Inception!!

I've been waiting to make this post. I saw the acclaimed mind cramping masterpiece this past Friday; it has taken me this long to build up the courage to write on it. That's right. It was that awesome. Word to the wise: if you have not seen this movie, go and see it. Now. In theaters. It is worth the ten bucks. That said, I want to again stress the general and overwhelming mind-blowingness (hah pulled a palin-speare)of this film--piece of art really. If you see this film, your mind will be blown. Inception + Seeing = Mind blown^infinity. Really simple math here, kids.

Where to begin without giving anything away? Well I suppose we can start with the visual. This film was beautifully done in this regard. Five out of Five stars. Everything was breathtaking, I was on the edge of my seat just trying to watch everything at once. My hat goes off to whoever decided that the entire film didn't HAVE to be perpetually shot through a blue filter lens. Inception was full of color with scenes ranging from rooms reminiscent of the Hall of a Thousand Lanterns on Mt. Koya to landscapes right out of COD 4's Tundra (Call of Duty for non-gamers). In short, it was really nice to look at.

When I initially planned to address the soundtrack I was going to give it a lower score, something like three out of five. But then I realized why and had to smile at the genius of it all. The music was unobtrusive, building tension when needed, and splashing a taste of whimsy when the situation called. I wanted to rate the sound track lower because I didn't remember the music. But with a work like this, the audience must be focused. One cannot stop to marvel at how pretty the music is or they will find themselves left behind. The music has to be such that it enhances the play on the screen without drawing any attention to itself, which is exactly what they did. Touche Legendary Pictures. I am chastised.

I was surprised to find Inception wickedly clever at times. Being as horrifying and heart-stopping as the genre called, Inception managed to be utterly hilarious as well--yes this movie was actually quite funny. It provided just the right amount of humour to the very serious--and that made everything all the more real. After all in the face of certain death and the like humans are more likely to fall to the ways of humour than they are to paint on a serious facade. This nuance is usually ignored by Hollywood, thrown to the wayside for cool speeches and steely gazes. But inception utilized this; the dialog and the way the characters were built is what pulled that off. Inception does what I love to do when starting a short story or novel: it dropped the audience in media res. There was no build up. Just "Oh, we're in the middle of a job. Don't know what's going on? Then PAY ATTENTION." This was a great move because it forces the audience to listen, and doesn't allow us to make any theories of our own until later on. You also get to see the characters in their elements right away. Less telling and more showing this way. And because we get to watch them so closely, because they are human (or are they?) we get to observe the humorous little things that occur and/or are said when one is scared witless.

The whole concept of Inception, the world within which there exists an entirely different set of rules is also delivered almost effortlessly. While my mind was annihilated by the end of this movie (more because of the ending and the endless wonder of "what happened?" than anything else), all the rules and strictures were explained fully and thoroughly. I didn't find myself confused at all; in fact I found myself piecing together the consequences of the characters actions along side with them. By the mid-end, things no longer needed explanation. If something happened, the characters would give each other knowing looks, looks mirrored by those in the audience. Soo good.

If I took the time to consider what Inception has done for the Science Fiction realm, I might never get to sleep. That said the leap from the science fiction expected of today to Inception is very much like the difference between the first Matrix and all the others. Inception has Supermaned and the cameras are still trying to find it. This was a tasteful, wonderfully rendered piece of science fiction art. Only problem is, now the next Batman has to be better than not only the Dark Knight but also Inception. Impossible? Who knows. Miracles happen everyday.