Only In Dreams

To say that Christopher Nolan is the director of his generation may not be too far off the mark, but also may not be entirely true. He is gifted with BIG ideas, and blessed with the comfort of budgets BIG enough to make them come to life. It's almost funny to imagine what Nolan's films would have been before the days of C.G.I. But, if I dare, I think they might have been better (as were his first two features). Because, without all the BIG impressions, he would've put more into his screenwriting than he often does, and films like his latest, 'Inception', would feel just a little more complete. All of Nolan's themes are present here: the layered narrative arc, the dead wife, paranoia, the unreliable narrator, inescapable memories, and the unforgettable closing shot. He may be the director of his generation, but 'Inception' isn't quite his masterpiece.

This is all the more unfortunate given the immense secrecy surrounding it's details prior to release. Nolan reportedly had men hand-deliver the scripts to each and every member of the production for supposed fear of his idea leaking out. Considering how easily rumors and gossip get out, this would make for some pretty clever promotion. 'Inception' picks up with Leonardo DiCaprio washed up on a remote ocean beach to be met with Japanese-speaking soldiers wielding automatic weapons. He is soon taken into a womb-like room and sat across a giant table from a decrepad old man. He is then suddenly tuxedo-clad amongst a James Bond-style cocktail party along with fellow party-guest-with-no-good-intentions Joseph Gordon-Levitt. A botched heist sequence quickly thrusts them into a low rent hotel room overlooking a third-world street rife with explosions and chaos. The setting unravels and unravels to reveal both DiCaprio and Levitt as a new kind of 21st century thief that manipulates the dreams of their victims to get whatever valued pieces of information needed to rob them in real life. Ken Watanabe soon hires them to extract a combination safe from the mind of the heir to a competing corporation. Once inside his mind, they take him through layers and layers which all look like different settings to a James Bond movie (seriously, he should definitely take on that franchise when he's finished with 'Batman' ). There are Matrix-style fight sequences in glamorous hotels; rain-soaked city street shoot outs; car chases; and even a fantastic, machine-gun shooting ski chase! If these gun-toting bad guys are the heir's subconscious, then he spends most of time playing video games. Of course, things go awry; and the team of dream hackers are left in a race against time and DiCaprio's damaged subconscious.

Nolan handles this all masterfully. The action sequences are never short of breathtaking, and his usual blend of handheld and steady cams continues to suit his huge productions. He obviously enjoyed Michel Gondry's 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind'. Dreams are displayed as worlds that dramatically crumble around us as they come to an end, and are the only place our protagonist can be with the lost love of his life. DiCaprio continues his reign as the leading man of his generation. A skilled actor with great hair and a obnoxious voice, he manages to do little more than carry these over-sized blockbusters. The real charisma here comes in the form of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Looking like a dapper magician, he manages to be both the action star and the man smart enough to pull all the strings. Along with Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, and Michael Caine; they both do well to lead this year's most impressive international cast. But for all the talent involved, all of Nolan's movie magic, and especially all the hype; 'Inception' is as much a remarkable achievement as it is a forgettable film.