Our retrospective of the Best Movie of the Decade series continues with more of our personal picks including some horror, some action and, of course, a little MCU.
Inception —Tom Moore
There are very few filmmakers as ambitious as Christopher Nolan’s and I can’t think of a film more ambitious, maybe other than Memento, than Inception. Yes, the film that made everyone talk about a dream within a dream within a dream. To me, the true sign of a film being worthy of a best of the decade list is how it holds up and after nearly ten years, Inception only gets better.
It’s a film filled with such a perfect amount of detail, both story-wise and visually, that blends fantasy and reality to great effect. It’s really a new kind of heist movie, where thieves enter the prime security of people’s minds to find new kinds of hidden gems: their secrets and knowledge. On paper, it sounds like a ridiculous and over-complicated premise, and there are some that still think it is, but Nolan holds it all together through the carefully-constructed world and the incredible performances.
Personally, I’ve always felt that Leonardo DiCaprio was robbed of an Oscar chance here, as he puts in one of his best performances to date as the charming and calculating Cobb. He brings an undeniable sense of charm and secrecy to the role and the rest of the cast is absolutely perfect too. Joseph Gordon Levitt shows both his physicality and quick wit as Arthur, Ellen Page is as confident and capable as ever as Ariadne, and Tom Hardy as Eames has always been one of my favorites because of his charm and how Eames’s forgery talent is just so damn cool.
Really, what puts Inception on such a high pedestal is the vivid detail Nolan puts into everything. From the personal totems each character carries to help them figure out if they are in a dream or back in reality, to the incredible and realistic dream landscapes, it’s hard to believe that we’re watching a dream at all. Inception is chock full of rich detail that immerses you in ways that other films can’t. With Nolan using visual effects for rotating dreamscapes and small explosions, like when Cobb initially shows Ariadne this new form of dreaming, as well as practical effects for scenes like Arthur’s rotating hallway fight, he literally brings his ambitions to life.
Even after all this time, it’s crazy to me that a film as ambitious and immersive was robbed of a Best Picture Oscar by The King’s Speech and that, while Nolan received a Best Original Screenplay nomination, he wasn’t even given the due respect of a Best Director nomination. Regardless, Inception kicked off the decade in style and has left a big mark on the film industry, so large that people still make dream within a dream jokes to this day,  that it’s a more than worthy to be recognized as one of best of the decade.
