Inception

I can sum this movie up in one word: WOW! What a breath of fresh air. This is a movie that sets its own rules, and if you don’t follow them, it’s easy to get lost between the dream world and the real world. The things you might not understand at first, the story is forgiving enough to come full circle and explain them to you later. This is the type of movie I’ve been waiting to see. This isn’t a remake or rehashed story, but a fresh idea. Here are some cool words this movie introduces that you should keep in mind while watching—“Limbo” and “totem”.

Inception is a movie about a team of dream thieves led by Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who can enter the dreams of others and steal their secrets. This is accomplished by a device the size of a brief case that tethers the dreamer’s minds together. In a bid to gain his freedom and see his children again, the tortured “Extractor” Cobb is hired by Saito (Ken Watanabe) to plant an idea in the subconscious mind of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) the son of his employer’s corporate rival. The goal is this idea will dismantle his rival’s empire.

He is joined on this mission by a new “Architect” named Ariadne (Ellen Page) who some of you may know from the recent Cisco TV commercials or better yet as Kitty Pryde (Shadow Cat) in X-Men 3. For those of you familiar with Greek mythology, Ariadne helped Theseus find his way out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth. Much in the same way this modern day Ariadne helps Cobb by not only designing labyrinths (dream worlds) of the mind, but helping Cobb navigate out of his own. I found the character a bit too “all knowing” for a first timer on a mission as deep as this one. Even though she is “the best and brightest”, many of the things she knew and experienced should have been a bit over her head. Which makes me wonder if Ariadne was even real, or just a projection in Cobb’s dreams, just like his wife Mal?

I went into this movie expecting it to be a lot like the Matrix. But it wasn’t. The fight scenes in the hallway with “Point Man” Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) may look Matrix-like with the character able to bend reality to his will and defy gravity, but actually the reverse is happening.

One of the rules about dreaming that is thankfully tossed out the window is if you die in your dream you die in real life. What interesting possibilities this creates. In this reality if you die in your dream you simply wake up. Simple and true-to-life. Second, time goes much more slowly in a dream which is also true. Years can pass while only minutes elapse in the waking world. But, if you’re sedated (as this dream team is) and several levels deep into a dream within a dream within a dream…and you die…you could end up in… Limbo. Where even a few moments of real time could seem to be decades in Limbo and the person would not be able to distinguish this dream world from the real world. Sounds scary huh?

Because the film sets its own rules; it’s hard to know if it violates them when something seems amiss or hard to explain, or if it’s just the quirkiness of the dream that doesn’t always make sense to the dreamer.

The ending of the film left the audience gasping. Here is where the totem comes into play. This is the type of movie that is worth paying to go see. The movie is brilliant and you’ll need your thinking cap for this one. I give it 5 out of 5 fingers.