The Plot

The story follows Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) as one of the best ‘extractors’ in the world where his job is to enter the subconscious of a subject whilst they are asleep and extract, or essentially, steal secrets of the mind.  His skills have not only given him ample work as the best extractor in the business and lead him and his team into the world of corporate espionage, but his skills have also cost him his children, his wife and a life of normality.  Consequently he is also a fugitive of the United States and is unable to return home to his children until one day, the target of Cobb’s latest extraction job, Saito (Ken Watanabe) proposes an offer that he cannot refuse, the chance to be free of the suspected charges brought against him by the United States and to return home and be a father to his children.

With Cobb leading the charge, he and his trusted team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Dileep Rao) are set the challenge to not extract secrets as normal, but to cause inception instead.  And what is inception? Inception is the ability to plant a seed, an idea, deep in someone’s subconscious without their knowledge and successfully let the idea mature and grow naturally until it eventually creates a far-reaching desired result in reality.  Sounds relatively simple enough but problems and sabotage are never far away with security companies training high-risk clients to mentally battle and protect themselves from extractors like Cobb from successfully penetrating their subconscious, and additional personal struggles come from within, with the image of Cobb’s deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) making haunting violent appearances as the caged lost soul, locked in Cobb’s memory of pain and guilt.

Cillian Murphy, Lukas Haas, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine and Pete Postlethwaite also star.

The Thoughts

Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island, The Departed, Gangs Of New York, Titanic) plays Cobb, the expert extractor who, after attempting to extract secrets from Saito, a powerful Japanese business man (Ken Wanatabe), is given the tempting offer to have his life back if he can successfully pull off inception, to implant an idea into the subconscious of a rival energy company’s heir Robert Fischer Jr., (Cillian Murphy) that will in reality cause the Fischer corporation to destabilise and thus free up the market for Saito’s company.  If Cobb and his team can do it, the prize is worth more than any amount of money.  If Saito honours his promise, he can make one phone call and lift the charges brought against Cobb so that he may return home to the United States and be reunited with his two young children.

DiCaprio has really blossomed as a serious actor since becoming older and more experienced (his seminal performance for me was his role as Billy Costigan in Scorsese’s The Departed), he is as ever, wonderful to watch on screen, with his emotional performance in the role of Cobb being both captivating and necessary.

Looking at DiCaprio’s acting repertoire, it is clear to see that he will continue to be a firm favourite at the Academy Awards as his impeccable taste for choosing interesting roles with creative directors sees no way in slowing.

Academy Award winner Marion Cotilard (Nine, Public Enemies, La Vie En Rose) plays Mal, Cobb’s deceased wife who appears to him in his subconscious when he sleeps and works as an extractor.  Mal’s aggressive nature, violent outbursts and desire to sabotage and guilt-trip Cobb means that he is barely ever rested when he sleeps as she materialises in his dreams, angry, confused and lost.  Cotillard provides a solid performance as Mal, the distressed lost soul, her emotive presentation is almost scary and haunting at times and her character acts as a good plot developer to keep the audience guessing and questioning why Cobb is so fearful and guilt-ridden.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Wanatabe ,Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Dileep Rao make up Cobb’s team of dream walkers.  Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) plays Arthur, the planner of the team, his job is to research the target down to the last detail and to design the plan and anticipate any contingencies during the dream walking.  Ellen Page (Juno, Whip It!) plays Ariadne, a gifted young architecture student picked out by Miles (played by screen legend Michael Caine) as the person who could be up for the job of designing the complex three layered maze for their target Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy) to dream walk in.  Ken Wanatabe is Saito, the man who has the power to give Cobb his life back, he inadvertently joins Cobb’s team to ensure that inception happens.  Meanwhile Tom Hardy (Bronson, RocknRolla) plays Eames, the cheeky English chap who’s on screen banter with Arthur is both amusing and adds some comedic effect to what is quite a serious film.  Finally Dileep Rao (Avatar) plays Yusuf, the chemist who concocts sedative potions to send the dream walkers into a deep sleep so that they may do their job more effectively.

Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight, 28 Days Later) plays Robert Fischer Jr., the target of Cobb’s team.  He is the heir to a vast energy empire and will soon take over once his already frail and sick father (Maurice Fischer, played by Pete Postlethwaite) passes away.  The only idea Cobb and his team need to implant in Fischer’s mind is that he needs to split his father’s empire up, thus freeing up the energy market for Saito and preventing the Fischer corporation from building a monopoly.  It is unsurprising to see Murphy appear in Inception as he also appeared as the villain Dr. Jonathon Crane aka The Scarecrow in Nolan’s Batman series (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) but it is wrong to think that Murphy got the role through association as his acting skills stands up for itself, especially in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, 28 Days Later and in Girl With A Pearl Earring.

Legends Michael Caine, Tom Berenger and Pete Postlethwaite all have relatively minor cameo roles but it is good to see them still active on screen.

As for the writing and direction: Christopher Nolan.  What can I say but ‘wow’?  Nolan impressed millions of moviegoers when he wrote and directed The Dark Knight, part of the Batman movie franchise and was especially touched when the late Heath Ledger posthumously received the Academy Award for best actor in a supporting role.  Nolan claimed that the reason he cast Ledger in the role of the Joker was that Ledger was apparently ‘fearless’ and he could not see anyone else playing the Joker.  Well, Nolan has done it again with Inception and delivered an impressive slice of escapism.  Not only is the cast well put together, but the combination of the complexity and intrigue of the story, script and the jaw-dropping camerawork and special effects make this movie exceptional.  There are moments that literally make you stop and think while you are watching, ‘how on earth did they film that?’ with some of the most impressive scenes being the super-slow motion camerawork and the zero-gravity scenes.

