INCEPTION

Dir. Christopher Nolan US 2010

"You mustn't be afraid to dream bigger, darling."

I saw this movie twice in three days, and it's been kicking around my head (not specificially in my dreams, but who knows) since then. I've been putting off writing this review because a) it would be incredibly hard to have any kind of meaningful discussion given the usual length of my reviews and b) because I've already read so much material and analysis on the movie that I'm worried I'll just parrot back things I've read without coming up with my own ideas. Blogging is stressful, guys.

Additionally, it's difficult to do an in-depth discussion of this film without giving things away, and like Memento and The Dark Knight, Inception takes some pretty weird turns that should only be experienced firsthand. I'll keep my plot summary short and my comments kind of broad, but it all boils down to the fact that you should just see this movie as soon as you can.

Summary: In a vaguely defined but extremely near future, military technology developed to allow soldiers to train within each others dreams has spread to a high-end black market where it is utilized for corporate espionage. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, an 'extractor' who makes his living stealing information and ideas from peoples dreams. Unable to return to his family in the United States for unspecified but dire reasons, Cobb and his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) accept a classic "one last job" in order to acquire the means to return home. They assemble a team of badasses in order to perform what is considered an impossible task: Inception.

Everything I just discussed makes up the first half hour of the movie, including the reveal of what Inception actually is. You may already know, and it's not a major spoiler if you do, but like I said, it's more fun to have the movie unfold before you.

One of the more obvious aspects of a Christopher Nolan movie is the way in which the numerous complex pieces and plots all neatly assemble at the end, like a perfectly assembled timepiece. Inception takes this to the extreme, building a world full of complex rules, murky motivations and a system of traveling though dreams which requires the viewer to keep track of no less than five different....plot lines, for lack of a better word, happening in different places, concurrently, yet in different spans of time and involving overlapping characters. Despite how horrifyingly confusing that must sound, this movie is actually deceptively straightforward. As I said during the summary, the film follows the very basic structure of the 'one last heist' plot, and the characters are constantly reiterating their objectives and what needs to be done next. Additionally, the script does a masterful job doling out little bits of exposition over the course of the film, so as long as you're paying close attention, you should have all the information you need to get through the movie with little to no confusion.

There's so much to unpack in this movie, I'm kind of afraid of overwhelming myself and not really saying anything at all. I don't think I'm up to saying anything super deep about this movie while not giving anything away, and I'll probably have a one on one with everyone reading this at some point in the future, so here are some little, non-spoilery bullet points that may be of interest:

- Did this movie have an hot cast or what? In addition to the two extremes of what I find attractive in women (quirky little pixie chicks in the form of Ellen Page and sultry European goddess in the form of Marion Cotillard), Joseph Gordon Levitt made me wonder about myself for a second there. Dude knows how to rock the wardrobe. Plus Leo. Who doesn't love that guy? He doesn't even need a hyperlink to prove it.

- While we're on the subject of questionable sexuality, did anyone else think Eames was gay? After my second viewing, his extremely loud shirts, constant ribbing of Joseph Gordon Levitt's character and the zest with which he 'used the blonde' made it seem fairly obvious.

- I read this in another review, but I thought I'd reiterate it here since it's pretty interesting: Christopher Nolan's movies impose their plots and structures upon the viewing experiences of the audience. Check it: Memento unfolds backwards so the audience, like the main character, has no idea what happened five minutes earlier. The Prestige utilizes a flashy twist ending to distract you from another, more unexpected twist ending, much like a magic trick. Inception...in a way performs inception on the audience with its ending. Think about it.

- With regards to the ending, for those of you who've already seen it: I don't think it matters either way.

- Just found this today. It's pretty neat. God, I loved the score for this movie. Also, Marion Cotillard won an Oscar for playing Edith Piaf. CRAZY.

Anyway, I will conclude by saying that it is such a pleasure to actually have a movie live up to its hype in this day and age, especially during what has been an extremely disappointing summer. Christopher Nolan did it two years ago with The Dark Knight and he did it this year with Inception. The third Batman film comes out 5/4/12. Here's hoping he can pull it off again.