Inception 2010
This was one of the biggest movies of 2010, but I didn’t get around to seeing it until 2011 and on DVD. This movie gave my subwoofer a real workout. There was always some kind of rumbling going on. In this movie Leonard DiCaprio has figured out how to get into people’s dreams and interact, potentially getting secrets from people while their guard is down. It reminded me a lot of The Matrix where they introduce this crazy concept and then all the rules and pitfalls that go along with it. They do a very good job of introducing us to all of these concepts. The action moves quickly enough that you don’t have time to absorb a lot of it or even think about it, but that’s part of what makes it work (that’s also kind of how getting into people’s dreams works too, it turns out). I kept thinking that the mess was just getting more and more tangled, but somehow they bring it together in the end even while giving us an ambiguous ending that leaves us in the dark about the “big twist” we’ve been thinking about the entire movie.
The special effects are great as they bend reality to walk on walls and have fights in zero gravity. There is a surprising amount of shootouts and violence as the team of dream interlopers fights off the subject’s defenses who are personified by security guys. The movie seems a little too long for something with this much action and intensity (Christopher Nolan also directed The Dark Knight which I thought did the same thing), but too much isn’t such a horrible thing. Leonardo is good, but there is also a strong supporting cast even though they aren’t fleshed out much due to this mostly being an action movie. But I think all the exposition of the central idea of entering dreams is a decent substitute for well-developed characters, and it works in good sci-fi/action movies like this.
Written: 11 Sep 2011
Owned on: UHD, Blu-ray, Digital