The Story. Holy crap! Is it true that there is a movie with an original story that isn’t a sequel, prequel, remake or adaptation from a television show, comic book, or video game? Sweet googa mooga! I didn’t even know that was possible anymore. It almost reminded me of the first Matrix where it may not have been a wholly original idea, but the concept was fresh and presented recurring ideas in new and exciting ways, along with a hefty budget not usually afforded fresh ideas. Let’s just skip the two crappy sequels, okay?
The Levels of Dreaming. I loved how the characters could travel deeper and deeper into dreaming by dreaming within a dream. It was hard, but also kinda fun to keep track of how many layers of dreaming they were in. I kept having to remind myself where they really were the whole time because I kept forgetting. Plus I love the way each level of dreaming had a specific feel to it.
The Kick. I’m pretty sure everyone on the planet knows what that sinking feeling feels like, and I thought it was a clever way to snap people out of dreams. Not to mention the scene at the end when they’re being kicked successively out of each level of dreaming, which was pretty damn awesome.
Ellen Page. For some reason I had it in my head that Ellen Page wasn’t going to play a big part in this movie. I’m not certain why, maybe just because they kept showing the same two scenes of her in the trailer, or because I read an early report wrong, but I was glad to see she had the large role throughout that she had.
“It was worth a shot.” Can Joseph Gordon-Levitt be in every movie, please? He just makes everything better.
The Hallway Fight. Speaking of, who would have thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt could be so badass? Again, this reminded me of The Matrix, but I enjoyed the reasoning behind it more than just “It’s all in your head so you can do whatever you want.” Intercut with scenes of the van falling over the bridge, this incredible fight scene had purpose as well as a decent explanation for the theatrics behind it.
Tom Hardy. Nearly unrecognizable from his role as Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis, this absurdly handsome gentlemen exuded cool from every nonexistent pore. Is it too early to start a Tom Hardy for James Bond campaign? Sorry Daniel Craig, we still love you too. Speaking of everyone’s favorite British manwhore…
The Snow Chase. It was right out of a James Bond movie and that was a-okay with me. Christopher Nolan said all along that he wanted this to be his James Bond, and it was never clearer than with these scenes.
Inside the Safe. Father/Son scenes always have a special resonance with me and the scene with Cillian Murphy and his father at the end gave Inception the sentimental impact it needed to give the otherwise actioner a full range of awesome.
The Say What? Factor Unlike The Fountain, which I was only able to appreciate after I read all about it online, comparing theories and developing the one I liked best in my head, I truly enjoyed Inception from start to finish. I was only confused about one major factor in the end (along with other minor concepts I didn’t quite understand, but didn’t hinder my enjoyment), but after reading the Wikipedia page for the movie, that point has since been cleared up. But there’s something enjoyable about a movie that requires a bit of thought afterwords to truly appreciate.
Bonus Cool: The Wobble. Enough said.
Gotta agree with you man, that Movie was nearly perfect, probably the best I’ve seen in the last two years.
I agree with you mostly although I thought the bad guys sucked with their aim. If “I” were creating bad guys in my dreams to protect me, those suckers could shoot the wings off a fly at a thousand yards. These guys couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with a machine gun. But the snow scenes were very cool.
On the whole, very entertaining.
Tam: When I wrote: “(along with other minor concepts I didn’t quite understand, but didn’t hinder my enjoyment)” that was my biggest question. What was possible in the dreams, and what wasn’t? How was Tom Hardy’s character able to whip out that big gun (tee hee) out of no where? What were the limits of what they could do? Why weren’t they able to do more? But I’m almost glad things were kept more realistic, otherwise it could have gotten out of hand. But if someone wants to make a movie called Ellen Page Does Kung Fu in Cute Outfits for Two Hours, I’d pay good money to see it.
an little added Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes ANYTHING better.
HUGS…
Okay, that comment above is NOT from Kari, it’s from me. And how his information got into the slots here when I’m logged in, I have no idea. It kinda freaks me out a bit, actually. I mean, who hasn’t wanted to be Kari at some point, but to have his info in the slots without me putting it in is just weird.
Perhaps I’m dreaming all this ala Inception?
HUGS….
Yeah, people have been complaining about the comments lately. I’ll have to look into it.
I told you so.
& seriously … you saw Sorcerer’s Apprentice last week when you could have seen this? You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.
What major point were you confused about? The spinning top?
No, I was okay with the spinning top, and the ambiguity of that. I was confused about Leo planting the “this is a dream” in his wife’s head leading to her madness. I just needed a minute to process that him saying “This is just a dream” in her head, stuck with her even after she woke up, causing her to think that the real world was a dream. Not a fault with the movie at all, just me being slow.
I agree with everything you said. I really enjoyed the movie and thought I understood everything until the last scene. You helped me put things together when we talked about it after. It also made a lot more sense when I realized two things 1-The opening scene was a flash foward rather than the beginning. 2- The movie did not follow dream symbolism the way others (particularly David Lynch) have.
Two of my lingering questions are: If the top was his wife’s totem why did it work for him? Why was it a deeper level of sleep for Fisher(Cillian Murphy) when they were entering the dreams of other members of the team? Shouldn’t it have been entering level one of Joseph Gordon Levitt, etc?
On a story level, I was also creeped out by his backstory with his wife. I was hoping that was a dream because it was so depressing.
Overall though, the whole fight scene & losing gravity in the corridor made the movie for me.
Hmmm, another one to add to the Netflix queue, it seems. I only knew about it from an interview w/ DiCaprio on NPR, but it sounds like an interesting concept.
And just as a totally unrelated to the movie aside, THIS time when I read the comments, it was Tam’s info in the slots instead of my own.
HUGS>..
I hate being so far behind the curve! I haven’t seen it yet.
I think Gordon-Levitt was soooo cute! And I totally agree about Ellen Page…I was wondering how she and her kOoKy self would fit into such a bizarre and axxxtion-packed thriller, and I was impressed how well her presence fit into the movie.
I found the levels of dreaming and how one person had to stay back to watch after the others while they were sleeping, to be quite inspired. You can tell that A LOT of careful thinking went into this movie and it for def def defferz paid off.
I think the top worked for him because Mal was dead, and therefore he was the only one who knoe the weight/feel of the top. Speaking of Mal, Marion Cotillard was my favourite part of the movie. She is so awesome.
I’m glad you enjoyed it so much, Craig! I *LOVED* it!! And I agree with every one of your points.
As I’ve said before, I was generally not a big fan of Leonardo diC — with the exception of his performance in Catch Me If You Can — but he really has matured into a good actor in my opinion.
I agree about Gordon-Levitt — it’s unbelievable that’s the same kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun. He is a billion times cuter now. And that hallway scene was awesome — for all the reasons you gave. Some people in the audience were laughing (not in a good way) during that scene — especially when he wrapped up the team in wiring to pull them into the elevator. But they seemed to find the slo-mo falling van funny, too. So they were idiots.
I recognized Tom Hardy from somewhere but even after looking him up on imdb I’m still not sure what it was. I did see Band of Brothers but I don’t think that’s where I know him from, because his British accent was familiar to me, and all the brits on BoB played Americans. He was definitely the cutest guy on the cast IMHO.
I see the film as kind of a mix of Memento and The Matrix in some ways. And I liked it best out of all 3. I don’t think it was all that “deep” (I didn’t think the matrix was either) — just a very fun ride. But it was beautifully done.
*heart skips beat*
*jaw drops*
*fans self furiously*
‘Inception’ Star Tom Hardy: ‘Of Course’ I’ve Had Sex with Men