Inception

🔥 7th Watch | Top 100 | 2010 Ranked Immersive, action-packed, thought-provoking, stunning, and emotional, Inception is one of the most revered films of the century. Before I continue on with Inception, I would like to talk a little about Paprika, a film from 2006 that many have noticed to have similarities with Inception. Although I haven't watched Paprika, from what I've heard and read, Paprika explores dreams versus reality just like Inception and it involves people going into dreams. Since Paprika was released many years before Inception was produced, I've heard many say that Inception was a copy of Paprika. However, even though I admit I am biased towards Nolan, that's just not true. Nolan pitched the idea back in the early 2000s where he wrote early drafts, but due to the amount of ambition for the project, he wasn't able to do it until much later where he had already established himself as someone capable of directing major blockbusters (ie. The Dark Knight). This was before the movie was even released. In addition, Nolan has said that since around sixteen years old, he has been toying with the idea of Inception. This was before the graphic novel of Paprika in the nineties was made. I don't think Paprika copied Inception, and Inception was probably modified slightly after Paprika's release, but calling it a "copy" just isn't right. It was just a big coincidence that two similar movies were made. To prepare for Oppenheimer's release, I've been doing a marathon of all of Christopher Nolan's films, and I've been having a blast. As probably my favorite filmmaker and director, Christopher Nolan has made some remarkable films that have stuck with me for ages. I'm a little over halfway through this marathon, but I would like to do a quick little recap of what I've done so far. I will include a full recap once I rewatch Tenet. For this recap, I am putting the films in order of when I watched it. It's mostly by release date, but I started with Memento because I was unsure if I was going to watch Following and I combined the Dark Knight trilogy together, meaning I watched The Prestige before Batman Begins and Inception after The Dark Knight Rises. 🔥 Memento - 5 stars 🔥 A perfect follow-up. With an actual budget (yet still small), he created a story that was told marvelously and uniquely. It was something nobody had seen before, and the audience truly felt attached to Leonard's character. ✅ Following - 4 stars ✅ It's a great introduction to his style. It was a great story with interesting characters. However, his style is a little ragged, a trait that will improve over time. ✅ Insomnia - 4 stars ✅ A very solid thriller with impeccable performances. The direction was the least Nolan-esque we've seen but it was still great. It's very underrated and often overlooked. 🔥The Prestige - 5 stars 🔥 An incredible film about the dangers of obsession. Watching Borden and Angier try to one up each other was amazing to watch. The way the story is structured matches that of a magic trick, because the film is a magic trick. It's amazing. ✅ Batman Begins - 4 stars ✅ It's an entertaining start to the Batman trilogy but its villains are unthreatening, the acting could've been improved, and the depiction of Gotham was subpar compared to The Dark Knight. I thought the atmosphere could've been richer too. It's still a great film. 🔥 The Dark Knight - 5 stars 🔥 It's perfect on every level, with a perfect score, perfect antagonists, perfect direction, perfect script, perfect acting, and perfect everything. It is flawless on every level and deserves all the hype it has gotten. ✅ The Dark Knight Rises - 4 stars ✅ It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Bane is great and there is a lot of action and spectacle. The writing quality is a huge step down, but going down halfway from the top of the Burj Khalifa is still very high up. Despite being worse than The Dark Knight, it's still a great and enjoyable film. And now we have Inception, the film that took Christopher Nolan so long to make. With a film that has so much going on, I would expect to find more inconsistencies about the film, but surprisingly, I only found one significant detail about the film that I would consider flawed, and that is the mathematical aspect to the film. For example, Arthur only had a few minutes to fight somebody, collect all the explosives, bundle everyone together, move them to the elevator, break the cables, and then have enough time to wait before starting the "kick." It would be impossible to do that in a few minutes (which would've actually been one minute of time assuming it took approximately three seconds for the van to reach the water. However, Inception is just a movie, and it didn't truly hinder my enjoyment from the film. Besides, many films in the past have toyed around with this idea of having the characters take longer to do something within he required time. A prime example of this is in the introductory scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Once obtaining the artifact, Indiana Jones has to escape, and at one point a door slowly closes down while Indiana Jones is left alone dangling over an edge. The film cuts back and forth from Indiana Jones struggling to escape and the gradually closing door that will trap Indiana Jones if he doesn't escape in time. While cutting back and forth, the audience feels as if Indiana Jones won't survive as the door seems to be traveling faster than what Indiana Jones could manage. However, due to the cutting, Spielberg sets the door higher than it previously was, essentially giving the illusion that Indiana Jones had more time