Complex and intense, Inception does not have the easiest of concepts and plot lines to follow, albeit that is part of the interest and pull of this movie, simply the mind-blowing notion that if it were possible to dream walk, just imagine what you could get up to!  However difficult some may conceive the ideas in Inception to be, forget all that and immerse yourself in Nolan’s vision, pay close enough attention and this clever mind-bending thriller will provide very high rewards indeed.

I do however, have one or two words of reservations.  They employ Ellen Page’s character (Ariadne) to be their dream world architect, but they do not go into detail in explaining how it is possible to construct an entirely fictional world in a dream.  In addition, Nolan also does not address how Eames (Tom Hardy’s character, the forger) is able to change his appearance to look like any other person.  Nevertheless, I do sympathise with Nolan and fully understand that too much explaining in film and suddenly it all becomes far too confusing for the average audience to follow, so in that vein, I completely understand why Nolan left those two issues unaddressed.  You just have to push those two questions aside and roll with it!

Inception is without doubt, the most unmissable film of the year.  It’s this year’s Avatar, completely original, with mind-blowing concepts, delectable special effects, emotional, yet often humorous and will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end, begging the question as the house lights go up, will there be an Inception 2 or will that spinning top finally fall over?

The Film Buzz Review Rating: *********½ (9.5/10)

Release Date: 16^th July 2010 (in cinemas now and see it at a cinema for optimal viewing of both sight and sound!)

Director and Writer: Christopher Nolan

Links: IMDb, Official Site

Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Emily Mortimer in an adaptation from Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island novel.

The Plot

DiCaprio takes on the role of U.S Marshall Teddy Daniels along with his partner Chuck. The two of them are sent to Shutter Islands Ashecliffe Hospital to investigate the disappearance of one of the patients played by Emily Mortimer.
After a somewhat rocky start the two of them then begin to unearth what seems like a twisted plot to experiment on the patients of the institute.
Teddy actually pushes to be placed on the Shutter Island case for his own reasons and it soon becomes apparent that these secrets and plots go a lot deeper than initially thought with Teddy finding himself drawn deeper into the Shutter Island world.

Shutter Island

The Thoughts

Shutter Island is most definitely watchable with DiCaprio and Kingsley delivering charming performances, but I feel Scorsese tries far too hard to keep us in suspense throughout the whole 138 minutes which tended to drag past the hour and a half mark.

Shutter Island aims to get inside the head with somewhat disturbing scenes that had a profoundly frightening effect on me afterwards upon which I found myself asking how humans could be so cruel? So don’t see this if you don’t like seeing nasty images.
This isn’t your average run-of-the-mill predictable thriller. Sure there are some expected scenes and the smartest of us will probably be able to figure out what’s going on before they spell it out for us all, but overall it’s a clever story.

All the secrets and twists become clear by the end of the film, with the ending open to different interpretations which may lead to some confusion, still a worthwhile trip if you don’t mind leaving feeling almost unsatisfied if you need a definite ending to your films. This is a film you can only see once to get the full impact, think along the lines of A Beautiful Mind. but it’s a film that made an impression on me but not entirely memorable or a film I would want to see again anytime soon.

The Film Buzz Rating: 6/10

UK Release Date: 12th March 2010

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer’s: Dennis Lehane (novel), Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay)

Links: IMDB, Official Site

Shutter Island

Someone is missing.

From Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island is a story set in 1954 of two U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) who are summoned to a remote and barren island to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island’s fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.

Gaining 8.2/10 on IMDB and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow and Michelle Williams – this is not a film you want to miss out on seeing.

See it if you liked: Gothika (2003), The Island (2005)

Certificate: 15

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Mystery

Release Date: 12 March 2010

Green Zone

Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller is done following orders.

Matt Damon teams up with director Paul Greengrass once again (since famed The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy) for the electrifying thriller Green Zone. Set after the fall of Saddamn Hussein, Damon stars as Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller – a rogue U.S. Army officer who must hunt through covert and faulty intelligence for hidden Weapons of Mass Destruction on foreign soil before war escalates in an unstable region.

Dubbed to be an energetic, chaotic and action-packed thriller – best hang onto the edge of your seats.

Also starring Yigal Naor, Nicoye Banks, Jerry Della Salla and Sean Huze.

See it if you liked: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Hurt Locker (2008)

Certificate: 15

Genre: Drama/Thriller/War

Release Date: 12 March 2010

Inception is being plugged as a sci-fi mystery set within the mind and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a man named Cobb, who ends up getting involved in a blackmail scandal. This film certainly has an Equilibrium feel to it – another Chris Nolan film incidentally, but then again Equilibrium just tried too hard to be The Matrix. Either way looks like we’re going to see some mind bending stuff.  DiCaprio is joined by Marion Cotillard (Nine), Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), Ken Watanabe (Batman Begins), Ellen Page (Juno) and the legendary Michael Caine (Harry Brown) makes an appearance.

Inception Film Poster

Filming for Inception has taken them all over the world, with scenes being shot in our very own London at UCL, as well as Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles.  All very mysterious at the moment but this one looks like it’s going to be another good one from Nolan; we do enjoy his work, more details as we get them.

The Film Buzz Anticipation Rating: 7/10

UK Release Date: Friday 13th August 2010

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writer: Christopher Nolan

Links: IMDB, Official Site

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