Inception (2010) review - Movie Thoughts (Chapter 49) 💭

Hello everyone,

The penultimate film in this project is a doozy. It just celebrated its 10th anniversary and many regard it as one of Christopher Nolan's greatest successes. When it first came out, I didn't think I had the mental capacity to be able to handle it. People said it was crazy confusing and that scared me. But now that I've grown up a little more and expanded my film horizons, I thought I would be ready to jump into this world and experience what everyone has been raving about for so long....

(**disclaimer: the following thoughts are 100% my opinion, you do not have to agree with them - film is inherently subjective and everyone's perspective is valid! Also, there are probably spoilers in the following, read at your own risk. Now onto some thoughts....**)

Source: IMDB

An intricate, impressive and multi-dimensional marvel, filmmaker extraordinaire Christopher Nolan pulled off an ambitious undertaking with his genre-bending film Inception. A thief for hire who steals secrets using intricate dream manipulation technology is offered a job of implanting a life-altering thought into a wealthy CEO in exchange for finally returning home. A deeply conceptual brainchild straight out of Nolan’s fantastic idea box, every single frame still felt engaging and dynamic without lagging in too much exposition. Academy Award nominated for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Original Score and Art Direction alongside wins for Best Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Visual Effects, audiences are submerged in a high octane slog that holds up both visually and thematically.

On a technical level, Inception was as slick as they come. Nolan’s attention to detail in framing, pacing and construction made the whole film feel comfortable since someone who clearly knew what they were doing was in control. Wally Pfister’s gorgeous cinematography was melodically shot, with the dreamscapes rooted firmly in reality and even more compelling because everything was taken so seriously and refined so no detail was lost. With any of Nolan’s grand cinematic children, it asks a lot of its audience in terms of investing in the premise. If you tune out, you’ll miss an important part of the puzzle. By the end, audiences will feel like they’ve had their brain eaten out, but it’s an enjoyable experience so you’re largely OK with it. Cyclical and interconnected with an attention to detail other writers crave, everything was fabulously tied up and interwoven on itself. In addition to Nolan’s technical prowess, his writing skills were also on show brilliantly. The mammoth screenplay for this film was wordy, complex and effortlessly juggled between the thematic and reality plot threads. For all its complexity and introducing the mythology of dream science, it was surprisingly easy to follow. Most viewers probably won’t come out understanding every miniscule detail of the dream hardware. But Nolan gives enough to draw a viewer in and follow long, because it’s not just a film about dreams.

Behind the science-fiction elements, this film was also surprisingly thematically vast. Covering a variety of different relationships between fathers and sons, broken couples and families grieving loss and even friendships that help characters to heal old wounds; there’s plenty going on if the dreams aren’t your cup of tea. Every theme and relationship was given the time and development it deserved to feel complex, despite not getting a lot of backstory for a majority of the supporting characters.

An epic worthy of legend status, Nolan’s Inception was visually kinetic and stimulating without ever losing control of the pace or the ambitious concepts. The journeys of Dom (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team were incredibly rewarding if you are willing to fall into this fantastic conceptual behemoth with an open mind and a sharp eye. As Tom Hardy so charmingly said, ‘you mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling’; a mantra Nolan lives by with masterpieces like this one.

8/10, 4 STARS

Thanks for reading,

Love and the mind-bending world of dreams, Emily 💭