than what he realistically was given. Even though this may have been an "inconsistency" in the story, this added a lot of suspense and thrill towards the moment. This is somewhat similar to Arthur's situation where the accolated time to do a task was much shorter than what he was capable of doing. Much like the resultant effect in Raiders, the audience felt a lot more suspense and fear that the operation could end in failure. Even though I appreciate Raiders more for how this detail was more subtle in Raiders rather than Inception, I still don't think this fact alone is enough to bring the film down. Inception has made a name for itself for being a genius and confusing movie, but I actually think Inception does a really great job at making the movie straight forward. Many people seem to knock Inception for its heavy uses of exposition, but each line of exposition was used at the perfect moment and gave the audience valuable intel that helped the world-building and lore surrounding the dreams. Even though there was a lot of exposition, there weren't viable alternatives. In addition, the exposition is not only used to explain the story, but also as a means to telling it. Therefore, I was never distracted by the exposition because everything felt so natural. Even though I would say that Dom Cobb is the protagonist of the film, I would say that Ariadne is the main character of the movie. Christopher Nolan directed this movie to put the audience in the same boat as Ariadne. The only information we knew was the information that she knew. Inception could've easily just been a standard action movie with pretty predictable character emotions. However, putting the audience into Ariadne's perspective, there is also a layer to mystery in Inception where we are trying to put everything about Cobb's life into place. Therefore, much needed dimensionality is added to Inception, making the film infinitely more thought-provoking and interesting. If the audience was in Cobb's perspective through Inception, I firmly believe that the film's emotional would be significantly paler. Instead of giving the information all at once to the audience, which would've felt clunky and distracting, Nolan seamlessly gives the audience very specific parts about Cobb's life that smoothly transition the story. As a result, no scene revealing Cobb's past altered the rhythm of the film, which is one of the reasons why Inception has an incredible pace. Inception is one of the fastest films I've ever seen. Even when I watched it for the first time, I remember noting how incredibly fast the film went. However, despite its remarkable speed, Inception never felt rushed. It moved so smoothly and naturally like a car on the freeway. There weren't any stops, there weren't any changes in the speed limit as the car reached a different segment. Even in the non-action sequences, pacing was perfect, giving the audience the right amount of information at the appropriate time in a quick but non-rushed manner. The editing was a crucial factor to making the pacing as great as it was. The editing was quick, preventing the film from feeling slow. There were a lot of characters doing different things to prepare for the operation. Therefore, instead of separating everything out, and creating a sense of division, usually montages were utilized, giving a sense of connectivity with everybody's actions. Whether it was preparing for the operation or during the operation itself, Inception felt like one massive montage filled with adrenaline. However, as I said earlier, the film remarkably didn't rush in the slightest. The fact that Inception isn't rushed is probably my favorite thing about it and why it's so rewatchable. It's just such a great story from beginning to end and I could put this on whenever I wanted to. I don't need to get in the mood like when I'm watching The Godfather or 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Shining. With those films, I need to be in a particular setting, but not Inception. Another reason why Inception has a great pace is because of how rhythmic the score is. Hans Zimmer's collaborations with Christopher Nolan are the scores that I probably like the most. The scores of The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar, and Dunkirk are all top-tier favorites of mine, and each time I watch one of those films, it feels like the soundtrack propels even higher up. I can't get them out of my head, and that goes for Inception as well. Inception's score is thrilling and emotional, fitting the tone of the film strikingly well. In addition, the score complements each scene with such high precision that the flow becomes even stronger to the point where it is impossible to stop. Only in the intentional spots, like a pivotal sequence near the end of the film, does the flow stop. However, when that moment has passed and the film needs to regain its rhythm, the flow regenerates smoothly back to its original tempo. In addition to the music fitting the film remarkably well, it's also beautiful to listen to. Hans Zimmer really knocked the score out of the park. Inception is a masterpiece of cinema and has deserved all of the love it has received. It's a very emotional film with a strong center, and it's clear that Nolan put a lot of care and time into the film. So many things are done right in Inception and practically nothing is done wrong. There is a reason why so many people adore this film. In fact, there are plenty of reasons why so many people adore this film. There is so much to love about Inception. And of course, the ending of Inception is pure perfection. ⬅️ Previous Review: Vertigo