Inception

If ever there was a movie that was about the stuff dreams are made of, Inception is it. Like "The Matrix" and "Dark City" it leaves you questioning reality itself. Just walking out the theater I almost question whether I could be dreaming now. The well acted performances, well crafted plot, and well done effects will satisfy those craving action, but its concept of dreams within dreams within more dreams keeps you guessing right until it's masterful end.

Please note: Entries about media reviewed in this blog are written from the perspective that the reader has already seen the work in question and desires further commentary or explanation. Plot twists and endings will sometimes be examined.

The movie opens with a scene it'll return to later. We see the main character of our story Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) washed up on a beach where he's found and then taken to an elderly Japanese man. Looking only at a metallic top which aside from his firearm was the only thing Cobb had on him, the old man seems to remember him. Then we skip away to another time and place entirely.

Cobb and his associate Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are making a pitch to a Japanese man named Saito (Ken Watanabe) about how even one's thoughts and dreams and memories are no longer secure. Cobb is trying to sell his services as one who can help train Saito to guard and protect his own mind. Saito is reluctant, however, and says he'll take the night to think about it. We then see from a conversation between Cobb and Arthur that the two of them are actually thieves of some kind attempting to get at one of Saito's secrets, but when Cobb decides to try and steal them directly out of Saito's vault he is thwarted by Mal (Marion Cotillard who recently appeared in Public Enemies opposite Johnny Depp) a woman he apparently knows and cannot completely trust.

It is revealed that all we've seen is actually the inside of a shared dream in which the characters can connect to one another and control things to a certain degree thanks to a new piece of technology (I don't think the device is ever actually named in the movie). Cobb and his associates were attempting to literally steal secrets out of Saito's mind, the very thing he had actually been warning the man to beware of in the dream. Outside a riot brewing in the streets threatens to put all their lives in danger and Cobb and his men try using the encroaching danger as a reason to get Saito to divulge his secret. This too turns out to be a ruse, one that Saito is able to see through due to an imperfect detail in the room, and one of the first of the movie's secrets to be revealed to us as well: we are actually seeing a dream within a dream, such a thing is possible in this world.

Their job failed, Cobb and his men decide to leave Saito and begin to split up. He alludes at heading to South America to lay low until new work can be found, but is instead confronted suddenly by Saito who catches up to them and then offers Cobb a chance to return to the USA. The job is to acquire a specific target, enter their mind and rather than learn a secret of theirs, instead plant a thought or idea and consequently influence them to do something they wouldn't otherwise. The process of getting secrets by entering dreams we learn is called "extraction", and the characters seem somewhat familiar with it. This new procedure of planting a thought in an individual is called "inception" and it is thought to be impossible by Arthur, though Cobb says otherwise, confessing he has actually been able to accomplish it once before.

It is explained that Cobb has been basically exiled from the US when he went on the run after the death of Mal (who we now find out was his wife). Wanting more than anything else to see his children, who are still in the US, and therefore separated from him, Cobb decides to take the job despite the difficulties and dangers involved.

Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy) is the man Saito wants to acquire. His father is the head of a "communications superpower" and apparently is on his deathbed, with junior standing to inherit everything. Saito, recognizing he can no longer compete against this rival company, wants Cobb to implant the idea to break apart his father's company inside Robert's head. To do so, Cobb assembles a team that includes amongst others, a chemist to keep them all sedated for longer, a master of disguise, and an "architect" named Ariadne (Ellen Page) to build the dreams they'll inhabit. Ariadne, over the course of the film gets much closer to Cobb than the others and discovers several important things about him. One is that his "totem" (a device whose physics and qualities only they know and can use to tell if they're in a dream or not), is actually one he acquired from Mal, a metal top (the same he had on him in the opening sequence) which will not stop spinning once started. One is that he keeps several haunting memories of his past "locked away" within his mind. One is that he cannot seem to remember his childrens' faces or bear to look upon them in his dreams (though he constantly sees their backs facing him in odd places when he does enter one). This is a result of his regret at leaving them to flee after Mal's death. More importantly than anything else, Ariadne learns that Mal sort of lives on within Cobb's subconscious and that she occasionally shows up in dreams he enters and screws things up. She's kind of like that horrible seed of doubt that exists inside us all and innerly makes us think we might be sabotaging our own chances to succeed.

