It’s been a LONG 2010 for movies. Weak offering after flame out after lame sequel has popped out weekend after weekend, leaving us true movie fans with only one date to look forward to: July 16th. At the end of the tunnel, waiting there like a hidden treasure, has been Inception, the creation of Hollywood’s most brilliant cinematic mind, writer/director Christopher Nolan. We’ve had incredible trailers with anti-gravity fights, crumbling buildings, avalanches, and bending physics; we’ve had eye-catching posters, a cryptic name, and very little else to go on. Nolan’s last offering, The Dark Knight, is my favorite movie of the last several years (without a doubt), and one of my favorite movies ever. Inception knocked it off the first place pedestal with ease. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I’m positive that Inception, without a shadow of a doubt, is the best movie I’ve ever seen. Here’s why
1. Scope — Inception redefines the word “epic.” Only the most truly epic films of all time, say a Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, can hope to even compete with the scale of this film. The sheer scope of this movie is downright daunting to think about as a moviegoer, let alone to conceive as its creator. So many different worlds, so many universe rules to devise and explain, so many precise and intricate plot moves to execute — it truly boggles the mind. Visually, it’s as epic as it gets — blinding white snow-covered mountains, deep blue skies over a sandy beach, muted tones of a dark hotel, bending cities, glass staircases, on and on and on. Just trying to wrap your head around how much this movie encompasses is staggering.
2. Acting — What a perfect cast. So friggin perfect. Leo is my favorite actor in Hollywood, easily, has been for years, and he turns in a note-perfect performance as our hero, Dom Cobb (the names in this movie, by the way, are nondescript and odd. Dom Cobb, Eames, Mol, Fisher, Andrew, Saito and that’s about all we get). Intense, steady, tortured, vulnerable yet strong — vintage Leo. Joseph Gordon Levitt is the perfect compliment as his partner, Tom Hardy is light and entertaining as imaginative badass Eames, Ken Watanabe is perfectly serious, Marion Cotillard (one of my favorite actresses in holiday, up there with Julianne Moore) is passionate and heart-wrenching as ever, and Ellen Paige is as subtle and effective as she’s ever been. I wasn’t crazy about Nolan favorite Cillian Murphy as Fisher (his weepy monologue felt a little stilted to me), but otherwise, perfection. Everyone brings the right amount of grounded focus that allows to believe their wondrous reality without a second thought.
3. Intellect — Too few movies today challenge the mind of the audience. Inception asks viewers to focus and open their minds to a complex, but not impossible to grasp, serious of twists of turns throughout the film. If you follow the logic, every element is accounted for (except for one, which I’ll get to at the end), but you have to be willing to buckle down and pay attention. I LOVE this. If you can get up and grab a popcorn during a movie and feel like you’ve missed nothing upon your return, that’s a bad thing. If you miss even ten seconds of this movie, literally ten seconds, you might never recover. That is a GOOD THING.
4. Balance — This movie is perfectly paced — it never feels slow, as there isn’t a single wasted moment, and it features the perfect blend of action, drama, emotion and suspense. From the moment the movie begins until the moment it ends, you’re on the ride — there’s no slow build-up, no feeling of “okay, now it’s picking up” and “here comes the climax,” etc. It’s just nonstop, streamlined intensity from top to bottom. It’s the best sci-fi movie ever. It’s the best action/adventure movie ever. It’s the best heist movie ever. It’s essentially The Matrix meets Ocean’s Eleven, with the entire Inception ploy representing the coolest, most creative, most action-packed, most complicated, most mind-boggling symphony of a heist in the history of film.
5. Execution — As we’ve come to expect from Chris Nolan, the execution of this film is absolutely flawless. I can’t imagine this movie being any better. The music was perfectly suspenseful and had the right feeling of intensity and gravitas throughout (Hans Zimmer nailed it), the full array of art direction (costumes, makeup, set design, color palette, etc.) was gorgeous and spot-on, the writing was perfectly paced and succinct, and the overall direction was flawless. To execute any aspect of this film, let alone the dream within a dream within a dream inception plan with the synchronized kicks, would make anyone’s brain explode. I’m running out of adjectives — it’s just astounding in its ability to raise the bar in movie-making and then exceed even that ludicrously high mark.
The one logic flaw: How do Dom and Mol go from being an old couple in Limbo to the young couple in Limbo that get run over by the train? I think we’re just supposed to buy that Dom & Mol are dream experts — after all, they were able to build their own Limbo (without having to die in someone’s dream to get there), so its feasible that they’d be able to kick themselves out of it, too. Otherwise, there’s no true explanation for this phenomenon. To have a movie as densely packed with it’s own logic and rules with only this small flaw is pure genius.
