Inception (2010)

"Your mind is the scene of the crime"

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
Written by Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
Music by Hans Zimmer
Cinematography: Wally Pfister
Edited by Lee Smith
Production companies: Legendary Pictures, Syncopy
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date: 14 July 2010 (Egypt)
Running time: 148 minutes
Country: United States, Morocco, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, France
Budget: $160 million
Box office: $825.5 million

"Inception" is a sci-fi action mystery film written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. It tells the story of a thief who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology and is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.

Cast

• Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur
• Ellen Page as Ariadne
• Tom Hardy as Eames
• Ken Watanabe as Mr. Saito
• Dileep Rao as Yusuf
• Cillian Murphy as Robert Michael Fischer
• Tom Berenger as Peter Browning
• Marion Cotillard as Mal Cobb
• Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer.
• Michael Caine as Professor Stephen Miles
• Lukas Haas as Nash
• Talulah Riley as a woman whom Eames disguises himself as in a dream

Many said that Christopher Nolan wouldn't have done anything better than "The Dark Knight" (2008). Oh, wrong they were... "Inception" showed his talents in full measure: both as director and as writer. The film conception isn't easy to understand if to watch it distracting. It undoubtedly casts a spell keeps in suspense till the end. The all-star cast, expensive special effects and a very twisted plot makes the film distinguished.

Performances of good actors and actresses fascinate. When I see the name of Leonardo DiCaprio in the cast I know beforehand: the film is a must-see. His acting is always splendid that even doesn't need to mention: the penny drops. Facial expression of Joseph Gordon-Levitt have always drawn my attention as the actor is pretty expressive. I've known Ellen Page for many other works (for example, "Hard Candy" ) and I can say that her acting is becoming better and better in the course of time. Marion Cotillard ("Midnight in Paris") amazed with the unreality of her character. Tom Hardy... It's Tom Hardy - srtikes from the start.

Advantages

• Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur
• Ellen Page as Ariadne
• Tom Hardy as Eames
• Cillian Murphy as Robert Michael Fischer
• Marion Cotillard as Mal Cobb

Disadvantages

• The film is open-ended however it may become an advantage

"Strangenesses"

• Staying in dreams - seems so perfect

Clue Moments

• Cobb's family
• Eames's weapon
• The mission
• The third level

The theory of infiltration to subconsciousness seems really magnetic. Just imagine: you can exert influence on anybody suggesting an idea. Sounds like a weapon of mass destruction, doesn't it? But the problem is that before using it you must discover the hidden you as your questions may hinder your own underself. This way, it's possible to say everything comes from us: as above, so below.

How often ghosts from the past munge the present? It's dread to think. It's so captivating and charming that makes hard get it off a mind. However without this act it's impossible to move one. And is it worth to replace today because of things that aren't going to return? Don't be Gatsby in this matter.

What is sleep? According to Wikipedia, sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity and inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and it is more easily reversed via stimuli than the state of hibernation or of being comatose.

During sleep, most systems are in a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. The purposes and mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and the subject of substantial ongoing research. Sleep is sometimes thought to help conserve energy, though this theory is not fully adequate as it only decreases metabolism by about 5–10%. Humans may suffer from a number of sleep disorders. These include dyssomnias (such as insomnia, hypersomnia, and sleep apnea), parasomnias (such as sleepwalking and REM behavior disorder), and the circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

Soundtracks

1. Hans Zimmer - Half Remembered Dream
2. Hans Zimmer - We Built Our Own World
3. Hans Zimmer - Dream Is Collapsing
4. Hans Zimmer - Radical Notion
5. Hans Zimmer - Old Souls
6. Hans Zimmer - 528491
7. Hans Zimmer - Mombassa
8. Hans Zimmer - One Simple Idea
9. Hans Zimmer - Dream Within A Dream
10. Hans Zimmer - Waiting For A Train
11. Hans Zimmer - Paradox
12. Hans Zimmer - Time

Quotations

* * *

Cobb: What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere.

* * *

Ariadne: Why is it so important to dream?
Cobb: Because, in my dreams we are together.

* * *

Cobb: What do you want?
Saito: Inception. Is it possible?
Arthur: Of course not.
Saito: If you can steal an idea, why can't you plant one there instead?
Arthur: Okay, this is me, planting an idea in your mind. I say: don't think about elephants. What are you thinking about?
Saito: Elephants?
Arthur: Right, but it's not your idea. The dreamer can always remember the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake.
Cobb: No, it's not.

* * *

Saito: Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone!

* * *

Cobb: She locked away a secret, deep inside herself, something she once knew to be true... but chose to forget.

