Inception Review

I finally saw Inception. I wish I made it a point to see these movies sooner...

Inception
July 16, 2010(USA)

Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur)
Ellen Page (Ariadne)

4.5/5 stars

Cobb is a master of extracting information held in the subconscious of our dreams. He shows that the age old tale, that all dreams are our subconscious thoughts coming out is very true. He, along with a few colleagues, use this skill most often to retrieve thoughts. It's considered to be a type of theft. Cobb is offered a job that focuses on planting a thought within a dream rather than finding one. The powerful man offering this, explains that if it is done correctly, he will ensure that Cobb can return home to his kids safely, something Cobb has been waiting for.


More about the movie:

Cobb and the rest of his team, live in a world that we assume is in the future given the level of technology, even though the set, vehicles and character's wardrobes make it seem like it's 2010. It is evident that Cobb cannot return home for some reason, although that doesn't become clear until he meets Ariadne. Cobb, Arthur and another colleague are entering the dream of a man named Saito. They offer their services as dream security. They teach people how to train their subconscious so that it does not give away important information to a dream thief. The first mistake they make is the fault of Cobb's subconscious entering the dream in the form of his late wife, Mal. The resolve that situation and then show up in Saito's secret apartment. The "architect" on their team, which is the person that designs the dream, failed to design Saito's apartment the way it should be. Saito realizes that he is dreaming and as we learn later the dreamer should never know they are dreaming. The only way to wake up from a dream is death in the dream. Cobb, Arthur, the architect, and Saito are all in the same dream. Cobb shots Arthur in the head so that he will wake up and they can leave the dream. Saito, while unimpressed by the failure of getting the information, he is still impressed enough to give them an important job.

He wants them to use inception to plant an idea, into the mind of the heir to a competing energy company. Saito explains that they cannot use the same architect that failed the first time. Realizing the extreme level of difficulty, Cobb and Arthur decide to add a few people to their team. They turn to Cobb's father for help. He introduces Cobb to a very bright young woman, Araidne. He is impressed with her ability to design mazes in very specific ways. He shows her how dreams work and how they can be manipulated. They enter his dream together. She manipulates the dream too much and his subconscious, in the form of random people and Mal, kill her since manipulating his dream made her seem like a threat. She realizes that Mal may be a problem during this big job. While Cobb is hooked up to the machine that forces dreams, Ariadne enters the dream, but it's a dream that's meant to be a secret. It is here we learn that the reason Cobb can't go home to his kids, is because he is wanted for the murder of his wife. The guilt of losing her is what keeps her coming back at all the wrong times.

The rest of the movie is difficult to explain. But they create dreams within dreams to enter Fischer's dream. He is the man whose dream they must manipulate. The real issue here, is not that they will get caught, but that being so far into that level of dreaming is dangerous. Dying that far down wouldn't wake you up, but force you to stay in dream Limbo, and place that is hard to escape from.

No one but Cobb knows until it is too late, how dangerous it all is. And it gets worse when they find that Fischer had his subconscious trained to protect itself from what they are doing.

The ending is hard to give away since they don't fully disclose the ending to us. I suppose optimists will have one view and pessimists will have another. Or maybe you might find yourself saying, "I want to believe that _____ happened, but since I didn't see it happen, I can't know for sure." It is definitely something that you believe happens but then when you think about it, it could all be another dream.


It's a wonderful movie, but it might be a bit too thought provoking.