Review: The Film, Inception...

Dreams. What are they, really? What are they made of? What happens when we do so? And mostly, why do we have them? 

Bear with me. I’m on a Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) kick. Since I’ve recently seen, loved, and reviewed his take on The Odyssey (2026), I’m curious as to how his filmmaking odyssey began–see what I did here?–and what exactly makes him tick. Does mythology influence, inspire, or in some way move him? I’m curious to see. I’ve added a number of his films to my TBW list. 

Inception (2010) is a difficult film to summarize, categorize, or even talk about. But here goes my try. Dom Cobb (Leonardo di Caprio, The Departed), is a skilled thief who infiltrates the dreams of others to extract their secrets. A rich man (Ken Watanabe, Tokyo Vice) offers him a deal. Cobb is tasked with implanting an idea into the mind of a competitor, which is the opposite of how he makes his living. It’s a challenge not only to Cobb’s professional skills but to his personal demons. He calls it inception–which is simply a big word for idea–something he has never attempted before. He assembles his team, recruits a new dream architect, Ariadne (Elliot Page, The Odyssey)–and this is where the mythological allegory here only begins–and gathers his compatriots in what will prove to be a reverse heist. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Glass Onion) plays Arthur, Cobb’s point man and external conscience. He’s also responsible for doing his own zero-g stunts. Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) plays Eames, Cobb’s security man inside and outside of the dreamscape. Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) plays the mark, Robert Fischer, the tries-too-hard scion of a global energy company magnate, death-bed-ridden Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite, In the Name of the Father). One of the successes of this film is because of the work of its ensemble cast, not one singular performance. 

Themes in this film intertwine and wiggle their way to resolution. In terms of reality and dreams, truth (and reality) is/are subjective. There are also dreams within dreams–my count is four–pressing the somewhat disturbing idea that ripples in one space can obliterate elements in another. Even the use of totems, items that remind dreamers that they are, in fact, in the real world, stretches towards dreamland. Grief and memory, a theme that manifests, somewhat painfully, into trauma and letting go, are the demons Cobb–and by proxy, his team–must battle. 

But it’s the idea (inception?) of mythology and how Nolan weaves this allegory into this and many of his other films. In Memento (2000), it was the creation of personal myths as a survival mechanism. Tenet (2020) retells the Cronos myth, aside from being a Christian allegory. Dunkirk (2017) portrays the Everyman on a Campbellian yet horrific journey. Even films in the Dark Knight Trilogy, aside from creating modern myths, echo stories like Orpheus in the Underworld, and impose upon Bruce Wayne/Batman the tragic flaw of sacrifice versus justice. In Inception, with a giveaway character name like Ariadne, the retold myth is Theseus in the Labyrinth, with the minotaur being Cobb’s own guilt and his dead wife Mal (Marion Cotillard La Vie En Rose) acting as a siren. Sisyphus can also be summoned here, with Cobb pushing the heavy weight of his own trauma, not unlike absurdly pushing a boulder uphill.  

Clearly, Nolan's films significantly draw on mythological allegories to delve into themes of human trauma, hubris, and the repetitive nature of time. His creations frequently depict contemporary technological and psychological struggles as modern hero's journeys, with The Odyssey, of course, not only being his latest entry, but also being the epitome. 

And as far as dreams? They are what you make of them. 

I highly recommend this film, and the discussions that I’m positive will ensue after viewing it.