Also, for the record, I’m sure Dom is in the real world at the end. The only thing that points to it even being a dream remotely is the possibility that the top might not fall — all other logic supports the notion that he is in fact in reality. If he’s dreaming, where is his sleeping body? If he’s dreaming, where is his subconscious in all the various dream-levels he and the team explore? How does he invent all these people in his dreams, when all other dreams are peopled simply with projections? There’s no story logic whatsoever to support the idea that Dom is still dreaming at the end.
Also, some people asked me how Dom was able to get Saito out of Limbo. Dom didn’t get him out — the timer, set for their sleeping bodies in the reality of the private plane, brought both of them out. What Dom needed to do was find Saito and convince/remind him that the world he’d been living in for so many years as an old man was a dream, and that when they awoke, they’d be in reality.
Last night, as I had my mind blowing at the IMAX, I thought to myself, “This is what people must’ve felt like when they saw Star Wars in 1979.” I felt as if I had just witnessed a new echelon of filmmaking, a new realization of what the medium of film can accomplish when put in the hands of a visionary genius. As I Tweeted last night (@MMMaven if you still aren’t following!) “Inception is the most cinematic movie of all time. It uses the medium of film to its absolute fullest potential.” This film stands up to any scrutiny and, in a very real way, has forever shifted the way we watch movies. This movie has opened up a reverse Pandora’s box, unleashing the full potential of what movies can be when you allow yourself to truly dream and push the gifts of cinema beyond the accepted boundaries of the medium.
The more I think about it, the more I’m positive: I’ve never seen a better movie than Inception. Our world, and our dreams, will never be the same again.
Jonah: Great to see you so fired up!
coupla things:
Ellen Page is wasted in this movie. She was hired to interest younger audience but her role could have been played by almost anyone, and an “unknown” should have been cast to give someone a break. Ellen will get plenty of parts, someone else could have had a chance here.
Also: while I really want the last scene to be reality and not dreamland — how come the children have not aged a day from the memory he has of them?
So great to have your comments on the blog, Karen. To address them: 1. I totally see your point about Ellen Page, though I think you have a unique perspective in this regard, in terms of wanting an unknown to get a break. Originally, they’d wanted Evan Rachel Wood for that part, but she said no (too busy wearing color contacts with her boyfriend Marilyn Manson). You can’t blame a director for wanting an actress of Page’s caliber in this role for his masterpiece, but I do see your point. To you second point — this is the argument most people I’ve spoken to bring up. I have to assume the director made this choice for one of two reasons: one, clarity for the audience (“here he is guys, right at the moment he’s always dreamed of, finally its coming true”). two, confusion for the audience, hence this conversation. However, while this choice with the kids points to the possibility of it being a dream, far more elements point to it NOT being a dream — for me, having clear reasons why it’s not possible to be a dream is stronger than this small reason it might be one. For instance, if Leo is asleep, where is his sleeping body? He would have to have been asleep for a LONG time without his body being touched, awakened or affected by external elements at all. Secondly, his subconscious would’ve been straight up inventing people like Saito, Ellen Page, the Indian Guy — people he wouldn’t have known when he went to sleep — and we’d be shown that the rules of the sub-conscious do not allow for that kind of detailed character invention. Thirdly, if he were asleep, that would essentially have put him, at one time, in a dream (his “reality”), within a dream (van falling off the bridge), within a dream (hotel), within a dream (mountain), within a dream (limbo). How the hell could this guy be that deeply asleep for that long? And wouldn’t all his previous deaths in his dreams (i.e. when he gets “milked” in the opening sequence) have sent him straight to limbo? So for my money, all the anti-dream arguments are too strong to ignore.
I think at least one of the character names is not nondescript: Mol, pronounced the same as “Mal” (Latin for “bad”) clearly represents self-destructive forces within the protagonist, influences that are “bad” for him because he cannot align his conscious and those unconscious wishes. They are unconscious because he cannot control them consciously. In Jungian terms, Mol might represent the protagonist’s Anima.
Regards
they did. moviemakers just wanted to have somewhat of the same memory so it would be identifiable. and also in the credits there were 4 kids who played them. the 1st two were 20 months and 3 years, and the 2nd two were ages 3 and 5.
