The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 813: The Dream Thief

Night had just fallen as a black sedan pulled up to the entrance of an Imperial Entertainment City cinema. Two figures in sunglasses quickly entered the theater and made their way to a pre-booked VIP screening room. They waited only a few moments before the Warner Bros. logo lit up the silver screen.

"Why are we watching a Matthew Horner movie?" Jada Smith asked, looking displeased. "We're just lining his pockets!"

A little worn down by his wife's complaints, Will Smith said, "What difference will two extra movie tickets make? The performance of 'Inception' will directly affect 'The Karate Kid,' which I invested in!"

Jada Smith grumbled, "That Matthew Horner is just mocking us. He knows 'The Karate Kid' is scheduled for this weekend, yet he insisted on releasing his film at the same time. He's obviously trying to steal our box office."

"You can't say that." Will Smith remained calm. "On this film, Matthew Horner is just the lead actor and a producer in name only. He has no real say in the production or the release schedule."

Jada Smith shot him a look. "What kind of shit wouldn't a bastard like him pull against us?"

At that, Will Smith suddenly fell silent. After all, there were certain things you simply couldn't turn a blind eye to.

He recalled the anti-Matthew Horner league they had formed in the beginning, and what had become of its members, one by one. The results spoke for themselves.

Francis Lawrence had long since vanished from directing circles. Naomi Harris had fled back to the UK to change careers. The most tragic fate, without a doubt, belonged to Spike Lee, a pioneer of the black film movement in Hollywood, who went from being a champion of freedom and democracy to a public disgrace, addicted to alcohol and drugs.

Thinking back, it was only because of his own prudence that Will had let Jada be the public face of their opposition at first. Then, seeing things were going badly, he had hastily apologized and changed his tune, sparing himself from any major negative consequences.But in the last two years, the number of studios willing to cast him as the lead in a top-tier commercial production had dwindled to almost none...

Fortunately, he had landed 'Green Lantern' from a field of many contenders.

If he could pull off what Johnny Depp did for 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' then Matthew Horner would be effectively neutralized, no matter what other schemes he cooked up. Will might even manage a full comeback.

The sudden swell of the soundtrack pulled Will Smith from his wandering thoughts, and he focused his attention on the big screen.

This wasn't a typical science fiction film. It could perhaps be more accurately defined as a "contemporary sci-fi action thriller set within the architecture of the mind." The film wasn't set in the future but in the present-day real world, where a new bio-information technology had been developed, allowing people to enter the hearts, minds, or dreams of others.

After watching for a while, Will Smith felt that 'Inception' was, in some ways, reminiscent of 'The Matrix'.

In the world of the film, a brand-new technology had emerged, one that allowed people to enter others' dreams to spy on their private lives and steal vital information.

Dreams, without their owners' knowledge, had become the best way to access the human subconscious. And Matthew Horner's protagonist, Dom Cobb, was a thief—an expert thief, who, unlike most petty thieves, didn't need to pick people's pockets.

In this world, people like him had a strange name: Dream Thief.

His specialty was infiltrating the dreams of others to steal valuable information and secrets from their subconscious, and, when necessary, even implanting and forging memories.

As a pioneer in the field of dream theft, he naturally had a team. He and his team are hired by a wealthy Japanese businessman to invade the dreams of another wealthy businessman and implant an idea that would compel him to dissolve and break up his own company—a mission that is considered virtually impossible.

The plot, in essence, was not complicated, but the film employed a rather complex narrative technique.

As a star who had headlined several blockbuster sci-fi films himself, Will Smith had a good grasp of the science fiction genre, especially commercial sci-fi.

The plots of most science fiction films were, in fact, quite simple and straightforward. It was usually an alien invasion, with some hero from Earth trying to survive and eventually finding a solution to the problem; or the characters are suddenly thrown into a terrifying chase with monsters; or they find themselves in a strange future setting, forced to embark on a fateful adventure.

This kind of repetition, imitation, and mass-market appeal was an inherent quality of commercial filmmaking. If done well, a film could become a massive hit. But if done poorly, it would often leave audiences feeling that it lacked novelty, was bland and empty, and had no personality—like fast food that quickly becomes tiresome.

'Inception' definitely didn't fall into that category.

Not long into the film, he discovered it had a complex plot, with rises and falls, twists and turns, with elements that echoed each other, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly.

