Inception

I think I'm gonna have to see that again. First impression: This movie was awesome.

As I said last week, the Charlottan had already placed Inception into his top 3 movies of all time after seeing it only once. He's got pretty good taste in movies, so I was ready to see it and enjoy. I finally got the chance when I hit the theater yesterday afternoon.

While I was excited to see the movie, I was a little apprehensive too. I went into it with this notion that it was going to be complicated (it was). I couldn't help thinking back to the first time I watched The Matrix. I had waited for that one to come out on video, which was a good thing. 20 minutes into it, I had to stop, rewind, and rewatch what I had just seen before I began to grasp what was really happening. I was a little fearful that Inception would have that same kind of effect on me, only I wouldn't be able to stop and rewind in a theater full of people.

Luckily, while the movie was complex, I was able to follow things pretty well. Throughout the movie, the audience is faced with the question "Is this a dream or is this reality?" There are several times where it's pretty difficult to make the distinction. As we view these unreal worlds through the eyes of the characters, it's easy to be pulled into the reality of it all. After all, a dream feels real while we're still dreaming. Leonardo DiCaprio's character explains that it's only after we wake that we realize something was strange.

DiCaprio plays Cobb, a man who is an expert extractor. An extractor is someone who is hired to enter someone's subconscious in order to steal secrets, generally used in situations of industrial espionage. He is hired by Saito (Ken Watanabe) to go into a competitors mind not for extraction, but for inception, planting an idea. Cobb's right hand man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), doesn't believe it's possible, but Cobb knows different. From here, things become more and more complex as the dream team construct dreams within dreams, going deeper and deeper into their target's subconscious in order to achieve their objective.

This is just a most basic description of the plot. To go into any further detail would not only cause me to spend the rest of the day typing away like a mad man, but would cheapen the experience for any of my readers who still want to see the movie. I won't do that. A: Because I'm too lazy to stand here typing all day, and B: You must go see this movie if you haven't seen it yet. Must. Don't wait for the DVD. I know that the price of admission at the local cinema is pretty high these days, but this film is worth it. Find a matinee next Saturday afternoon. Prepare yourself for two and a half hours of having your mind blown.