But it seems as though the rules are reversed when it comes to dreams during deep sleep. Not only do the intricate images and subconscious events within the mind seem to last a lifetime (even though only several hours pass in real-time), but on some occasions the dreams in question are so convincing and realistic that one has to question whether or not they're awake, or still snoozing away in their own special dream world.
While researchers and psychologists still don't fully understand the purpose or science of dreams (lucid or otherwise), the concept of the "reality" of dreams is still a rich subject for fictional storytelling, as proven by Christopher Nolan, the genius British-American filmmaker whose track record of psychologically-stimulating films (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight) gets yet another high mark with Inception, a mind-boggling, exhilarating, and absolutely marvelous science-fiction heist film where the mind is the scene of the crime.
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an experienced "extractor", who specializes in infiltrating the dreams of his subjects/marks as a means of corporate espionage, where he extracts secrets and other important information from the subject's mind.
Despite being very good at what he does, Cobb has a bit of a shady past. Having run from America a couple years earlier for a crime he says he didn't commit, Cobb travels around the world performing extracting jobs with his frequent teammate and point man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), all while trying to find a means to clear his name and return to his two young children.
That chance seems to have arrived in the form of Saito (Ken Watanabe), a powerful businessman who wants Cobb for a special and unorthodox job. Saito wants Cobb to perform not an extraction but rather an "inception" on rival energy conglomerate heir Robert Fisher (Cillian Murphy), where instead of stealing ideas from the mark's mind, the infiltrators would actually implant an idea; in this case, implanting in Robert the idea of breaking up his father's company and giving Saito a market monopoly. Saito promises Cobb that if he can pull off this inception, Saito would make it so Cobb's name is cleared and he can finally go home to his children.
Though Cobb and Arthur are reluctant to accept the job (since an inception would involve not only having the mark's subconscious instinctively creating defenses to fend off foreign occupants, but also having to dangerously create dreams within dreams to ward off such defenses), Cobb's personal motivations cause the mission to go ahead. They form a diverse team of fellow infiltrators to build the dream scenario: forger Eames (Tom Hardy), who assumes various identities in the dream world to fool the mark; college student Ariadne (Ellen Page), who serves as the architect of the dream world itself; and chemist Yusuf (Dileep Rao), who concocts the powerful sedatives to help immerse the real-world team into the subconscious dream world.
As the team enters Robert's mind, they must not only avoid his natural mental defenses, but must also enter deeper, labyrinth-like layers of dreams-within-dreams to successfully implant Saito's idea, at the risk of being stuck forever in a dream limbo should they be killed in the dream world. And on top of that, the team must encounter Cobb's inadvertent mental projections of his late wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), who attempts to convince the guilt-ridden Cobb into staying with her in this subconscious reality.
Confused yet? Well, if director Nolan's previous cinematic offerings (Memento in particular) are any indication, you will most definitely walk out of the theater both scratching your head and catching your breath at the same time.
In my review of last year's terrific horror romp Drag Me To Hell (directed by cult horror director and Spider-Man trilogy helmer Sam Raimi), I mentioned how it can be beneficial for a successful veteran filmmaker to return to the roots that made him a household name in the first place. Nolan cut his directorial teeth on psychologically-tantalizing indie films such as Following and Memento, following them up with acclaimed big-budget features like his Batman reboots. But while Raimi's post-Spidey Drag Me To Hell was an aesthetic and low-budget return to the cheesy horror-comedy roots he planted with the Evil Dead trilogy, Nolan made the risky move of not only creating an intellectually-complex psychological puzzler (not exactly a target film for a summer moviegoing audience), but also combining it with big-budget ($200 million in this case) elements usually set aside for brainless popcorn films.
But once again, Nolan proved naysayers wrong. Not only is Inception a wholly original and mindbending experience, but it's a summertime film release that exercises the audience's intelligence, rather than insult it. The film's plot is multilayered to the brim, and it can become confusing and hard to keep up with all the various layers of Matrix-like dreams and realities. But thankfully, Nolan's script and excellent direction manages to keep the audience's eyes glued to the screen. And like the infiltration team in the movie, the picture's cast and crew all serve as effectively integral parts to bring the whole thing together.
Almost every technical aspect of Inception is Oscar-worthy, what with production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas' Escher-like setpieces, editor Lee Smith's captivating quick cuts and smooth transitions into the various dream worlds, and Hans Zimmer's powerful score ties everything together from a visceral and emotional standpoint.
The casting is stellar across the board. As the guilt-ridden extractor-in-chief, DiCaprio is terrific in the role. Though his character is initially mysterious and ambiguous, Cobb becomes much more fleshed out later on, especially with the revelations of his tragic backstory involving his late wife (an emotionally raw and somewhat creepy Cotillard). Ellen Page does a fine job as the new addition to the team, a youngster who's both in awe and fear of this new subconscious world she enters. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt (easily one of the best actors working today) plays it cool as the team's point man who also gets the best action scenes, most notably a ridiculously cool showdown with defensive mental projections in a revolving hallway.
To say that Inception is high-concept would be a huge understatement. While many high-concept films don't usually pan out (Snakes on a Plane, anyone?), there's always the rare film that flirts with an out-of-this-world (or mind) concept that consistently clicks with precision. This is one of those films. While Inception has all the bells and whistles of a summer blockbuster, at its core is a brilliantly-conceived and almost philosophical thematic foundation that will easily keep the viewer (including yours truly) enthralled long after the credits roll.
Though the two-and-a-half-hour runtime and complex storytelling may be daunting for some (a second viewing may be necessary to fully absorb everything), it's still worth watching not only one of the best movies of 2010 (if not THE best), but yet another testament to Christopher Nolan's amazing talent and skill. A true cinematic dream if there was one, Inception is testimony to the notion that a movie with brains can be just as engaging as one with just brawn.
Letter Grade: "A"
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