” How do Dom and Mol go from being an old couple in Limbo to the young couple in Limbo that get run over by the train?”
If you watch the movie again pay attention to the flashes of Dom and Mol when they are old and you will see that they were actually old when they got run over by the train, and he was just imagining them as young the rest of the movie.
GREAT call GianniD! That definitely clarifies things for me. One major hole solved!
I have a major question here:
How were they able to use the device in the brief case even in dreams, shouldn’t this device only be available in reality? what do you think?
Hey mtaher! In the dreams, sort of like in the Matrix, the dreamers are allowed to bring things in with them from their own subconscious. For instance, Joseph Gordon Levitt brings the explosive charges with him into the hotel; Eames brings his mini grenade launcher thing into the warehouse, etc. Just like they can bring those items with them into the dream, so too can they bring the sleeping device.
Your reply came so fast
, here is another tricky one: what did Cobb mean by missing the first kick why did he say that they “missed” it I mean they weren’t planning to wake up at that time not until they plant the idea into Fischer’s mind??
Another one: I really don’t understand level 4 dream I mean is it a limbo (is it a shared state btw
?) or Cobb’s dream? (in my opinion I don’t think it is limbo cause Cobb and Ariadne went to it together and also using the device wasn’t it) but if level 4 isn’t a limbo how did Fischer end up in it? and if it is limbo then how come Ariadne and Cobb go to it 
?
I love talking Inception! Okay, #1 — you’ve got the gist. The original plan was for them to have it all planted in Fisher’s mind and returned to the van in the first dream level in time to get the first kick back to reality — the van hitting the railing. They miss that kick, which means they need to finish the job before the van hits the water — otherwise they’ll be kicked out of the lower dream levels before finishing the job.
#2 — the level 4 dream is limbo/Cobb’s dream. They are essentially the same — limbo is pure, unfiltered subconscious. Cobb is the only person who has been there — it’s where he built his world with Mal. Fischer ended up there because he died while in the dream — anyone who dies during the inception goes to limbo because they’re too heavily sedated to walk up from in it reality. Ariadne and Cobb are able to go into this limbo because they’re going into Fisher’s dream, and that’s where Fisher is.
Good?
Yeah great man:D this movie is “purely awesome” but you really mean “because they’re going into COBB’s dream, and that’s where Fisher is.” not “Fisher’s dream” that’s a small correction regarding the second answer which I guess is a small typing slip
regarding the first answer I have another inter related question
:D: does it require 2 synced kicks to wake up from a dream level with one kick in the same level and the second kick in the upper level (closer to reality 
) and if so did Ariadne jump off the cliff with Fischer or after him by a while just when the fortress was collapsing in the 3rd dream?(because if she jumped with him it won’t make sense because she will remain falling for a very long time until the upper synced kick comes for her)
Yo dude, so #1 — No, I meant Fisher’s dream. If I’d meant to say Cobb, I would’ve. Fisher dies in the 3rd dream level. Ariadne and Leo follow him down, into his dream, which happens to be limbo, where Cobb has been before. It is not Cobb’s dream, though.
#2 – Each dream level requires its own kick. Ariadne (and Fisher’s) fall off the building kicks her into the 3rd dream level (the mountain). The fall from the mountain explosion kicks her up into the hotel elevator, which kicks her into the van.
ok #1 is done for now
#2 but Araidne didn’t wake up in the 3rd dream level only Fischer was kicked to the 3rd dream from the Fischer’s presumed Limbo state
although not sure what was the kick for Fischer was it the electric shock or the fall or both of them together who knows 
my only explanation for this is that Ariadne consumes much more time falling down from the buillding than Fischer does (because the fortress was not collapsing yet) then Fischer sees the will then the 3rd level kick starts to bring Ariadne back to the third level from the free fall 
what do you think about this mess?
Okay. So. Ariadne DOES wake up in the 3rd dream level, as does Fisher, both from falling off the collapsing building. Fischer’s electric shock is only to make sure he’s alive in limbo. You see Ariadne walking up on the floor of the snowy mountain hospital, just in time to fall as it explodes, which kicks her back to the elevator, where she wakes up just in time to get kicked to the van.
does this make sense?
kinda
but still I believe in the 2 synced kicks theory because why did Arthur not wake up from the first kick and why did no one wake up when the van was rolling? it was only because the kicks were not synced yet (it was mentioned that a kick in the upper level wakes you up but now with the sedation there must be 2 synced kicks got it?)
Ok here it is!!
