Sparks of brilliance like Momento have been seen, as well as some slight laterals (The Prestige was a successful miss. Now I finally get where he was trying to get at.
Without giving away too much of the movie (there's sooooo much to give away), Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a sort of subconscious spy. He basically takes people's secrets by playing inside their dreams.
When I saw it I recognized it as, essentially, the most intellectually stimulating action/adventure blockbuster I've ever seen.
It was fantastic in the context of cinematography: it utilized that bold, dark environment (on a global basis) that made him interesting in the first two Batman movies. Very gothic, but so fucking sharp it made the entire story more understandable. Highly polished chaos. Without the use of amazing environments, the story of the subconscious would make the dreams seem less like dreams and more like sad imaginations.
It was fantastic in the context of soundtrack: Hans Zimmer made a fantastic accompaniment with just the right use of brash blockbuster-type epic instrumentals.
It was fantastic in the context of acting: Christopher Nolan put together a cast that I wish was utilized more often in Hollywood (negating DiCaprio, he's in everything good already). Ellen Page might have been the weakest link, but not by much. She really did her best to keep pace with the vets, and more surprisingly was Joseph Gordon-Levitt breakout. Going straight from 500 Days of Summer to Inception was jarring because I don't think anyone really realized his ability as Cobb's business partner Arthur. He blew it away, and at the same time played a dapper badass. Nolan took a cast of "oh I remember them from"'s and made them independently hold a pillar of the movie up. Even the secondary cast members (Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger) were fantastic!
It was fantastic in the context of STORY: Now without the other stylistic abilities of this movie, it would be a lackluster attempt at movie. But because everything excelled, so did the entire plot. It's tough to really divulge, so I will be as subtle as possible. Watching this movie, it started off kind of slow. The initial action sequence was mild, but impacting. As it built up again, it took time, but the time eventually (weaving occasional action and subplots) led to the third act, which was, probably one of the best third acts I've seen in years. It was like biting into a cake that you realized was made from chocolate and thinking "oh awesome! Chocolate cake sounds great." and then suddenly realizing mid bite that between the chocolate is a layer of raspberry filling, which triggers the thought "oh fuck yes, I was not anticipating the delicious raspberry filling, this is perfect cake". It did that, but very frequently, and the layers were numerous. The layers cohesively led to the finale.
I think the most fantastic thing about Nolan's style and story writing is he makes it for the theater. He understands that large scale mentality that goes along with being excited for a movie when you actually go to the movies to watch something. Few movies put that into it like he does, and that explains why he spends so much money to make his movie good. James Cameron could spend a billion dollars to make something intense, but with a lot of sacrifices made for believability. Nolan refines everything, which would explain why it took him this long to make anything since The Dark Knight. His action sequences don't rely on the acrobatics more than the actual style. Most fight scenes are over very briefly and then transitions back to something else (or at times encompassing two or more fight scenes, which was the status quo in this movie) without missing a beat or putting too much emphasis on either. In fact, they would just layer the story development into something extraordinary.
Fantastic, fantastic piece of work.
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