The Front Row Is The Scene Of The Crime: Inception Review

I had ludicrously high expectations of Inception, as seemingly everyone else in the world has, and they weren’t disappointed. This is a visually stunning, confident and complex piece of cinema that steps beyond being an action or sci-fi genre piece and gives you something totally immersing and unique in its own right. It again confirms that Chris Nolan is a majorly talented director who knows how to assemble a quality cast and crew and get the most from them.

As anyone who has been following this director’s work will be expecting, this movie looks great, with a creative attitude to visually treating you and confidently creating a believable and interesting film world. Even as I sat blindly for the first twenty minutes, I could hear that the movie also sounded great. The plot, which in lesser hands could have been as dull as watching a Michael Mann movie about John Dillinger, was gripping. It concerns corporate espionage, and trying to persuade a son to break up his father’s business. Without having seen the film, this sounds about as interesting as making a movie about some luckless researcher sitting in a recruitment office tele-headhunting overpaid executives, but in Nolan’s hands it’s an utterly mesmerising, involving, and intellectually stimulating thrill ride that somehow manages to have three or four planes of action bisected by a clear thread of narrative as well as finally leaving you with a hefty emotional punch. It’s rare to find something so action packed that manages to be both complex enough not to be insulting (but yet still can be followed by the Pop Academy/Big Brother followers with their poor battered brains leaking out of their idiot earholes) and also emotionally involving enough to make you care about the characters’ outcomes and eventually even leaving a lump in your throat. It’s a movie that gives you so much but yet still leaves you wanting more. Despite what some have said, I found the pacing throughout to be perfect.

PUT DOWN YOUR MAGNERS AND SEE

Despite myself, I couldn’t find anything majorly to fault in this film on a first viewing. Everything was pretty much exactly as I wanted it to be, and as soon as I left the cinema I wanted to go back and watch it again. If you were feeling mean spirited (which usually I am), you could draw a comparison to the Matrix, but unlike that film I feel that Inception would reward repeated viewings and reveal more of itself each time. Of course you can never know how something will date, but I would doubt Inception will look as creaky in ten years as the Matrix does now. It’s just a tighter, higher quality product.

Possibly, the only thing that could be improved would be to emphasise the emotional engagement a little more and make more of the love story/family element that runs through the DiCaprio character. It’s definitely there, but more as an undertow to the action, although it does make its presence felt enough at the end. In truth, I felt more emotionally wrung out at the end of the Dark Knight than I did Inception. The characters could also have been drawn in more detail, although this isn’t something you would likely be aware of as you watch the movie. But I nitpick. For in-cinema enjoyment, intellectual and emotional stimulation, imagination, visuals, and soundtrack, I couldn’t think of much to improve this film. In short, it’s the full package, and you’ve probably already seen it. If you haven’t, you should put down your teeth dissolving glass of bloody insufferable Magners and go see it now.

9.4/10

Blindly Appreciative Regards

Biolab