Thursday, July 22, 2010

"Inception"ally cool



It’s hard to go into a movie unbiased when the hype machine has taken a hold of it and blown the film way out of proportion before it has even been released. Luckily for me, I’d only seen one very non-descript trailer and read one review of “Inception,” director Christopher Nolan’s newest, biggest and baddest of summer blockbusters to hit cinemas world-wide. And before the opening weekend had even finished, “Inception” had taken over as the talk of Internet forums and blogs, like its predecessor, the “Matrix” trilogy, had years before. Hopefully your eyes and ears are clean and unhindered when you see this one so maybe you can make your own judgment. But just a warning: you might have to see it twice.
“Inception”, conceptually, is a great movie. It’s different in scale, concept and CGI then maybe any other before it, and this uniqueness is a pleasant, different cinema-experience. The plot revolves around the novel world of corporate espionage through stealing secrets from executives dreams. Recruiting a cast of thieves with different strengths, like the architect, who creates the dream area or the chemist, who creates a strong enough potion to knock out the target long enough to steal their secretive thoughts, these teams are powerful and wily, able to extract things that can destroy major corporations.
Main protagonist Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) leads such a team on one of their most daring missions yet. In this case, the skilled squad must perform “inception,” where the team enters a targets dreams and attempts to plant an idea, rather than stealing an already formed idea. Cobb’s troubled past and struggles with reality make the team’s goal harder than it already is, and could very well make, or break, their success.
Like I said, Inception is a very cool movie. The dream states that most of the film take place in mean Nolan can have fun with what he does and what he wants to make each “world” like. Cinematically, it’s beautiful and the concept is original and well executed. It does get a bit confusing, and I tried to keep up with all the twists and things that go on, but most people I spoke with about the movie agreed that the best tactic is to just let it go and enjoy what’s on the screen. I’ve only seen it once but I’d like to go have another watch because it’s a lot to take in and the film runs almost two and a half hours, which is pretty long. And when someone can make their own reality, whatever it is, they can get a little carried away, which Nolan does. When there are no rules, what is there to follow? Sometimes, that can mean a film is good or bad.
I did like the film; acting is good, concept is great, cinematically beautiful. But it’s hard for me to rave about it like others, and I can’t really decide what makes me feel that way. I’ll have another watch and see if I change my mind, but overall, it’s a worthwhile experience that you should definitely take advantage of. Now playing in Polson.

7 out of 10 stars. Rated PG-13 for violence, language and alternate reality.

Here's the trailer: