Movie Review: Inception

Most of your who wanted to see Inception have probably already done so. Going into this weekend (it's 4th weekend in theaters) it had been the top grossing US movie each weekend, which is quite uncommon in today's movie market. The timing couldn't be more perfect: late July is usually after most studios have released their big tentpoles, and it's been up against fairly minor competition. I went to it on Friday night for a 9:30pm showing in Appleton, Wis., and my wife and our friends Megan and Brad were joined by about 15 other people (at most).

There should have been more. This was a incredible movie, one of the best movies I've ever seen. The story, the cinematography, the directing, the acting, the effects; everything came together to create a phenomenal film that continues to stick in my brain. It's one of the movies you can't shake, and you don't want to.

So what made this movie work? I'm glad you asked.

• Christopher Nolan. Everything begins and ends with the creator. Nolan wrote and directed this film, and his fingerprints are all over it. He has hit that rarefied moviemaker air for me, that is only breathed by one man: Stephen Spielberg. What Nolan makes, I will see. His Batman movies have been superb, The Prestige (2006) was awesome, and I've been talking about seeing Memento (2000) for so long, I feel like I've now cheated myself by not seeing it. So the success of Inception begins and ends with Nolan.
• The Story. This story is one of the most original, intense, and mind-wrapping stories since The Matrix (1999). From the first 30 seconds, you are confused, enthralled, intrigued and completely absorbed.
• The actors. I used to say I didn't like Leonardo DiCaprio, but I think I misstated. I just didn't like his two breakout roles: Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997). I haven't seen him in much else, and I really liked him in Catch Me If You Can (2002) alongside Tom Hanks. He is awesome as the main character in this film, perfectly cast. When I heard that Ellen Page was the female lead, I was unsure, but she nailed it. The rest of the cast is equal to the two stars.
• The effects. With one exception that I can remember, the effects in this movie were seamless, which is exactly how it should be. There are some zero gravity fight sequences I'm still trying to figure how they did. The complexity and bizarre nature of this story required killer effects, and they were delivered.
• A true climax. After building up the tension for 2 hours, the movie delivers in the final 30 minutes. Even the last 5 minutes took the breath out of the theater. The ending was simple yet complex. Sublime.

Did they make any mistakes? No, nothing substantial. There was one scene where the effects looked fake, but that lasted for like 3 seconds.

The one caveat to this is that the movie is rather violent, pressing the limits of a PG-13 rating. There are some dark themes in it, so it certainly is not for kids.

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. And while I gushed over Avatar last year, Inception is its superior in every way except for visuals, and that is in no way an insult to Avatar. I cannot wait to see it again, and sometime soon I need to think about where this film fits among my favorite films of all time.