Science Fiction World

Inception is Christopher Nolan's latest science fiction project starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Caine and Ellen Page, and is shaping up to be one of the most promising science fiction movies of the year. It's a mind warping psychological thriller and the trailers have been excellent (watch the latest one below). Recently at WonderCon in the US, an extended teaser trailer was shown and more details about the plot and production revealed by the film's director.

According to io9, DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a "super agent who uses new dream-reading technology" to prevent thieves stealing ideas out of the dreams of entrepreneurs, creators, and inventors. They referred to DiCaprio in the new trailer as "basically" a "James Bond in cyberspace, where heists involve stealing people's dreams - literally" and believe the movie will have similarities to Michel Gondry's 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. DiCaprio is an extractor or dream hacker, whose job is subconscious security. Technology allows people to climb inside each other's dreams and he's there to stop people exploiting this fact.

Christopher Nolan (as you're probably aware) is most famous for his two Batman movies, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, as well as the brain twisting psychological thriller Memento, starring Guy Pearce. Memento covers similar psychological territory to Inception, telling the story of a man suffering from short-term memory loss who uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife. He's constantly trying to work out what is real and what isn't, and is stopped at every turn by his disturbing memory affliction. Unlike the rest of the planet, The Dark Knight didn't impress me half as much as Memento, which makes me even more interested to see what Nolan creates here.

During a panel session at WonderCon, Nolan talked about his struggle to get Inception made. Apparently it was only after the success of his two Batman movies that he was able to convince the studios to back his original story. He explained that the movie is heavily influenced by the look of 2001, especially in a few key scenes where the laws of gravity are suspended. He also wanted the dream sequences to be as gritty and documentary-realistic as possible.

According to Devin Faraci, who was at WonderCon for the CHUD website, "Leo's not just any Extractor, though - he's the best there is, and he's so good that he teaches other people how to guard their subconsciousness from other Extractors. He also writes that "Inception isn't just a science fiction movie about going into other people's dreams (there also seems to be an element of constructing dreams)."

The more I hear about this film, the more interested I become. Clever, intense science fiction with a psychological bent is hard to come by.

Those of you hoping for a 3D version though will be disappointed. There's no 3D involved, and Nolan is not likely to jump on the 3D bandwagon anytime soon.

"I have a rigorous approach to image quality," Nolan said. "We're thinking about 3D, but nothing today competes with large format film. I think there's a lot of misinformation about where cinema is heading."

While we wait for Inception's July 2010 release, Warner Bros. has created a viral web site for Inception called PASIVDevice, featuring an instruction manual for the Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous (PASIV) device. This device is used in the movie by DiCaprio to administer a drug called Somnacin. Apparently if you read through the entire PASIV manual, you'll get to the next portal, an entry into an online alternate-reality game at Mind-Crime. I might give it a try now.

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