* * *

Cobb: They say we only use a fraction of our brain's true potential. Now that's when we're awake. When we're asleep, we can do almost anything.

* * *

Cobb: Inception. Now, before you bother telling me it's impossible...
Eames: No, it's perfectly possible. It's just bloody difficult.

* * *

Mal: We'd be together forever. You promised me.
Cobb: I know. But we can't. And I'm sorry.
Mal: You remember when you asked me to marry you? You said you dreamt that we'd grow old together.
Cobb: But we did. We did. You don't remember?... I miss you more than I can bear, but... we had our time together. And I have to let go... I have to let you go.

* * *

Cobb: Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

* * *

Cobb: I'm going to improvise. Listen, there's something you should know about me... about inception. An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you.

* * *

Cobb: I can't stay with her anymore because she doesn't exist.
Mal: I'm the only thing you do believe in anymore.
Cobb: I wish. I wish more than anything. But I can't imagine you with all your complexity, all you perfection, all your imperfection. Look at you. You are just a shade of my real wife. You're the best I can do; but I'm sorry, you are just not good enough.

* * *

Cobb: "I will split up my father's empire." Now, this is obviously an idea that Robert himself would choose to reject. Which is why we need to plant it deep in his subconscious. Subconscious is motivated by emotion, right? Not reason. We need to find a way to translate this into an emotional concept.
Arthur: How do you translate a business strategy into an emotion?
Cobb: That's what we're here to figure out, right? Now, Robert's relationship with his father is stressed, to say the least.
Eames: Well, can we run with that? We could suggest to him breaking up his father's company as a "screw-you" to the old man.
Cobb: No, 'cause I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. We all yearn for reconciliation, for catharsis. We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this.
Eames: Alright, we'll try this, umm... "My father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps."
Cobb: That might work.
Arthur: Might? We're gonna need to do a little better than 'might'.
Eames: Oh, thank you for your contribution, Arthur.
Arthur: Forgive me for wanting a little specificity, Eames.
[Eames appears confused at the word]
Arthur: Specificity?

* * *

Cobb: You create the world of the dream, you bring the subject into that dream, and they fill it with their subconscious.
Ariadne: How could I ever acquire enough detail to make them think that its reality?
Cobb: Well dreams, they feel real while we're in them, right? It's only when we wake up that we realize how things are actually strange. Let me ask you a question, you, you never really remember the beginning of a dream do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.
Ariadne: I guess, yeah.
Cobb: So how did we end up here?
Ariadne: Well we just came from the a...
Cobb: Think about it Ariadne, how did you get here? Where are you right now?
Ariadne: We're dreaming?
Cobb: You're actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping. This is your first lesson in shared dreaming. Stay calm.

* * *

Yusuf: Brain function in the dream will be about twenty times to normal. When you enter a dream within that dream, the effect is compounded: it's three dreams, that's ten hours times twen...
Eames: I'm sorry, uh, maths was never my strong subject. How much time is that?
Cobb: It's a week the first level down. Six months the second level down, and... the third level...
Ariadne: ...is ten years! Who would wanna be stuck in a dream for ten years?
Yusuf: Depends on the dream.

* * *

Ariadne: Why are they all looking at me?
Cobb: Because my subconscious feels that someone else is creating this world. The more you change things, the quicker the projections start to converge on you.
Ariadne: Converge?
Cobb: It's the foreign nature of the dreamer. They attack like white blood cells fighting an infection.
Ariadne: They're going to attack us?
Cobb: No. Just you.

* * *

Mal: If I jump, would I survive?
Cobb: A clean dive, perhaps. Mal, what are you doing here?
Mal: I thought you might be missing me.
Cobb: You know I am but I can't trust you anymore.
Mal: So what? Your world is not real!

* * *

Fischer: At the end, he called me to his deathbed. He could barely speak; but he took the trouble to tell me one last thing. He pulled me close... and I could only make out... one word: "Disappointed."

* * *

Cobb: I'm just doing what you taught me.
Professor: I never taught you to be a thief.

* * *

Yusuf: That many dreams within dreams is too unstable!

* * *

Cobb: No idea is simple when you have to plant it in someone else's mind.

* * *

Mal: You're infecting my mind!
Cobb: I was trying to save you.
Mal: You betrayed me, but you can still make amends. You can still keep your promise. We can still be together, right here. In the world we built together.

* * *

Arthur: With the slightest disturbance, the dream's going to collapse.

* * *

Eames: What you have to do it start at the absolute basic.

* * *

Cobb: The seed that we planted in this man's mind may change everything.

* * *

You may see the trailer here.

Plot: 10/10

Entertainment: 8/10

Acting: 9/10

Originality: 9/10

Music and Sound: 8/10

9/10