We Hate Hollywood

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
Rated PG-13 for violence
Rating - Golden Gun

A truly great movie can sometimes feels like Haley’s Comet.  In the universe of film, you see it so rarely that you begin to think you never will.  When it arrives, you are awestruck with its power.  This is especially true with action films since they tend to burn brightly and fade into mediocrity quickly.

But is it fair to classify Inception as an action film?  It is so much more.  Christopher Nolan has crafted a film so bold, so daring, and so unique that it doesn’t just transcend but obliterates the boring genre of “summer blockbuster”.

The less you know about Inception going in, the better chance you have of a truly unique film experience.  With that in mind, I am going to reveal very little about the plot except to say that Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play agents of corporate espionage whose job it is to extract ideas from people’s minds.  Literally.  In their world, it is scientifically possible to enter someone’s mind via dreams.  But now, their client (Ken Watanabe) hires them for a different job…he needs them to plant an idea in someone’s mind.  That’s your action movie.  And that’s as far as I’ll talk about the plot.

Before you science fiction haters begin to flee, you must know…this is not a typical sci-fi film.  In fact, “typical” is a useless adjective for discussing this film.  Like The Matrix, it takes philosophical ideas about the essence of the mind and infuses them with jaw-dropping action and visual effects.  In fact, it surpasses The Matrix in that marriage of intelligence and violence.

The cast is outstanding.  Nolan really knows how to bring the best out of his actors (and obviously has some favorites such as Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine, and Ken Watanabe).  Leonardo DiCaprio is at the top of his game as he always seem to be.  Together, he and Joseph Gordon-Levitt redefine cool.  Ellen Page was an odd choice for this film but even she works.  I also admire  how Nolan doesn’t use supporting characters for throwaway roles. In the “actors you may not know but by name but would probably recognize” department, Tom Hardy (Bronson; RocknRolla) and Dileep Rao (Drag Me to Hell; Avatar) play characters that you root for and sympathize with.  Hell, even Tom Berenger shows up in a small but pivotal role.  And finally, Marion Cotillard continues her US invasion with a heart-breaking performance that fuels the emotional core of the film.

Christopher Nolan is truly a spectacular director.  Not only does he have a firm command of the camera (and refuses to do 3D because it limits what you can do with the camera), but he understands action.  He is not an “action director”, but there may not be anyone working today who can direct action better.  Yes, I’m looking at you, Michael Bay.  The action scenes in this film are unlike most things you have seen.  At more than one point, I caught myself literally holding my breath and palms sweating.  This is reach-in-through-your-nose-and-squeeze-your-hips suspense.

A true mind-bender of a movie, Inception may take more than one viewing to completely grasp all of its elements, but it’s not so over the top that it completely loses its audience.  The parameters and rules of the universe the characters inhabit are fully and adequately explained.  As the plot gets deeper and deeper, I was amazed at how effectively it pulls the audience down into the rabbit hole.

In this age of banal, forgetful, and dreary filmmaking, Inception is an oasis in the desert.  It is the bastion of quality, the antithesis of formula, and the epitome of originality.