Inception

You don’t get too many arguments, especially not from me, when Alfred Hitchcock is described as the world’s greatest director. By default, this also makes him the greatest British director of all time. In fifty years time though will Christopher Nolan have emerged as the new king deserving of said epitaph? A near flawless back catalogue has seen Nolan (rightly) decorated with praise left, right and centre since his early short films. Now comes the juggernaut that is Inception. Firstly, I should say that I’m reviewing this film having seen it twice. Not to “get” it mind you. The second time was an IMAX experience. However, it does make reviewing this film interesting as, much like Memento, you may get your head around it more second time round. For Inception though, whilst a second viewing means it can be enjoyed on a more comprehensive level, whether or not the film improves on a further viewing is open to debate. In terms of the complex plot we have Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who, along with his team, enter the subconscious minds of sleeping targets and extract secretive information. However, after trying the trick on businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) he recruits them to attempt “inception” on a business rival of his. Inception being planting an idea in the subconscious instead of stealing one. Where it goes from here is impossible to explain, but it involves going into deeper sublevels of the subconscious, i.e. dreams within dreams. So, it’s bonkers right? Indeed. Is it any good though? Firstly, Nolan’s got himself a killer cast for this. Everyone pulls their weight, especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy as members of DiCaprio’s crew. A shout out as well to Nolan fave Cillian Murphy as the businessman on who the inception is being attempted. The film falls mainly on DiCaprio’s shoulders though and he puts in a strong performance showing Cobb as a focused and driven individual, but one who has a permanent nagging doubt about it all at the back of his mind. In terms of Nolan’s direction this is as tight as you’d expect and the final sequence where the inception is attempted is expertly constructed as Nolan cross cuts backwards and forwards between characters in different levels of the subconscious all edited down to the exact final second to the conclusion of Cobb and Co’s mission. It’s a masterful moment. Throw in a pumping soundtrack from Hans Zimmer, and some fantastic effects, and you’ll feel that Nolan has triumphed again. And yet…..this isn’t Nolan’s best film, not by quite a bit. Though the sleight of hand is good, it lacks, apart from the final scene, the gut punch finale of The Prestige, it’s certainly not as entertaining as either of his Batman films and Memento gives a better example of a confusing film that can be unravelled into something coherent. That last point is going to be the sticking point for a lot of people. Is this just too smart for its own good? There’s certainly no right answer as to what conclusion you might draw from what you’ve just spent 150 minutes watching and some people might find that a con. If you’ve seen Last Year at Marienbad (which Nolan claims he hadn’t before he wrote this…really, Chris?) you’ll know where I’m coming from. Interestingly this is Nolan’s first completely original work since Following and by calling the main character Cobb, Nolan veterans may think they have the answer to all they have seen before them. My advice, and this includes the much talked about and cracking final scene, take from Inception what you want and leave it at that. It took Nolan ten years to do this film and even he has said there isn’t a said answer as to what you’ve just seen. A great film no doubt, but even better from Nolan surely awaits.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Nolan’s masterpiece? Not yet. His most entertaining film so far? Nope. One of the best films of the year? Definitely. Rating: 8/10.