Critique of Film Score from ‘Inception’

Without a doubt, Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan, is a very well done film. Its highly complex plot and dynamic characters create a story that is not easily forgotten. But one thing that may go unnoticed by movie-goers that played a huge role in the meaning of the film is the films score. The music conveys so much meaning, that it’s even a core element in the plot itself. The score for ‘Inception’ was written by Hans Zimmer, also known for his musical score in ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Gladiator’, who is a very experienced cinematic composer. He worked directly with Christopher Nolan so that he could best express the movies themes through his music.

The reason why I chose ‘Inception’ as opposed to some other movie is because of the very unique plot element in which the characters are warned they are about to be woken up by placing earphones on their ears and playing music. They hear this music inside the dream and this allows them to gauge if they have time to complete the mission at hand. Even more interesting, as they go deeper into the dreams, the music that is heard by the dreamers becomes slower and slower because time passes faster in the outside world. By the time they are four dream levels deep, all that can be heard of the music is the deep booming bass and brass notes that makes this score so recognizable.

So, not only did Hans Zimmer manage to fill the entire film with music and score to compliment what the