Whoa! Finally the wait is over. Let me first clearly say few things about me. I am a Nolan Fan. Having seen Memento(Breakthrough Story Telling),
Batman Begins(Good, imagine Batman story starts from Tibet and looks convincing),
The Prestige( Multi Layered, repeat viewing recommended, very good) and
The Dark Knight(again Multi Layered, not a comic movie but a psychological thriller, my personal favorite),
I believe in CN completely.
Then look at the cast, we haveDi Caprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page and Michael Caine. So, expectations were sky high for me.
Now, let's get to the business
PLOT
We have a technology available for shared dreaming and Dream invasion.
Cobb is an extractor, a world class criminal who can access your mind through your dream. However, he is accused of some serious crime which he has not committed and looking forward to go back to America by any means to meet his children.
He has to do"one last job"given by Satio to go back home. In this assignment, instead of stealing something from subject's mind, Cobb has to plan a new idea. Subject is Robert Fischer.
To execute this, he builds his team which consists of:
The Pointman, Arthur(Joseph Gordon Levitt) who identifies the target in dreams.
The Forger, Eames(Tom Hardy)who can forge anybody in physical form in dreams.
The Architect, Ariadane(Ellen page) who constructs building/city for the dream world.
The Chemist, Yusuf(Dilip Rao) who prepares sedatives as per the requirement.
Robert Fischer(Cillian Murphy)is the subject. Satio(Ken Watanabe) also joins them in this assignment and
there is one more unwelcomed person Mal(Marion Cotillard) who appears in their shared dream.
I will not reveal story here in detail as that may spoil your experience. I will just explain some rules of Dream World.
Rules
Totem - It's a signature object for each member to make sure if they are in dream world or real world. It behaves differently in dream world than real world.
If an individual is hurt in the dream world, they will experience pain(like in the Matrix). But if they die in the dream, they will merely wake up and dream would be over.
Inception means to implant an idea instead of stealing one. In order to do inception, team needs to go Dream within dreams and so on. Interesting thing is time they experience at each level. Time slows down with each level. 1 minute of real world is 10 minuntes in First Dream, and couple of hours in dream-within-dream and so on.
Then there is a Limbo state in which person can be trapped for indefinite amount of time.
MINUSES
This movie deserves multiple viewing because of its complexity. You can't miss a second because so many things happening at a time(that's Nolan's style, I guess). At one point we have Real world->dream->dream->dream->dream. This is not a film, mass will love at least in India. You need to focus completely during entire duration of the movie.
This is such a script that if person wants to apply his logic mind, he can find many liberties. Same is applicable to movies like Matrix, Terminator series etc. I believed in CN world completely and watched the movie.
PLUSSES
Nolan took almost a decade to develope this idea into a script and then a movie(I can understand that after watching a movie). The movie has lots of twists. The core of the story line is Cobb and his guilt regarding his late wife Mal and that is handled very well.
CN doesn't rely much on CGI which is actually good for story telling. Movie is high on emotional quotient as well. I never consider TDK as asuperhero movie, for me it's always like a psychological thriller. For me, Inception is aScifi-heist movie with lots of emotional drama. Full marks to CN as a writer and as a director.
Background music by Hans Zimmeris awesome. I am looking forward to hear to its soundtrack independantely.
Special effects are good. The Matrix might have been more successful because of its special effects but it gets the cult status because of its philosophy. Inception relies more on its EQ, conflict of Cobb's mind rather than CGI. CGI scenes are not at path-breaking as Matrix but that doesn't reduce the effect of the movie.
Performance wise everyone delivers.
Michael Caine in a guest appearance is adorable.
Cillian Murphy looks vulnerable, Ken Watanabe represents a cunning businessmen. Dilip Rao is adequate. Tom Hardy is like James Bond, sharp humor and cool head.
JGL as right hand of Cobb is very good, I can see next Di Caprio in making.
Ellen Page represents the viewer. She asks questions we want to ask. Another good perfomance from Juno.
Di Caprio has second release this year as a widower. He is so capable as an actor, can show emotional conflict he is going through with perfection.
Marion Cotillard, her character is the central character of the movie. Whenever she appears, I have a shiever through my spine. She looks angelic and scary at the same time. I guess Aishwarya had been offered this role but it didn't materialize. What a loss!
