Reflection on The Science Fiction Film Inception

Inception. Dreams or reality? Would you be able to tell the difference? This film has many twists and turns throughout it making the characters and viewers decipher dreams from reality. Inception begins with introduction of Dom Cobb. He is a man full of mystery and the protagonist of the film. Who believes anyone can dream within a dream, he has even gone so far as to put thoughts into others minds, making them believe they already had the thought themselves. Cobb is a lonely man, filled with regret who wants to return home to his children and when an opportunity arises for him to do just that, he takes it. However, viewers are left wondering if he will be able to fend off his own dreams of his late wife Mal and perform the impossible Inception?

At the beginning of the film we are introduced to the character Saito. He is a clever man, who always gets what he wants and what he wants is for Cobb to help him with an assignment. If Cobb can use Inception to convince Fischer not to follow in his father’s footsteps and avoid taking over his company, he will help Cobb reunite with his children again. However, In order for him to be reunited with his family he needs to assemble the perfect team to assist him in the assignment.

One of Cobb’s closets friend Arthur, has been by his side since the beginning of Inception and is an important member of the team. Arthur is responsible for researching Fischer’s past and ensuring that they are prepared for what is to come in his dreams. Next, Eames is recruited for his sneaky personality, ability to look like other individuals and forger abilities allowing him to imitate people’s mannerisms in the dream world. This is a very important aspect that the team will require for their assignment. In order to get information from Fischer, they will need to impersonate a man he trusts and use it against him.

In order for the assignment to come together, they will need ten hours to pull it off, luckily for the group, Fischer is about to take a ten hour flight. It is at this point in the film when Yusuf the chemist joins the team. He has the ability to create an antidote that will keep Fischer and the group asleep for ten hours, however this comes with a cost. While in a dream if a person dies, they are awakened, but because the antidote is strong, if they die in the dream they will be lost in limbo forever.

To finalize the plan they need Ariadne, the college architect student, a wise woman who is the key to the plan. She designs the layouts, levels and details of the dreams they are in. This includes all of the clothing, furniture and buildings in the dreams and much more.

Inception begins with Cobb, a professional thief that steals information from individual’s subconscious by entering their dreams. He is a wanted man, for the alleged murder of his wife Mal. He is given a chance to get his life back but it comes at a cost. He will need to plant an idea into Fischer’s subconscious, to perform the impossible, Inception.

Hollywood’s Classic Narrative Style comes into play with the film being just over the two hour limit. The main characters; Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Cillian Murphy propel an interesting storyline that keeps the viewers in suspense and attentive throughout the film. The narrative pattern is followed throughout the film; it includes a crisis; the death of his wife and the inability to see his children. The climax occurred when Saito gave Cobb an opportunity to clear his criminal record and see his children again and at the end of the film there was a resolution.

The film crew uses different lighting throughout the film. The techniques varied from using dim lights to provide shadows for scenes that are intense, (for example when they were interrogating individuals) to using multiple camera angles. Wide angles were used when the actors were filmed in a large landscape and medium shots were chosen when a fight would break out between individuals. Sound is also an important aspect of a film which adds intensity to scenes giving viewers an idea of what is to come. During one scene in particular, when a gun fight broke out, they provided gun shot sounds as well as screeching car tires for effect. This too helps the individual viewing the film to remain intrigued.

In the beginning of this film I was confused as to what was happening with the idea of Inception. As the film continued, the story line started to unravel, making it easier to understand. Inception had me on the edge of my seat throughout the film, anticipating what was going to occur next and wondering if the assignment was going to be successful or not. This movie makes you wonder about your dreams and if any part of the state of dreaming is accurate. For example, many have said that in a dream if you are about to die you wake up, if you feel like you are falling you wake up and that people never remember the start of their dreams. These are just a few points that were made throughout the film that I can relate to. After viewing this film I found that it was very entertaining and kept my attention. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good science fiction/thriller film.