked by a rich businessman, Saito, to infiltrate his dying competitor's son, Robert Fischer's, dream and place an idea in his mind so that Saito's business can become more successful. Traveling through the layers of someone's mind and making them think of an idea on their own is what they call "inception." Cobb is dedicated to making this happen so that Saito can arrange for Cobb's return to America to see his children. Without Saito, Cobb would not be able to return to America because of his alleged criminal background, but Saito has connections and power to clear his name. Some members of his team think achieving inception is impossible, but Cobb convinces them to be on board and they must come up with a mastermind plan with no room for error to achieve this extremely difficult yet imperative task. They begin a three-layer plan that involves elaborate depths of the dream dimension, taking advantage of Fischer's sensitive and dysfunctional relationship with his father, practiced methods of leaving a dream and entering the next, all while trying to avoid Cobb's wife Mal who lives in his subconscious and often sabotages his plans. The shocking ending leaves viewers at a cliffhanger and fans theorizing.
Now that I've gone over the plot, let's talk about the other components of the film. The marketing strategies did an excellent job gathering hype for the film. The movie poster features the famous actors that everyone was excited to see, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Elliot Page, and the rest of the dream crew. It also says "Inception" in a large red font and notes that is directed by the same director of "Dark Knight," which was an insanely successful and highly rated movie that was premiered two years prior to Inception. Dark Knight scored a 94% on rotten tomatoes and is #112 on IMBD's most popular movie list. This likely drew in the audience from Christopher Nolan's movies and set a high expectation for the quality of Inception. Another great marketing move was the contents of the teaser trailer. The trailer features a brief voiceover of Leonardo DiCaprio and amazing scenes with impressive cinematography taken out of context that show the viewers the production value and exciting action contents of the film all while confusing them so that they go see the film when it is released. I think the shock factor and science fiction aspect of the trailer is owed to the scene where a city block starts to fold over top of itself.
The content of the film stayed true to the marketing because the cinematography, directing, and acting is quite well-done. Starting with the cinematography, the zero gravity scenes and cityscape building from the ground up were very realistic looking and intensified the movie watching experience. There was a lot of attention to detail. The directing of Inception is very montage based. It draws amounts and amounts of suspense. For example, the montage near the end of the film with the van, the fortress, and the hotel was painfully long but created such thick suspense. For the acting, I only have compliments and no complaints. Inception was casted beautifully and everyone fit their roles perfectly. Leonardo DiCaprio did an excellent job as Dom Cobb, especially in the emotional scene with his wife and two kids in one of the dreams. My personal favorite performance was Cillian Murphy's role as Robert Fischer. He played as his character really well and he captured his relatively constant sadness surrounding his father situation.
Inception is a staple film in the science fiction genre and is similar to a few other sci-fi movies as well. Inception is at #135 on IMBD's most popular movie list and has a rating of 87% on rotten tomatoes, so there is no doubt about its quality. In my opinion, Inception is pretty similar to the well-loved movie "The Matrix" (1999) starring Keanu Reeves. They are both iconic science fiction and action films with themes of alternate realities. The second film I think is very similar is a more recent film, Tenet (2020) with Robert Pattinson. Tenet is also about bending the rules of science and is also directed by Christopher Nolan. If you enjoyed either of these movies, I recommend Inception. I also recommend it to general fans of Christopher Nolan's directing, so if you have watched and enjoyed any of his films, you would probably like Inception too.
On my rating scale of one to five, with one being the worst possible score and five being perfect, I give Inception a five. It has no weaknesses in my opinion. Every aspect of this movie combines into perfection. The acting and cinematography is what takes it over the top, and I am a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio and Cillian Murphy in all of the roles they play. This is a movie I have voluntarily watched multiple times and it only gets better with each watch. It is very complex and a complete experience to view. My favorite aspect of the film is the ending. Many people say they hate cliffhangers, but I enjoy them because it leaves it up to the audience to imagine. Basically, you can choose your own ending based on what you think makes the most sense with the facts you are given in the film.
