Christopher Nolan is one of the most interesting filmmakers of the past decade. His work is considered by some to be among some of the greatest films of the last ten years, but at the same time he’s focused on largely making films that general audiences can watch and understand. Even MEMENTO isn’t a difficult film; it’s a film that regular people often cite as one of their favorites. I was in that group, and it wasn’t until I spent more time in the world of cinema that I felt differently. While Nolan is a damn fine filmmaker, he’s not making films with grand ideas or complex themes.
That is, until he made INCEPTION.
As a note, this review will contain SPOILERS. If you haven’t seen INCEPTION, go see the movie. If you’re reading this review with the intent to reveal whether or not you should see the movie, don’t continue reading.
Yes, you should definitely see this movie. Odds are, if you don’t see a lot of foreign or independent films, this will be the best movie you’ve seen all year.
I sat down to watch INCEPTION with relatively high expectations. After all, this is one of the most hyped films of the year. I’d even gone out of my way to avoid marketing for this film; I only saw the first trailer and switched the channel if a TV spot came on. I didn’t read a single review until I’d seen the movie for itself. I went in as cold as a movie news writer could be. I can’t say that it completely changed my perception of the film, as I think the best parts of the film are outside the narrative. Where Nolan succeeds here are with his ideas.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, the world best thief. I say so, because the normal boundaries of time and space don’t apply to his methods of larceny. Instead, Cobb enters people’s dreams. While trespassing in his subject’s dreams, he’s able to extract information. Assisting him is Arthur, played by the burgeoning star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He enlists an Architect, played by Ellen Page, who is responsible for crafting the world in which the dream takes place in. She builds the environment while the subject fills her world with their existence.
Ken Watanabe plays a wealthy businessman who hires Cobb and his team for a complex job- one that doesn’t require the extraction of information. Rather, he’s asking for “inception,” which is planting an idea; he’s asking for Cobb to infiltrate the subconscious of his competitor and give him the idea to break up his father’s company. If this sounds convoluted, it is. What’s astounding is how well most of it works within the movie.
Where INCEPTION truly sets itself apart from its contemporaries is with its ideas. Nolan’s past films have toyed with various methods of storytelling. MEMENTO is known for it’s innovative use of inverted narrative- he literally tells the story backwards which is, in and of itself, it’s own story. With THE PRESTIGE he toyed around with the twist and THE DARK KNIGHT with adaptation. However, none of these films possessed the intrinsic philosophical value that INCEPTION exhibits.
This film is one of the most apt companion pieces to the great works of Sigmund Freud, most notably The Interpretation of Dreams, Totem and Taboo, and Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Christopher Nolan’s dream world isn’t the surreal chaos of Lynch. Rather, it’s exactly as Freud contended- that dreams are merely an extension of your subconscious. It’s the opposite of Gilliam’s imaginative dream world. It’s something real, a world as real as our subconscious.
Perhaps one of the more blatant references to the work of Freud is the aspect of the “totem.” The dream hackers of INCEPTION all have a totem. It’s an object, something tangible, that they’ve selected as their own. It’s a token that they’ve deemed special. Just like the totems of Freud, they place rules upon their totems- nobody else can touch it, it has to be unique. In Totem and Taboo, totems are the external manifestation of the father’s “no.” Generally, it’s an animal that we aren’t allowed to kill. Or an act we can’t perform. In INCEPTION, their totem is their reminder of reality. It’s the one controlling force that can pull them from their desire to live in their dreams. It’s the ego to their id.
I have every intention of going into further detail regarding the ideas and themes of INCEPTION, but from a critical standpoint it’s crucial to establish how deep Nolan’s rabbit hole goes. Whereas 2010′s wide release movies have had the depth of Linsey Lohan, INCEPTION is Nietzsche deep. Unfortunately, with it often gets bogged down in it’s grandiose qualities which leaves it with too much to say.
