Inception (2010)

Certainly one of the most challenging works of cinema in a while dealing with the idea of 'consciousness' and dreaming, a few steps further than 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. How the fuck does someone come up with something like this! Thought it was amazing, and it works on so many levels. Literally.

Intensely cerebral, science fiction-y, that makes you seriously question reality in a way that the Matrix hinted at, but Inception hits home with it's 'real-worldliness' aesthetic: there's no mythic apocalyptic creatures here, no Zion-like dystopian future - just Michael Caine, Tom Berenger, and Pete Postlewaithe keepin' it real.

Not sure whether it was because I was wearing both contacts on today (a rarity, as I usually wear just the one to economise), but walking out the cinema seriously made me question what was around me! Hadn't felt like that since watching Nightmare on Elm Street as a 9 -year-old, and was a little scared of walking up and down stairs for fear of being sucked into them)...

So many filmic references, or at least open and inviting comparison. Some that come to mind:
- Shutter Island (particularly DiCaprio's central predicament throughout the movie)
- The Matrix (the first)
- Titanic (the end scenes in particular, as well as the sheer grandiosity of the vision)
- The Prestige (the very end)
- The Bond and Bourne movies (in terms of action, intrigue, mystery, and espionage), particularly in Quantum of Solace with the chase scene starting with Tom Hardy and DiCaprio.

Love how there seems to be a film reference for each main character actor in the movie! With Ken Wantanabe, it's perhaps his association with The Last Samurai, or even as Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins. With Marion Cotillard, for sure the use of 'Je ne regrette rien' is an obvious nod to La Vie en Rose. With Tom Hardy, he's the manly cheeky chappy from 'Bronson' even 'Scenes of a Sexual Nature'. With DiCaprio, there's Titanic and Shutter Island. Jospeh Gordon Hewitt retains that puppy romantic sensibility albeit in a more subtle way, but with an air of beefed up manliness that would shoot up and choke-hold all his previous roles to date! Ellen Page - a little Juno-esque, who seems precociously intelligent, insightful, curious, adaptable in youth. The list goes on...

There's been talk of 'fourth time lucky' for DiCaprio for the Oscar stakes. I personally wouldn't go as far to say so. It's a great performance, but one that's a little one-note (as the demands of the character need be) for Oscar. I couldn't help thinking about the politics of the situation, and something a little fishy going on... He started out around the same time as Mark Whalberg and Johnny Depp, (The Basketball Diaries, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape), had reached Box Office heights with Kate Winslett in Titanic, yet he's the one that seems to be the most shining star - a protege of Scorsese in much the style as De Niro, a Speilberg collaborator (Catch me if you Can) and even working with Clint Eastwood next on 'Hoover'.

Enough of my DiCaprio conspiracy theory! Back to Inception.

Wouldn't recommend to everyone though. The packed to sold-out audience I was in attendance with responded with about four people applauding, majority boos, and instant walk-outs upon End Credits (Idiots, for the latter two). But hey, it was a Saturday night at Cineworld, not a special screening at the BFI - what do you expect? Definitely, I'm a film/movie snob. I'm one of those people that feels compelled to stay till the end of the credits (It's part of the movie experience!), and get genuinely angered when the lights go up prematurely, and the staff pressure you or force you out of the cinema (by their sheer presence peering in with brooms and bin bags on standby) so they can clean up quicker...

Nolan's a genius for the timing of this movie - something that needed to be made in my view. Had it been the first thing he had ever done, he might not have had a further career owing to an unsure box office reception. Had it been of his later career, people might have thought he might have lost it and gone all Kubickian. But off the success of The Dark Knight, and sandwiched before Batman 3 - this is certainly an audacious move, a risky and challenging venture that's part of a secure and intact career. For sure, he's no formulaic Apatow. Damn all those (the audience I was in attendance with) who expected him to be so, and perhaps wanted to see some sort of Dark Knight or something... I hope Nolan continues to stick with cinema that's constantly breaking new ground, is challenging, engaging, immersive and absorbing, and hugely entertaining.

Awesome! Rating: 5/5

Curious to check out what other people thought!...