Inception - Movie Review

Ok all, it's been a while, but I want to start catching up on my movie reviews. And what better movie to start with then Inception, Christopher Nolan's latest summer blockbuster. It took me over a month to see this movie, but I finally saw it this week. There was only a late night showing at 9:50 so it was a late night.



A late night wouldn't usually mean much, but I'm sure it definitely was the reason my head hurt even more after the 2 hours and 22 minutes of crazy mind twisting. If you have not watched this yet, I will start by saying, you should see it. It is a MUST SEE. By far one of the best movies I have seen in a few years. It's up there with The Departed on my top 10 list for sure!

Ok, as for more specifics. This movie did not look good to me when I first saw the teaser. But little did I know it would become one of the biggest hits of the summer. Nolan captures your attention from the very beginning with his catchy plot line of inception (implanting an idea into someone's mind). Dicaprio nails this role, which slightly compares to that of his character in Shutter Island. If you like to dream, or dreams fascinate you, or confuse you or leave you screaming or wanting more, you will love this movie. Not only is the plotline interesting, it's obvious Nolan did his research on dreams. Even while I was paying attention to the movie, I found myself thinking of my own dream experiences while I watched the film. It deals with a man (Dicaprio) who is asked about being able to perform inception on someone. Through this you go with him on a journey through dream, and the dreams within a dream, which can greatly affect the dreamer and those who interfere. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy, to the point where dreaming becomes more real and less painful then reality.

I think part of this film's intrigue was it's originality. I don't know many if any movies that deal with the mind in the sense of dreaming. It's a brilliant and attention getting idea for a film. It is so complex, and many directors and writers would get lost in an idea of this nature. But I feel Nolan did an amazing job. It was alot of information to retain, but if one pays attention, it's easy to follow. I was glad to see that the concept did not get away from him. If you like movies like the Matrix, and Shutter Island, I'd say you would for sure like this film. I personally love the matrix, but this was better.

And it was not just Dicaprio that did an amazing job, but also his co-stars Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon Levitt. I've been following Levitt fairly consistently for a few years now. Starting with Stop Loss and then last year's (500) Days of Summer. And of course his old child star hits. He has proven especially recently how good of an actor he is. He can become a character and bring this intensity and reality to it, making it look easy, when it in fact is not. I found myself wondering more and more about Levitt's character, often more intrigued by his character then of Dicaprio's. He had this charisma as Dicaprio's partner that made it impossible to stop watching him. And Page, broke free from the comedic role of Juno, into a darker dreamscape architecture who discovers the truth behind Dicaprio's character. The things he hides from the others, and why he acts how he does. They had great chemistry and meshed amazingly in this film.

I will rap this up with a few more thoughts. If you like a good mind twist then you'll love this movie. If you're looking for a light movie, this is not one of them, you constantly have to think and pay attention. (I got a headache from thinking, but I didn't care, because it was so intriguing and interesting to me). There is little swearing (at least from what I remember) and minimal sexual content. If there was anything it was very subtle. I definitely don't see any reason why younger viewers could not watch this, unless it was for the violence, which is a bit intense at times, but still relatively subtle, I don't think there was any blood involved. Their only problem might be confusion. Plus it definitely gets some conversation going after the fact. So watch it. Let me know what you think, because I thought it was brilliant and genius in addition to well acted and well-made. Till next time...