“You musn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.” – “Eames” (Tom Hardy) from Inception.

This reviewer checked out Inception a couple of weeks ago and drove out into the Hollywood night a bit disappointed, foolishly believing the labyrinthine plot was a bit indigestible.  Director Christopher Nolan shot in Tangiers, Calgary, Tokyo, Paris, and even downtown Los Angeles to create the dream world that inhabits Inception and like his previous films, the persistence of memory and identity lingers throughout this complex narrative.  When asked by his friends about the flick, the reviewer bemoaned the journey was a bit too much of a good thing, and that Mr. Nolan could have spent a bit more time in the editing room.

To this day, the dream world of Inception still exists within this writer’s rather pea-sized brain, while most of the studio hubris masquerading as movies disappear from view.  For the past several nights, he would ponder, possibly over several libations, if “Tom Cobb” (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his dead wife “Mal” (a luminous Marion Cotillard) could find peace in their dreams or if a reality without her was simply unlivable (“Cobb” like Shutter Island’s “Teddy Daniels,” is man who, to coin an oft-used F. Scott Fitzgerald line, is “borne back ceaselessly into the past”).  The writer took an early morning walk to the John Ferraro building, the site where Nolan shot a sequence involving the fated lovers, and realized his initial perception of Inception had only a slight bearing on his final opinion. 

Inception can be viewed on many different levels.  As a summer film, it contains enough action to please the popcorn and soda crowd. The opening, which has “Cobb” and his right hand man “Arthur” (an excellent Joseph Gordon Levitt), infiltrate the dreams of a businessman named “Saito” (Ken Watanabe) is a particular standout, as we watch our heroes try to steal “Saito’s” secret before his dream world crumbles before their very eyes.  If one yearns for an intricate heist film, “Cobb” spends a substantial portion of the first act recruiting his dream architect “Ariadne” (Ellen Page), a forger named “Eames” (Tom Hardy), and “Yusuf” the chemist (Dileep Rao).  “Cobb’s” meeting with “Eames” leads to a heart stopping chase throughout a Tangiers market, and it’s an action scene that could fit snugly into a “Jason Bourne” film.  If movie buffs prefer their dish served surreal, the “Cobb” and his team are hired by “Saito” to place an idea into the head of their intended mark “Robert Fischer” (Cillian Murphy) which would lead him to alter his handling of his dying father’s (Pete Postlethwaite) mega powerful corporation.  The operation leads the crew into a multi-layered dream world where “Cobb’s” grasp on reality slowly becomes compromised, thanks to the constant reappearance of “Mal.”

The heart of Inception, however, lies in “Cobb’s” inability to shake his wife’s memory from his psyche.  Cotillard is the perfect femme fatale for Nolan’s universe of lost souls, and it would be difficult to find a more alluring woman who could seduce “Cobb” into leaving his reality.  DiCaprio, pitch perfect in Shutter Island, hits another one out of the park with Inception.  He’s basically a dream stealer in the movie, a criminal who can’t return to the U.S. for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, and he endangers his team’s safety due to his constant mishandling of his own personal demons.  “Cobb,” through his actions, is a highly flawed protagonist, and a rather gratifying twist makes viewers wonder if our resident dream weaver is actually a likable dude.  But DiCaprio, who just loves playing tortured characters, infuses his role with enough inspired pathos to win us over.

With Inception, Nolan gives us his deepest work to date, and he’s one of the few filmmakers who, thanks to Warner Bros.’ support, could be the heir apparent to Stanley Kubrick.   Like the late 2001 filmmaker, Nolan’s cerebral nature isn’t lost amidst the visual spectacle, and he refuses to pander to the audience.  The director’s overlooked attention to sound design is another plus for the film, and his frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer composed a substantive score to the proceedings. Inception is not a story sans blemishes, as Nolan really does throw the kitchen sink into the film’s third act (how many levels can a dream state truly have). But maybe the director is truly a few steps ahead of the game, as the story’s complexities may not be fully appreciated until a second (or third) viewing. 

Edgar Allan Poe, who never seemed like the cheeriest of fellows, once wrote that “All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream.”  With Inception, Nolan challenges us to reassess our perceived grasp on reality, even if many refuse to wake up from their respective slumber.  It’s a rather grand ambition indeed, but thanks to the gripping and ultimately evocative journey of Inception, one would assume that Mr. Nolan’s dreams are far from over.

-Posted by Greg Srisavasdi