INCEPTION (Dir. Christopher Nolan)
Perhaps it’s a little brash, with such a small review blog as this, to so many movies full-marks. Then again, it’s brash to do it with even a well-established blog (see: Pitchfork giving Kanye West a 10), but what point is there in having a top rating if you’re only going to tip-toe around it? And what if the movie is worth full marks? Because I believe Inception is. I admit: I am, deep down, a diehard sci-fi fan, and Inception ticks all my boxes. So what if you don’t understand it? Does that make you enjoy it less? With other films, that may be the case, but I haven’t met anyone who’s watched this film and said they didn’t enjoy it (apart from the usual ‘wait, what? So they’re in whose dream now?’ comment). I admit, I’m a fan, and I love it.

Of course, Christopher Nolan’s greatest work (erm, so far) is not without its flaws, so I suppose rather than this review being a balance of good and bad, it instead needs to be a justification of its 10/10 rating. So we start with the flaws. Really, the only ‘big’ flaw for me is Inception’s Hollywood-ness; maybe I’m just being a stubborn hipster but some of the film’s best parts are hindered by its need to pander to the box office. This is true in some of the casting; Michael Caine is totally out of place, and quite how he’s Marion Cottilard’s father is as confusing a matter as the dreams themselves. A lot of overexplanation and generalization is involved to make sure the film is suitable for all IQs (or, well, most). While I don’t want to complain about the film’s confusing storyline and its attempts to explain itself – because they helped me as well as everyone else – it would be nice if they were a little more subtle.

But really, I’m just plucking at straws, because Inception is pretty much fully brilliant. I’m not too big a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, but he holds the movie rather well as its protagonist, and around him Ellen Page and Tom Hardy do even better in supporting parts. Even Ken Watanabe does well. The only person I really have a problem with is Marion Cotillard, who I fear is fast becoming typecast as ‘the evil bitch’ after this film. Why does she have to be so goddamn evil in this? I know she’s the ‘baddie’, but Nolan takes it a little too far.

I won’t talk too much about the effects, cinematography and production, because they were all fantastic – from the different ‘feels’ of the different dream layers, the changing-gravity bit in the hotel and the superreal chase sequences. Inception is one of those films that takes a few watches for it to make sense, but not one of those films that takes a few watches for you to appreciate it. Because, dreams within dreams aside, Inception is simply a well-directed Hollywood sci-fi adrenalin rush.


★★★★★