Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Ken Watanabe
Releasing in cinemas: 22 July 2010
Rated: M

In his epic sci-fi thriller Inception, Christopher Nolan gives his characters a chance to live their dreams; indeed dreams which would be nightmares to most people. To add to the confusion, four dreams work within each other to different time factors. The complex and often obscure plot is not aided by some unintelligible dialogue drowned out by the high levels of sound and music at my screening. While I’m not wholly convinced about this one, extraordinary visuals with stunning special effects and stunts sweep you along so you may overlook the gobbledygook Twilight Zone storyline.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is corporate espionage whizz kid with advanced technology that can raid people’s minds while they sleep and extract deep secrets. His latest client Saito (Ken Watanabe) wants to go further and actually implant an idea in a business rival’s brain. This technique, called ‘inception’, has attached dangers. In a sub-plot, Cobb unfortunately caused the death of his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) during a dream induced state, so Saito, as payment for his services, promises to exonerate Cobb and allow him to return to America to reunite with his children.

Cobb must infiltrate the dreams of energy empire heir Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) to inspire him on a course of action which will benefit Saito’s enterprise. To achieve this, Cobb employs his ‘dream team’, including partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), architect student Ariadne (Ellen Page) an adult child with Rhodes Scholar potential, and Eames (Tom Hardy) who is able to impersonate other people in the dream world.

The unfortunate Fischer has to be drugged up and dragged through four levels of dreams, while the team is pursued by hordes of faceless warriors from the subconscious. Meanwhile Mal - for whom Cobb still mourns - keeps appearing and throwing spanners in the works hoping to keep Cobb forever in her deepest dream level. Being dead doesn’t seem to a problem for her. If this confuses, you’re not alone - it’s a masterpiece of obfuscation. In fact at one point bewildered dream designer Ariadne asks, ‘whose subconscious are we going into exactly’; what hope has the audience.

Nolan’s made an elaborate and complex picture, so clever on many levels but without engaging characters. It’s hard to work up a sweat about any of them, you simply end up watching the stylish visuals, though they are truly amazing at times. Indeed, the weightless scenes in a hotel corridor compete with 2001: A Space Odyssey; not to mention Paris city folding back on itself, a locomotive roaring through a city avenue (shades of The Dark Knight) and the ultra slow motion drop of a bus from a bridge into a river.

Impressive set pieces feature, while there’s no end of fast chases with slick camerawork; all of which are probably enough to keep you entertained for the long running time. The enigmatic final shot of the film leaves a serious question hanging when it suddenly goes to black.

Leonardo DeCaprio (Shutter Island) takes on his role with a grim determination, trying to make sense of the often obtuse dialogue and lengthy explanations, displaying at times the raw tenacity of a Jimmy Cagney. Ellen Page (Juno) is older and wiser now, trying to fathom what it’s all about. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) is the most useful of the team and works hard to pick up the pieces of disastrous dreaming.

Marion Cotillard, an ethereal presence as Mal, may wonder why they play ‘her song’ to wake people from slumber. A old recording of Edith Piaf turns up as the leitmotiv which brings dreamers back; perhaps odd till your realise it’s an in-joke as Cotillard starred in La Vie en Rose (a.k.a. The Passionate Life of Edith Piaf). Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight) looks totally bemused as to why he’s there. Cameos by those venerable British thespians Michael Caine and Pete Postlethwaite are welcome.

Christopher Nolan (The Prestige, The Dark Knight) remains one of the most inventive directors working today, and there’s little doubt his latest film will be big. For me, the complexity of story negated it’s humanity, and its concentration on the visual rather than the emotional dampened the experience. When CGI dwarfs the actors they lose your empathy, but finally it’s a thrill adventure. Like comic strips action is the key, so there’s still much to admire.

John Bale