Movie Review: Inception

I recently went and saw the new Leonardo DiCaprio movie, "Inception" and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this movie.

"Inception" is a hard movie to describe so I'll do my best. In the time of this movie there is a technology that allows people to share dreams. Leonardo DiCaprio's is an "extractor". He goes into people's dreams, with the help of someone they refer to as an Architect (which controls and creates the dream world they are in) and tries to get delicate information out of these dreams. In one way you can think of it as "The Matrix" but instead of a computer program you're in someone's subconscious. These dream-states are controlled and usually monitored by someone. But there is also a trigger that gets them out of the dream should anything go wrong. It's usually something like a jolt or a falling sensation that automatically wakes up the person. The movie also plays a lot with time dilation within the dreams. In other words they acknowledge that in the dream, 1hr is about 10 minutes in the real world. However they also delve into the concept of dreams within dreams. So while in the first layer, they get one of the devices they use to get into the dreams (In the outside world) and go deeper. As confusing as it sounds, once you watch the movie, you'll understand. Consequently, the deeper you go the more pronounced the time dilation is. Essentially if you go down deep enough, you can spend years in the dream world and only have had a couple of hours pass in the real world.

Back to the point. Leonardo DiCaprio has been separated from his two young kids, and his wife is dead before the movie starts (although he does see his wife constantly in the dreams). One day he meets a Japanese business man who promises that he can fix everything and allow DiCaprio to once again live at home and be with his kids. The price? Plant an idea into someone's head. And this is where the title of the movie comes from. They call this process "Inception".

Without going too much more into the plot, I have to say this was a fun ride in terms of story, acting, and overall direction. But the one thing that truly stands out is how this movie messes with your mind. The ending is one that essentially lets you decide what happened. It can also make you confused. In my case, it made me chuckle a little.

Although it is a two and a half hour movie, it didn't feel like an outrageous length to tell the story. Again the play with time dilation makes the movie extremely entertaining. It has plenty of interesting twists to keep you guessing. Yes some of it was a little predictable, but i think they purposely gave clues.

My verdict: Check this out! Sit back and enjoy the journey.