Inception

Title: Inception
Date: Thursday, January 6, 2011
Genre: Action/Mystery
Directed by: Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Momento, The Prestige)
Major Players: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page

Synopsis: Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) is a talented thief. However, he is not after your physical possessions, he is after your subconscious secrets that are only available to him when you are in a dream state. Through the art of extraction, he steals important secrets for corporate espionage. Because of this, he has lost everything he has loved – his home, his children and his wife. He is offered a job that could help him gain his life back, however this job requires him to do something considered impossible – inception. This requires Cobb not to steal a secret or idea, but instead to plant one in someone’s head. Will Cobb and his team (including Gordon-Levitt and Page) succeed, or will they be foiled and lose everything to the enemy that only Cobb might suspect?

I think you should: Watch on the couch – I only say this because this movie is not currently in the theaters anymore and is available for rental.

Review: Have you ever wondered if your life was real or simply a dream? Inception might make you think about this question even more. This movie will confuse you in the beginning and then leave you questioning in the end. Inception is an action/mystery movie that had me captivated and wondering what would happen next. I have heard a ton about this movie and was excited to finally be able to watch it. It did not disappoint me.

The opening scene of this movie was my least favorite part only because I felt confused and frustrated trying to figure out what was going on. It made me wonder if I missed something or if I was just not smart enough to understand. Luckily, this is cleared up not long after and gave me my mental confidence back. Part of me understands why the director did the opening this way, but part of me wanted to stop the movie and ask friends who have watched it to explain it to me.

Once I had an idea of what was going on, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The acting was very well done (as to be expected by the caliber of talent in the movie), but for me, the special effects were my favorite. When the characters entered the dream sequences, it was interesting to see how the characters could manipulate the dreams and change them along the way. The first time that Ariadne (Page) stages a dream and changes even the direction of the sky, it is fun to not only see what that world would look like, but also to see how the people in the dream react to Ariadne as she changes things. The effects were also interesting as the dreamer was awoken from the dream. Many times, water was used to wake the dreamer up and the use of water in the dream sequences was intense and bit beautiful at the same time.

The sound editors should be mentioned as well with the special effects. As the effects would happen, the sound matched seamlessly whether it was the water as mentioned before or a random train the would pop up in the dream sequence, the sound was matched perfectly and made the scenes even more intense. The combination of the special effects and the sounds take you on a thrill ride in this movie and, even though you know some things are coming, makes you jump or brace yourself in anticipation.

The storyline and theme were fascinating. Dreams open up the door to almost anything that your mind can imagine and so it is interesting to see how other people’s minds might work. However, I wish the story had a bit more character development. I felt a connection to Cobb, the story’s main character, but would have enjoyed getting to know some of the other characters as well. It seems like some characters were used a great deal in this movie, but we never really learned who they really were as people. We knew what there role on the team was, but without knowing more about them, it was hard to build a connection to them.

This movie had a little bit of everything – action, romance, mystery and a little sadness. It also gave you the ability to choose your own conclusion. Is this real life? Or is this merely a dream sequence?

Notable Performances: I am a big fan of all three of the “major players” in this movie and, I thought all three did a great job as I expected they would. However, if I had to pick out one performance that stuck with me, I would say it was the haunting performance of Marion Cotillard who plays Mal, the wife of Dom Cobb played by Leonardo DiCaprio. From the beginning of the movie, we don’t quite understand who Mal is or why she is a villain. She is beautiful and we know she is connected to Cobb, however she does things only an enemy would do. Cotillard plays the character beautifully – she is chilling as the enemy and yet beautiful as Cobb’s wife in other scenes. To me, of all of the characters, Mal was the one who I think back on the most.

I wanted to also mention Leonardo DiCaprio as he played a character who had qualities that made him brilliant, manipulative, romantic, ruthless and more, however I found myself liking Cobb and feeling for him. His character was very likable and I wanted him to succeed so he could get back to his children. DiCaprio did a great job portraying this character so the audience wouldn’t hate him for doing bad things to people’s minds, but like him and hope he can complete the mission.

Memorable Lines:
Cobb: “Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”

Mal: “You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't be sure. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together.”

Ariadne: “Why is it so important to dream?”
Cobb: “Because, in my dreams we are together.”

Thing I liked the most: The special effects in the dream worlds. The ending – do we really know what happens at the end?
Thing I liked the least: To me, the beginning of the movie is very confusing. The movie begins and you are not sure what is happening until it is explained a little later. I was just confused and frustrated for the first few minutes, but later understood what was happening.
Where I saw the movie: Tucked under several blankets in my bed :)
Who I saw it with: All by myself
Snacks I enjoyed during the movie: Lunch – A can of Progresso “Italian Style Vegetable Soup”
What I was wearing: Ultra Comfy - Pajamas :)