Movie Review: Inception

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Inception is one of the greatest movies of all time.  No, really.  It's a genre-defying tour de force in terms of production, direction, acting, writing, and pretty much every other element that matters.  On top of that, it has a multi-layered plot.  Most importantly, it grabs you on a visceral level and doesn't let go, even after you leave the movie theater.  I had a lot of trouble falling asleep last night.

There is no single basic premise for this movie: there are several.  It is a classic bank heist film (where the mark is someone's dream).  It is a "one last job" film about a man trying to make things right.  It is about a husband's longing for his dead wife, and a father's love for his children.  It is a mind game thriller that keeps you on your toes.  It involves corporate espionage, and a man who literally faces his own demons.  And it has some of the best action scenes I've ever seen.  Wait until the scene with the rotating hallway.  Yeah.  Oh yeah: and two twists near the end, one of which made the entire movie audience gasp out loud.

That seems like a lot for a single movie, and it is.  But it is a credit both to the script and the director that the movie never seems long, even after two and a half hours.  I can't wait for the director's cut to come out on DVD.  Because so much is packed in, certain key scenes are left out, which adds to the ambiguity at the end.  Were those scenes left out in order to keep the time down, or did the scenes not happen?  Like any good mind trip movie, the viewer must wrestle with these questions, for which there is no definitive answer.

On top of that, the movie has fantastic acting, most notably with Leonardo di Caprio, who has become one of the greatest actors of our generation.  (And this from the man who boycotted Titanic; I still haven't seen it.)  Add Ellen Page, who blows me away with her acting ability.  (If you have the stomach, see Hard Candy.)  Plus a supporting cast that never disappoints.  There's already been discussion about whether this movie is better than The Matrix, another head trip action thriller.  Whether or not Inception is actually better in its genre, it has one huge advantage: excellent acting.  Although that's pretty much a given for any movie that doesn't have Keanu Reeves insisting he knows kung fu.

The music is excellent, with an electronic-industrial score that reminds you of the stakes involved.  Toward the end of the film, when the director begins shifting between different realities, the score effortlessly keeps up - no easy task.  In addition, the sound editing in general is fantastic.  Everything has a slightly jarring tone to it, reminding the viewer that this is a dream gone bad.

As to the special effects, it gets harder and harder for me to appreciate computer-generated effects because they're always so good nowadays.  The biggest problem is that the audience knows what is real and what isn't, so it's much harder to impress.  In fact, some of the best action in the film involves little or no special effects; I'm talking again about the fight scene in the rotating hallway.  Yeah, it's worth mentioning twice.  But when the special effects do appear, they are breathtaking.  The film pleases early on, with a Paris neighborhood that first explodes, then folds in on itself.  It is simply meant as a demonstration of what's possible, and it works better than the training scenes from The Matrix (remember the bouncy ground?).  Rarely are the effects offered as their own spectacle; they are woven into the live action simply as a consequence of what's going on in the film.  I think that's a higher level of storytelling, rather than simply offering moments of "look at this!"

Finally, the writing is excellent--both the plot and the dialog.  Every word spoken by every character felt believable and real.  That's partially to the credit of the top-notch acting, but even great actors can be derailed by terrible lines (see The Da Vinci Code).  On top of that, the plot contained plenty of improbable twists, but they never seemed ridiculous or staged.  Every new twist seemed like a perfectly reasonable consequence of what came before, and every character made decisions that seemed believable based on who they were.  More importantly, the plot was exciting.  Heist movies are always formulaic; you have the opening scene that demonstrates the characters' prowess, you have the new deal with the powerful client, you have the setup for the new heist (which includes more impressive demonstrations of what the characters can do), you have the plan, and then you have the execution, which never goes according to plan (of course).  Then, at the end, there are the final plot twists that give you "oh my gosh" moments.  But even when you're expecting it, the movie still delivers.  As the stakes were raised again and again, I felt myself being drawn in more and more.

Bottom line: the movie not only delivers on all levels, but it does it better than any other movie within recent memory.  I may not be the first to call Inception a classic, but I know I won't be the last either.

J<