You only need 2 synched kicks to get out of limbo. That’s why Ariadne and Fisher needed both the falling off the building and the explosion in the mountain compound to get out of limbo/level 4. I can’t totally explain why the van hitting the railing doesn’t pull Arthur out of his level 2 dream — perhaps b/c he doesn’t want to be pulled? Perhaps the kick simply isn’t strong enough? Perhaps because he’s able to anticipate the kick and brace himself for it?
The rolling van isn’t strong enough to act as a kick for people so heavily sedated, and once the guys all go down further into the dreams, it doesn’t matter anyway, as they’d need to be kicked from one level to the next.
ok I guess we should stop here for now
but only until any further questions pop in my mind.
Still I’ll have my second watching soon enough to be certain about the things I can’t explain which are not few to be honest
and truly I enjoyed arguing with you about this terrific movie 
We’re not arguing — we’re discussing! Love it. See if this website helps: http://wegotthiscovered.com/2010/07/20/dream-a-little-bigger-a-guide-to-understanding-inception/
I am beginning so much to believe in this theory
,
check it out
http://jimborant.blogspot.com/2010/07/inception-ending.html
I am beginning so much to believe in this theory
, check it out
http://jimborant.blogspot.com/2010/07/inception-ending.html
Okay I have a question. How do they manage to get back to the plane? I mean, what was the kick they got to go back there? They could not have stayed there in dream level 1 for the whole time, because 10 hours flight = 1 week in dream level 1. The projections would’ve killed them by then, meaning they fall into limbo.
So maybe Fischer’s trained projections backed off a bit because Fischer didn’t feel threatened anymore after he escaped the sinking van. But I mean they have to stay there a whole week, and with Fischer being a big businessman, I doubt the maze Ariadne built could contain him that long before he realized it was a dream and his projections started acting up again and killing them.
This is just a bit confusing.
What is your thoughts?
I have an answer to the young Dom and Mol getting run over by the train though they were really old when it happened. He is recounting the story to Ariadne, who is imagining it in her mind as he’s telling it. She imagines Dom and Mol as not aging because she is not as well-versed in the “rules” of limbo. She imagines them as she had seen them, while in reality they had aged because years had passed. This is done for the visual impact of Mol getting her head run over by a train as much as it is to avoid creating confusion at this level of the movie and having people ask “why are they old?,” because the viewer, like Ariadne, is new to this whole world.
Nolan is a genius because he reveals this aging fact, providing closure to the Mol storyline with the fact that they really did spend a full life together, just before we return to find the aged Saito, which helps provide back up to the fact that we’re seeing that aging does happen in limbo.
P.S. By the By, Steve who just commented above, the kick was Joseph Gordon Levitt getting out of the van and shooting both of them and then the rest of the Inception/Extraction crew. The mission had been going on long enough that the heavy sedative had worn off enough to bring them back is how I saw it. Or is there something else going on? After seeing this movie a second time, I think there are several elements that are odd/try to make you think. This is one of the best films I have ever seen.
Hey guys — I think they end up back on the plane simply because the timers are up — they’re only one dream level deep by the time they get out of the van, so they can just wake up from the dream comfortably on the plane.
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the totem bit has been bothering me and it makes me unsure as to what the end would have actually meant. When Ariadne is being dream trained by Arthur he explains that the totems use is to see if you are in someone else’s dream. So when dom spins his top and it moves endlessly he is definitely in another persons dream right? This would mean that when the opposite happens and the top falls he could be essentially still dreaming or in ‘reality’ only it would be his own dream/reality. I think this is just another little twist by nolan to make us question what we actually perceive as being real in the film or otherwise. Brilliant.
Interesting point Makky. It’s been awhile since I saw the movie, so I don’t remember the exact language. But yeah, plenty of twists in this one, to say the least…
Hey Media, great explanation of the film.
I’m pretty much on the same boat as you in regards to how Dom and Mol were able to free themselves from Limbo…especially since one of the movie guidelines states that when in Limbo, your brain becomes oblivious to differentiating reality from dream.
However, I think you missed one point. When Leo chased Saito into Limbo and ended up on the shore, he himself was oblivious as to where he was and why he was there when brought in to Saito’s fortress.
Nonetheless, the items he brought with him, the gun and totem reminded him of his purpose, and he slowly started collecting his thoughts together. I believe that Dom Cobb persuaded Saito about the state they were in, by quoting Saito’s lines earlier in the film about dying an old man; hence, he brought the gun in order to kill themselves and escape Limbo. That is why he slid the gun to him. Then when they wake up, it is assumed by the viewer that Saito shot Dom, and then killed himself after, resulting in him waking up just after Leo on the plane. I don’t think it was a timer, because in Limbo, you are basically in a coma in reality forever.