From the standpoint of its sci-fi concept, the premise of 'Inception' wasn't exactly unprecedented, unique, or groundbreaking.

It was a captivating film, but Matthew Horner's performance wasn't all that impressive. From his perspective, it was average at best.

"He's just riding Christopher Nolan's coattails."

That was Will Smith's innermost thought. "Just a lucky bastard."

The most successful thing about the film was how the director made it captivating and meaningful through excellent storytelling and impeccable detail. Most films about virtual reality and dream worlds still focused on real-world details, as they could hardly represent a complete dream world.

Christopher Nolan, however, established the dream world as a complete reality unto itself, with its own unique laws, patterns, and logic. He meticulously detailed how to enter it, what problems could arise within it, and how to wake up, making the dreamscape a fully realized world.

Combined with the puzzle-solving elements and the resulting spectacular visual effects, the entire film was absolutely thrilling.

"Matthew Horner is very lucky." The thought grew stronger in Will Smith's mind. "To be able to pick such a unique sci-fi blockbuster... he really has some vision."

He considered what sci-fi films like this feared most. He thought back on past failures, and the most terrifying example was undoubtedly the god-awful, inexplicable mess that was 'Cloud Atlas'.

This film was clearly not that, and seemed to have successfully avoided those pitfalls.

As the plot deepened, Will Smith could clearly see that 'Inception' wasn't trying to test the audience's intelligence. The plot was complex but not deliberately obtuse; every element was necessary to support the stunning content.

It might seem complicated, but there wasn't a single wasted shot or a single superfluous line, and missing even one frame or a piece of dialogue would make the viewing experience incomplete.

The plot was also quite understandable, as a clear thread ran through the entire story: dream thieves Cobb and Arthur are asked by the Japanese business magnate Saito to infiltrate the mind of Fischer Jr., the son of Saito's competitor, the British business magnate Fischer Sr., and compel him to automatically liquidate his father's company upon Fischer Sr.'s death.

To achieve this, they use a series of multi-layered dreams.

During this, he witnessed all sorts of incredible visual wonders, like folding cityscapes and people returning from the dead.

All of this seemed impossible in live-action films, which are extremely limited in their depiction of the human dream state. This included David Lynch's puzzle-box films, which merged reality and dreams into a single space.

And the most amazing thing about this film was its depiction of a dream world where anything was possible, a world that could arbitrarily subvert the conventional laws of human physics.

Will Smith sighed. Despite his feelings, he had to admit that Matthew Horner was incredibly astute. He never touched niche films, always staying in the public eye.

Perhaps this was the key factor that had allowed him to rise to superstardom.

As always, Matthew Horner was starring in a film aimed at a broader audience, rather than just so-called veteran fans or specialists.

Moreover, the producers were well aware of Matthew Horner's strengths and had deliberately added the kind of action sequences he excelled at. These seemingly incongruous action elements were inserted into the film with great purpose. Not only did they serve as a buffer for the incredible plot, but they also gave viewers accustomed to popcorn flicks a familiar feeling of homecoming, ensuring they wouldn't get lost in the rather complex narrative.

The movie ended. Will Smith glanced at Jada, who had long grown impatient, but he remained seated. Because, based on past experience, this new Matthew Horner film was very likely to be a huge success.

He couldn't help but shake his head. In the last five or six years, not a single film starring Matthew Horner had failed at the box office.

"Let's go."

Will Smith stood up with Jada, and as they left the VIP room, he gradually came to a realization: Matthew Horner was leaving other Hollywood stars further and further behind.

But even though their conflict was in the past, he still harbored ill feelings toward Matthew Horner.

On the contrary, he admired Christopher Nolan. The British director had an outstanding ability to take "second-hand" ideas that had been floating around Hollywood for years, mix them together, and somehow produce something utterly captivating.

***

The Stone Main Theater in Los Angeles.

As the credits rolled, the entire theater erupted in extremely warm applause. Matthew also stood up and clapped, at the same time turning his head slightly to look back at the general audience section, where the applause was exceptionally loud and continued for several minutes without stopping.

'Inception' was not at all like those complex films that leave audiences cold. On the contrary, it was immensely popular with the viewers.

This was definitely not a film that philosophized for the sake of philosophizing or was deep for the sake of being deep, like 'Cloud Atlas' or 'The Matrix' sequels.

Although on the surface both films might seem like typically pretentious works, they were fundamentally different from each other.