Film Review: Inception

Inception. 148 minutes. Rated M. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Three cheers for Christopher Nolan who has delivered one of the most curious, layered, intellectually engaging, visually arresting and superbly crafted films of the year. While it is certainly no masterpiece, it is a film that will have you discussing its grand and adventurous epic story-telling and mind-bending qualities in equal measure.

Nolan has always been a filmmaker to inspire passionate debate. His stunning reboot of the Batman franchise (Batman Begins in 2005), is considered one of the most perfect examples of the comic book big screen adaptations, while his Memento (2000) was a supreme example of reverse narrative engineering.

Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a highly sought-after ‘extractor’ – someone who is able to infiltrate people’s sub-conscious dream state and identify their secrets and ideas before stealing them. A wealthy Japanese businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) challenges Cobb and his colleagues to perform an ‘inception’ – where instead of stealing an idea that already exists, an idea is implanted in the target’s sub-conscious. The particular ‘target’ of Saito’s ambitious plan is Robert Fischer Jr (Cillian Murphy) – heir to a rival business empire. Robert’s father Maurice (Pete Postlethwaite) is terminally ill, and Saito wants the young heir to dismantle his father’s empire, effectively eliminating Saito’s competition.

In spite of all the advance claims of the film being too cryptic and obscure, it’s actually a relatively simple premise that becomes increasingly involving as the cast find themselves trapped in the dark and threatening, multi-layered sub-conscious world of fear, regret and lost love. Tom Hardy, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are outstanding as Cobb’s co-conspirators while DiCaprio gives the overall impression of being at sea with the one-note emotional nature of much of the material – particularly the occasionally distracting storyline involving his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) and his memories of the first time he attempted an ‘inception’.

Hans Zimmer’s (Sherlock Holmes) score is brilliant, while Nolan’s regular collaborators cinematographer Wally Pfister and editor Lee Smith are in magnificent form – capturing Guy Dyas’s (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) eye-popping production design and Brad Ricker’s inspirational art direction to absolute perfection.