Mal is something of a frightening presence in the film. In the first dream sequence we see her not only expose Cobb when he tries to rob Saito, but also begin to torture Arthur. Later when she appears in something of a tutorial Cobb is using to teach Ariadne, she shows up and physically attacks her as well. The plan, we learn, is something of extreme difficulty requiring multiple dreams within dreams, and the danger that Mal could appear at any time to menace the team hangs over their heads at all times. Ariadne agrees not to reveal Cobb's secret if only he allows her to come along with him to keep him and the others safe.

The team intercepts Robert on a plane and drugs him, then enters his dream. From the moment it starts, things begin to go awry. We learn that Robert has had some training or safeguards placed in his mind to keep him safe from people like Cobb and his group, and as a consequence, people in Robert's dreams will become suspicious of and violent towards them very quickly. Saito, who has come along to help and make sure his investment is secure, is shot very shortly after they enter, and his wound threatens not only the group's ability, but also Cobb's security in the US as all depends on Saito making a phone call once everything has been fulfilled. How real the danger of this particular dream is, is also made plain very early. Dying in this dream will not cause one to wake up but instead slip into the "limbo" of an unconscious coma, perhaps never to wake up.

The plot to this film is absolutely labyrinthine and twists upon itself again and again. The long extended dream sequence wherein the team tries its inception on Robert is the centerpiece for the film's many effects and plot twists. In addition to the gravity defying action there is also the psychological tension of whether or not the team will be able to effectively read Robert's mind (specifically the relationship he has with his father) and change it to make him break apart the company.

Generally when we dream, we succumb to the influence of our subconscious, believing all we see and getting carried away by more fantastical elements of our imaginations made real. The characters in this film don't act that way when they enter dreams, though it isn't made entirely clear if this is because of the machine or their skill at navigating this type of mindscape (I suspect it's a little of both). It is mentioned that the longer they remain in the dream, the greater the danger they lose their minds, believing it all to be true.

We learn at one point that certain rules are in place for the dream world we are entering. Hearing music and feeling the effects of gravity (the sensation of falling) in the real world and having it affect the dream are things the viewer may already have known about from dreams of their own, while some other elements appear to be made up, such as the passage of time being much longer within each level of dreams within dreams and the destructive effect we see when the subject learns they are in a dream. And while the perception of falling gives the film its greatest action sequences (a series of fights in a hotel hall way where gravity literally changes in real time) I also can't help but wonder if director Chris Nolan has used something of cheat here as well, given that we're also told that tipping over a person will still wake them up despite the effects of the sedative. The van sequence in particular has several points where the vehicle appears to fall or tip or flip over, but only when the plot demands it does it appear our characters will awaken from it.

Late in the film we learn the secret of Cobb and Mal. It turns out that the past success Cobb had at inception was upon Mal herself and that he got her to believe they were in a dream after they had spent too long within one and she had become deluded into believing it was authentic. The idea took root, too well perhaps, and she became convinced the real world was an illusion as well, in the end taking her own life to try and wake up. The whole ordeal has haunted Cobb and he seems to actually want her to continue to exist - in his own mind and dreams if nowhere else. When she shows up to ruin the plans of the team, he is forced to jump still one layer further into the dreams to confront her for himself. He does do so, and puts her to rest for good, finally acknowledging she is but a shadow of the actual woman he knew.

While the inception appears to be a success, the ending of the film is purposely left open to speculation. The final events of the film happen quickly and appear to lack a definite beginning or end (which it was mentioned earlier in the film are often indicators of being in a dream). Cobb stays behind when everyone else leaves knowing he has to find and rescue Saito so he can make the important call for him to enter the US. It is revealed that the elderly Japanese man Cobb meets in the beginning of the film is indeed Saito. He appears to have grown old, buried within the stratum of dreams upon dreams after passing out injured on their mission. Though we see details like Saito making the call and Cobb getting into the US, we never see exactly how the characters wake up or how the machine is cleared away so Robert will not become suspicious. I half expected him to quote Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz by the time he woke up: "I had the weirdest dream just now. And you were there, and you were there too, and... and... you too!"

When Cobb makes it to his kids he suspects he's in a dream still and spins the top on a table. But just then his kids turn around putting his doubts to rest and he leaves it as it continues to spin there for a strangely long amount of time. It appears to skip and slow a few times but continues to go... And then the movie cuts to black before we see if it stops or not, leaving the final interpretation up to us, the perfect ending in my opinion.

Whether or not Cobb is still dreaming, we know that when it comes down to it his mind has been put to ease at long last regarding Mal and that he can now look upon his kids and be with them again. Whether reality or not, his soul has finally found peace. If it is indeed all a fantasy he's better off not knowing and at least fading off into a happy and blissful delusion rather than one of torment.