If they relied on a timer, then where is the thrill? The risk factor was to stay alive in order to prevent brain scrambling and being put in Limbo (comatosis in reality). It seemed to me that the only way to escape Limbo was to be aware of it, which is nearly impossible, and then kill yourself. Since Dom is assumed to be “the best of the elite” he was able to piece is own puzzle with the items he had on him, making him the exception. Does that make sense?
Best movie of the decade for me…District 9 also being a contender. Holler at me to discuss
You’ve got it right, Peter. Well said.
Yeah, this movie wasn’t as good as you seem to think..
I lol’d reading some of this, maybe you should marry the movie. LOTR and old school star wars blows this ridiculously complex and rather stupid movie out of the water.
I was waiting for this movie to get good, but it just got more complicated and meaningless.
Maybe someone planted an idea in your feeble mind that this movie was good?
Agree to disagree, James. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it either if I found it too “complicated” to understand. I, for one, appreciate innovation, risk, artfulness, and execution. This movie had em all, though I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I also enjoyed the deeper meaning of the film as an allegory of Nolan’s filmmaking process. The best reading on the film that I came across is here http://www.chud.com/24477/never-wake-up-the-meaning-and-secret-of-inception/ Read that, then tell me if the movie is meaningless…
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Hi, I almost agree about the movie, one of the best, or maybe the best ever
One question I’m not sure about, is the gravity in dreams. When the van was falling in dream 1, the gravity was lost in dream 2, but what about dream 3? It should’ve lost gravity either, cause everyone, including dream owner, was in zero gravity. What do you think?
My opinion * * * * *
This movie holds all the things to be wanted.
Perfect direction.
Perfect editing.
The music by hans zimmer was in one word gr8.
The movie will take u 2 another wrld.
Great ending.
Best actors.
best idea concept.
best of all
i agree the best movie i ever watched!
Very good points. I was late seeing the movie, and very skeptical after the hype. But I think it really is the best movie made. Absolutely rich briliance. Perfect point: it remains incredibly engaging though it is very ambiguous — think of how many interpretations remain completely viable. For instance, I am positive that the whole thing, beginning to end, is a dream. My wife disagrees, and think the “dream” starts in Mombasa. The movie provides support for either view, and remains emotionally gripping either way. Fantastic stuff.
Hi just chiming in on your earlier argument about weather Dom is in reality or not, about a year too late.
You said that you did not believe Dom was in a dream because he met characters that he did not know before. This however assumes that it is Dom’s dream. When he went to get Eames you saw how he was chased by random people. It is assumed that these are American police hunting him because he killed his wife. But does this make sense? When was the last time street clothes police forces would hunt a man, in presumably a foreign country. It seems more likely that these are someone’s subconscious security hunting him. This would mean he is not the one populating the dream and therefore he would be able to meet new characters.
And for example of physics altering, as he tries to push through a small gap to the street it seems like the walls begin to narrow in on him…
My theory is that he is in reality, but more importantly that it doesn’t really matter if he is in a dream or not as he is finally reunited with his kids, making everything else meaningless. I think this is what Nolan was after as Cobb spins the totem to check, but sees his kids and walks away, not caring whether it falls or not…he has found peace.
Also I thing this movie is a masterpiece as well, and to add to this belief even the music follows the rules of the dream state…if u slow down the classical sounding music that is used for the kicks, u get the signature inception heavy bass notes. Towards the end in each level, if I remember correctly, u can hear the music slows down, following the idea that time slows down in each level.
Maybe a better example of this “songception”…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM
I appreciate your enthusiasm for the film and the effort you’ve made to interpret it. I went into the theater with high hopes but came out disappointed. That disappointment stemmed from one place: for a movie that uses dreams as a stage to hash out ideas there weren’t more than a couple of scenes in the entire film that had a dreamlike quality to them. For me this was the dealbreaker. It also suggested to me that the idea behind the film was too big to properly address from an art direction standpoint and for this reason (that the filmmaker had to sacrifice vision in favor of narrative, an unfortunate choice given film is a visual medium) the film doesn’t qualify (in my opinion) for discussion of ‘best film ever’. Nice try though. I’d like to see more film makers push themselves as Nolan did here. An “epic” failure beats a boring success any day.