Our First Review-Of INCEPTION!

Oh, Chris. Chris, Chris, Chris. You did it again-- you sucked me in. Another amazing, impenetrable thrill ride of a movie.

Inception is Christopher Nolan's follow up to the behemoth summer blockbuster The Dark Knight. He's also directed Batman Begins, Memento, and The Prestige, all of which I have enjoyed/enjoyed being confused about. And I enjoyed being confused about this movie, too.

This movie is BIG. It's long, it's packed full of special effects, and the story...I don't think I could explain it fully if I tried. In simple terms, Leonardo DiCaprio is a thief named Cobb who can enter people's dreams and learn their secrets as they sleep. He is contracted by Saito (Ken Wannatabe) to complete one last, extremely dangerous job. That, of course isn't even the tip of the plot iceberg.

The storyline got so overstuffed, eventually I had to stop even trying to understand what was happening. Part of that is probably purposeful, since a main theme in the film is the fine line between dreamworld and the real world. It's unsettling, but don't worry. Even if you lose track of what's going on, the tense or surprising moments still land. I was on the edge of my seat for the ending, and I probably missed 20% of the plot points.

I focused instead on the absolute beauty and spectacle of the film. Everything from the locations to the lighting to wardrobe to the actor's hairstyles seems to matter to Nolan. All those visual aspects are extremely cohesive and you can tell how much time and effort this movie required. It makes the movie feel like, well, art. I could watch the movie on mute and still be totally enraptured.

And that goes for the blockbuster scenes, too-normally I don't care at all for big loud CGI sequences, but these are amazing! The scene from the trailer of a city street turning on itself is even cooler in the movie (my favorite special effect involves floating people and elevators, but I don't want to give too much away).

The only thing I had a real problem with was DiCaprio. I'm sorry, but I just didn't buy his character at all. He has a very simple motivation (to be vague, he's a family man at heart) that seemed too weak for such an impressive movie. I found myself wanting to spend more time with the other actors, especially Ellen Page, as Ariadne the young student, and Joseph Gordon Levitt as Arthur, Cobb's right hand man. These two characters had very little if any back story and I still found them much more engaging. Sorry, Leo.

So, should you see Inception? YES. The plot is kind of confusing, and the lead character is a bit boring, but all that is minor in the face of the amazing visuals in this movie.

Plus, it stuck with me-I had a dream last night I too could go into people's dreams.

RATINGs:

OVERALL

5/5-go see it!

SEXINESS

3.5/5-there are some cute dudes, but I hate to say it, kind of not what this movie is about. Just see it anyway!

OTHER

5/5 turning to your neighbor and asking what the eff just happened Seriously this movie is incredibly confusing, but in a way that makes you want to call Christopher Nolan and get him to explain it to you.