Inception Movie Review

Inception is the movie everyone is buzzing about this summer. Many are calling it the new Matrix, and are naming it the best movie of the year, or at least the summer. Is it true? Well let’s just see shall we?

The movie follows Leonardo DiCaprio (aka “Cobb”) as he tries to find solace and acceptance with himself. He has the ability to enter and manipulate people’s dreams, and he uses this ability to steal information for whatever company will pay him the most. His ultimate goal is to get back home to his family, but his search also helps him come to terms with his wife’s death. The main point of the movie is when Cobb gathers a team to  plant an idea in a corporate power’s inheritor with a process called Inception. While accomplishing this difficult task his team will have to overcome many difficulties and struggle to accomplish their mission and escape the dream.

The concept that the movie is built around, the concept of invading and manipulating people’s dreams, is a very interesting one and certainly gets points for originality. Originality is hard to come by these days in the film industry, and certainly provides a breath of fresh air from all the remakes that populate current film. The film keeps up the action throughout the movie and should keep the action-lovers entertained enough to enjoy it. The characters are developed reasonably well, with only one or two left largely one sided. The movie also ends on an excellent, if repetitive, note. The character’s acting is also quite good, with DiCaprio pulling off Cobb’s emotional turmoil convincingly and accurately throughout the movie.

There are however problems to be had, and they start as soon as the movie does. The beginning scene, with DiCaprio washing up on a beach and talking to some old guy, ties into the ending very nicely, but to put it bluntly you have no idea whatsoever what is going on. The beginning to a movie should establish something, all this established was that we had no idea what was going on. Then it moved into another scene where we are introduced to the premise of the movie, invading dreams. The only problem is that once again we have no idea what is going on until after it happens. This can work for other movies but for one that introduces a concept like invading minds through dreams, you should explain what this is as soon as possible so that the viewer will know what is going on. Most things aren’t explained until halfway into the movie. The lack of a buildup of information for the viewer can leave people confused, which is bad.

The movie as a whole however was good and pretty well developed. Cobb’s emotional turmoil builds up to the climax at the end of the movie, and the movie is both exciting and intriguing in concept.  Overall I would recommend seeing it, as it is most likely the best movie to come out this year, but be prepared to do some hard thinking to follow the story, and do not expect another Matrix.

8/10

IMDB Page

-fireskull