Now I'm gonna need my own Totem just to make sure that I have the full grasp of reality. If you have no idea what I'm talking about or any idea what totem means, you're clearly away from the buzz circling around the masterpiece of Christopher Nolan's Inception.
Did I even say masterpiece? Well that's understatement for this film. What really stands out is the fact that Nolan was able to creatively narrate one complex mind boggling idea into a film. I like that he has based his idea from something that is very hard to explain yet it has surprisingly captured and delivered what the movie theme is about. Nolan's the man. I bow to his talent, from Batman Begins, to The Prestige and The Dark Knight, and now Inception. Side note, I will be downloading Memento and Insomia which is a previous work of Nolan, I'm sure its good as the other work he had.
So if your one of those millions of people who already watched, I bet you heard and know the extractor, the point man, the architect, the forger and the chemist. So the basic concept of the movie is that a person can plant an idea in someone elses's mind by using dreams.
The reason why Dom Cobb (Leanorado De Caprio) is called the extractor is based on the fact that he is an mind stealer originally. What he does is that, he uses dreams to obtain certain information in someone's mind by going to its subconsciousness. Now the truth is that information is either known by the person or hiding in his subconciou mind. This is the reason why Dom is considered wanted and a fugitive.
 |
| Spinning Top: Totem |
A Business man Saito (Ken Watanabe) rivals a dying Corporate Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlewaite) who will soon give his business inheritance to his son Robert Fischer (Cilian Murphy). Saito wants to stop to his monopolizing empire and to keep him out of the business. He then hires Dom to make sure that Robert does not carry on to his father's footsteps in building the monopoly making him The Mark of the mission.
Ergo the main idea of the film. Saito hires Dom to implant the idea into Robert's subconscious mind that his father wants him to make his own path, or to stop the monopoly. That's where the team of Inceptionist arrives.
The opening scene of the movie was confusing at first. Seeing that idea is quite hard to digest.. but as the movie progresses, its quite the contrary. The one where Cobb and his team was trying to incept an idea into Saito's mind for trial purposes was just brilliant. I specifically love the scene where Cobb has to wake up from the dream as he falls into a water-full bath tub. Exciting effects and has a very creative interpretation.
After failing with the architects of the trial run, Cobb has to find a better team for the same purpose. Now that's not the only reason why he needs a new team. Cobb has some interesting fallout's, because it appears that he can not control the epiphany of her deceased wife into every mission and exactly also the reason why the mission failed on the first trial.
Cobb hires the student Ariadne (Ellen Page) as the new architect, who will build the physical lay out of the dream. This the part of the movie where Cobb tries to explain to Ariadne what the basic concept of Inception is, I like this part not only because me as an audience can relate to concept, but also because it made me think of the endless possibilities that our mind has. I like the idea that they have broaden my eyes a bit. I specifically like the explosion scene on the restaurant plus the part where Ariadne builds her own architecture where in the city went up side down. That was just an eye candy! Superb effects. Really.
Cobb also hires the forger Eames (Tom Hardy), whose main role is to forge himself in the dream and basically be somebody that The Mark knows in pushing him into that inceptioned idea. He's like a shape-shifter in dreams. In this case, Earnes forge himself as Robert's Godfather Peter Browning (Tom Berenger). The Chemist is Yusuf (Dileep Rao) what he does is combine a certain substance that will help the team in controlling the dream. What makes the movie more complicated is the theory that they can build a dream within a dream. In this case they have to go to 3 layers of dreams.
 |
| Christopher Nolan |
The need to do 3 layers of dream is the due to the fact that The mark may see the difference between the dream from the reality, ie the architectural failure of the initial trial. This differences is manifested by the what they call Projections. The more that the mark sees these differences the more projections there are.
That's exactly the basic premise of the show. Now the most interesting and jaw breaking scenes were from the mission itself. Like I said, its 3 layers of dream. So that means 3 riveting action scenes. Haha. What I like about the first scene is the rigorous gun fight scenes plus the sudden train occurence. It was just heart pounding. The train which is a projection manifested by Dom's wife Malorie Cobb (Marion Cotillard) has compromised the mission in dream 1 thus making that scene Jaw Dropping.
The 2nd dream was about stepping up to the challenge which is mainly about the compromise in dream 1. Now what Dom has to do is to convince Robert that he is being followed by someone because they are trying to obtain certain information from his father's will. Robert agreed thus making the third dream possible. I like the 2nd dream because this is the part where they have Defy Gravity. Actor Joseph Gordon-Lewitt as Arthur did excellently in the stunts.or should I say the stuntman whatever. The synchronization of the Van from dream 1 to 2 was just so amazing. Its like Matrix 2.0 I love the idea of their bodies floating around as the van struggles from a freefall off a bridge. Excellent idea!
 |
| The cast |
That's exactly the challenge is about in dream 3.. Dying. As projections of The mark increases, the more fatality becomes extreme. Although this scene is action packed. I'm not such a fan of the dream 3 though maybe because of the snow setting. What I like was the challenge for Dom in the epiphany of Malorie sabotaging the the mission. Ergo killing Robert in the end. What the shocking part is they have to improvise setting up a dream 4 where Dom and Mal has spent time with in Limbo.
Dream 4 was a revelation of the relationship between Dom and Mal. It was revealed that it was Dom who planted the idea that their dream is a reality for Mal. Hence, when she woke up from the dream into the reality, it was hard for her to differentiate the two. Killing herself in the end, thinking she'll just wake up from another dream.
The guilt of this realization from Dom's had became a burden for him thus making Mal a projection in every mission there is. In the end, Dom got stucked in Limbo together with Saito who has been shot in dream 3 thus making him appearing old in the beginning of the movie. Dom looked for Saito in the end thus waking him up from a very long dream.
The film depicts that you can only know the difference of dreams from reality through a totem, which in Dom's way a spinning top. If top spins and i never ends you're in a dream, but if it stops then its reality. What's bothering me the most is the final image of the movie, showing a spinning top but was cut and never revealed if it did stop, thus making me wonder.. Is there a possibility that the Dom never woke up in his dreams and is still in Limbo?
Very complex yet satisfactorily awesome. This kinds of movies are something that I look forward to.. Making me think.. and surprises me of things that has either never been thought of or ideas being rediscovered. Four out of Four stars! If ever you wanna exercise your... brain a bit, Inception is the film for you. :D
BTW.. Marion Cotillard is HOT!
0 comments:
Post a Comment