Inception-She Said

I thought I had seen pretty much everything when it came to movies. And then I saw Inception. With as many reboots, remakes, sequels, prequels, adaptations, and cliché storylines we‘re forced to watch nowadays, it was so refreshing to see something original, but not just original…smart; I mean really, really smart. Christopher Nolan created this world where dreams become reality, reality becomes dreams, and sometimes, literally, you don’t know which way is up.

The story is kind of a heist film in a way. Leonardo DiCaprio’s, Cobb, has been hired to break into Cillian Murphy’s, Fischer, dreams and plant an idea, but the trick is making Fischer believe Fischer thought of the idea. Not an easy task when the brain begins to recognize intruders and starts to attack them. Cobb has the best of the best working for him to ensure this “Inception” is pulled off because the success of this job determines Cobb’s future. He wants to go back home to his kids, but circumstances has prevented him until this job arises. With the successful inception, he gets his life back. The problem with Cobb is he cannot control his subconscious when he’s in someone else’s dream, so his wife, Mal, shows up. This becomes an issue when she tries sabotage the missions.

So the first half of the movie is the set up. We’re given rules of breaking into someone’s dream. And by rules, I mean A LOT of rules. Some of the time I couldn’t keep them straight, or I would forget what was said or how it will play into the inception. Don’t worry; Nolan’s brilliant writing takes care of those fears. All the rules I thought didn’t make sense…made complete sense while the inception was going on.  There’s not much more I can say or want to say about the plot. Even if I tried, the impact of it wouldn’t be felt unless it was in context. For example, the ending will be a huge discussion topic, and I could say exactly what happens. But what’s brilliant about Nolan is the ending only works because by that time you’re so invested in the world.

I can’t say enough about this movie. The action sequences are fresh and exciting. There’s one scene that happens in a hallway (shown in many of the TV spots) that was one of the most tense and impressive sequences I’ve seen in a long time. I found myself forgetting to breathe because it was so exciting. Nolan also takes a huge risk of having dreams within dreams. This could have easily have gotten convoluted and messy, but amazingly it doesn’t. It’s a brilliant ploy to give them more time to complete the job…wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Trust me; it’ll all make sense.

Inception brings an amazing opportunity for discussions. Recently, there’s been a lack of mainstream movies that are truly original, and this is absolutely refreshing. There are so many layers to this film: what’s reality? What’s a dream? How do you escape with your life? How do you finish the job? The craze and praise this movie is receiving is all warranted. It will live up to your expectations. Even if you’re not excited, see it. It’s the first great movie of the summer, and the ideas presented will be discussed for years to come, and trust me, you will want to be a part of the discussion.