Inception: Shattering the status quo

How do you top the highest grossing film of 2008? Well, I'm not sure exactly how to go about it but I think the person to ask would be Christopher Nolan. The man who re-invented Batman for the big screen has now brought us one of the most truly original and innovative movies of the year thus far: Inception. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, an extractor (or more simply, a dream thief), who is hired by a man named Saito, Ken Wantanabe, with the challenge of planting the idea to dissolve his father's corporation in the mind of a young business-man's mind via his dream; hence, inception. Crazy right? Honestly, I wouldn't expect anything less from the man who gave us Memento.

I could very easily sit here for the next hour to describe as many intricacies of the plot as I could manage and then lecture you on how each character operates therein and while that could be a lot of fun for me to do, I think I'll simply let you go see the movie and be amazed first-hand at the stunning visuals that are effortlessly welded into the very thread of the story, that is if you haven't already. No, instead of giving you a drab, detailed overview of the film I want to point out exactly what the film has accomplished, why it's so mesmerizing, and really what, if anything it could mean to the future of filmmaking.

Inception was released on July 16, 2010 and it immediately jumped to the number one movie in America and stayed at the top spot for three solid weeks, knocking competitors such as Salt and the critically acclaimed The Kids are Alright to the floor. It was only taken out of the number one spot recently by Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg's cop comedy The Other Guys; however, Inception still sits firmly in the number two place. Inception, much like the The Dark Knight did in 2008, has also nestled itself high on IMDB's Top 250 Movies of All-Time List, number three to be exact.

Awesome, so people love Inception. Why? What does it matter? It's just a movie right? Well, yes and no. It matters because regardless of whether we like to admit it or not, films, particularly those which make a lot of money and which people love, can say a great deal about us as a society. So what does Inception say about us? Nolan's masterpiece explores themes of love, reality, and the subconscious amidst a sometimes convoluted and often fantastic plot with elegance beyond measure while featuring performances that are sure to inspire future generations of actors. It does all of this while still managing to keep the audience engaged, caring about each character, and, above all, having fun. Nolan's ability to evoke this kind of response with such a deep and sometimes brooding film in a time when intellectualism and critical analysis is spit on by growing movements like the Tea Party is a reminder that using our brains is not the sin it's made out to be but rather something that can be rewarding and sometimes, heaven forbid, enjoyable.

Inception not only reminds us that we have a brain and it doesn't need to shut off to have a good time but it also shines as a beacon of hope for the future of big budget mainstream films. Doubtless, I am sure you have caught on that almost every movie marketed today is an adaptation of something else, or a remake of a bad 80's TV show, or a remake of a movie that is less than ten years old and doubtless, you are just as sick of the same old thing as everybody else. That is why Inception is so remarkable; it deviates from the recent status quo and has blown everything else out of the water. Nolan claims he spent the past ten years working on the screenplay and it is evident that he did just that, as each layer of the film, both emotional and narrative, is so expertly crafted that no run-of-the-mill writer could have thrown it up in three weeks. Perhaps Nolan's passion for his art will inspire those around him to take their work to the same level; breaking the chains of the status quo and making movies that they feel matter. Perhaps life imitates art and Nolan himself has done what he set Cobb up to do: plant an idea.