A Films with actors, who doubt the reality they live in is like dreamers, who realize, that they are actually dreaming. In a film an actor is actually not in reality while we watch him. In Inception, we watch Leonardo Di Caprio as he looses track of his reality. And it’s fun!
Nolan had 170 millions USD at his disposal to make sure, Leonardo dreams like Chubby Broccoli would: one dream is like the last reel of a James-Bond-movie, only with Edmund Husserl and M.C.Escher to add some phenomenology and surrealism . And there are the other bits and twists to keep your mind engaged: 4 different time-lines (all running all at different speed of time) plus an entry scene that finished somewhere near the end and an epilogue that leaves at least one vital question open. These are 148 minutes and not one boring second in it! This comes at a price, of cause: some tweaks in the story don’t really make sense. The fact, that the guy, which mind they trying to trick here, has had some training beforhand, which results in a bunch of machine gunners in every dream, surely wasn’t logical, but it speeds up the story and is therefore forgiven.
I especially admire the visual opulence of the film as well as the whole idea, to create a film, that is taking place most of it’s time in a “created world” and to use that setting for some truly original visual ideas and still manage to make the whole experience entertaining and thrilling.
The emotional core of the story is the unsolved relationship between DiCaprios Cobb and Cotillard’s Mal (great). Here we might hear echoes of Amenabar’s “Abre los ochos”, but only very slightly. It is Cobbs inner conflict of guilt and love, that he needs to solve. Very daring for a potential blockbuster!
So, apart from the gripping story, the stunning visuals and fascinating locations there are the actors. As usual with Nolan, every little part is carefully cast. Pete Postewaite as uber-father, Tom Berenger (if you recognize him) as godfather, Nolan’s regulars Cillian Murphy (more vulnerable and emotional than before), Ken Watanabe and Michael Caine, Tom Hardy as the forger and (very fitting) chameleon (great, great actor…Bronson and the new Mad Max!) Ellen Page as Ariadne (a nod to the mythical Greek maze solver) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt who shares with Hardy most of the funny bits. Cotilliard shows again, that she is a truly international star and Di Caprio cements his status as an actor with depth, gravitas and box-office potential.
This is, what makes this fim special: a really NEW and unique story, told with pace and visual grace. Don’t miss it!