To say that the film is poorly paced is a multifaceted statement. On the one hand, the movie moves forward with the pace of Evander Holyfield’s right hook. There’s so much action and intensity throughout the entire film that it almost suffocates you. Don’t get me wrong, the zero-gravity hallway fight with Joseph Gordon-Levitt was brilliant. In fact, it’s one of the most inventive action sequences in years. However, there are so many things happening in this seemingly short timespan that we aren’t given the proper time to process. Pacing is a delicate balance of rise and fall. Nolan forgot the fall.
In order to fit the extraordinary amount of information into a mere two and a half hours, we’re forced to hear Cobb delineate every rule of Nolan’s universe. We learn that there has to be an Architect who creates the dream, that you need a totem to be sure you exist in reality, that dying in the dream world causes you to wake up in reality. And most of this information is conveyed through overly expository dialogue. We have to listen to DiCaprio tell us this, while superb filmmakers are able to show us.
What’s worse is that we have to spend so much time listening to this dialogue, when most of these rules are categorically thrown out later in the film. Early in the film, Ellen Page moves to show DiCaprio the labyrinth she’s been building. He berates her, explaining that he can’t know the layout of the dream as the dreamer’s subconscious would grow aware that they are dreaming. And yet, despite his warning, he forces Page to reveal a shortcut in the third level of the dream. Worse still, is that there are no consequences for him knowing the layout.
One aspect of that complaint brings me to my final, and most consequential, beef. Aside from Cobb, who we are encouraged to examine and psychoanalyze for the better part of three hours, there aren’t any fully developed characters within INCEPTION. Ellen Page’s character is criminally underused as a vehicle for exposition. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s only purpose seems to act as a catalyst or a sidekick. We aren’t given any insight into these character’s motivations or emotions. These are two great actors, each of which could have shown something genuine to compete with DiCaprio. Instead they’re left out to dry.
Finally, the film’s finale comes a certain admirable ambiguity. And no, I’m not talking about whether or not the Cobb’s top kept spinning to indicate that it was all a dream. I’m talking about how ambiguous the ambiguity is. That sure felt like a long time for that top to be spinning. I’m in the camp that there isn’t any intentional ambiguity and that the level which we’ve perceived as reality has been a dream for the film’s duration. I’m curious to hear other people’s thoughts on the ending, as it’s so crucial to fully grasp the film’s thematic elements.
Rather than a balanced look at INCEPTION, this review has largely turned into pointing out some of the larger flaws with an other wise good movie. With the exception of the glaring lack of deep characters, the rest of my faults could be reduced to nitpicks. Many of my problems arise with the level that the audience must suspend their disbelief. Simple things like the amount of bullets that never hit their targets kept getting on my nerves.
Narratively, the film’s greatest achievement is always telling you exactly what you need to know… and nothing more. I was never left asking questions as to how or why. It wasn’t until I left the theater that I began to question the rules of INCEPTION’s universe. Another interesting attribute was the degree to which so many of the film’s interesting elements weren’t explored. The world that this story takes place in has so much potential for further exploration- be it through books, comics, or other visual mediums. I feel like there is a lot left to be told in this story, and I’m interested in seeing its depths plumbed.
It isn’t the masterpiece that some claim. Nolan has yet to make a film that lives up to other working directors, such as Paul Thomas Anderson or the Coen Brothers. He’s largely a mainstream filmmaker who makes movies for mainstream audiences. Sure, this film is quite bold when compared to the traditional Hollywood fare. However, it doesn’t hold up when compared to some of the limited release movies this year- EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, DOGTOOTH, TERRIBLY HAPPY, or MOTHER.
I see INCEPTION as a flawed yet thoroughly entertaining piece of contemporary cinema. Hopefully, this will be a film like MEMENTO and encourage people to seek out films that challenge the status-quo. This is a movie that will get people to like movies. In that respect, it is a seminal film; just not quite in the same way that some claim.
Rotten Tomatoes says: 83%
IMDB says: 9.3
I say: B+
