On the plane back from Europe, Pauline was going to watch Inception but I stopped her because I had it back home and we could watch it on a real TV. I wanted to watch Inception because I heard it is messed up and difficult to comprehend, yet had good reviews so it can’t be completely off the wall. Now having watched it, I can say that it is an fascinating concept but the story has too many holes in it.

Inception is about a couple of people who are experts in “Extraction” which is a form of corporate espionage where the secrets locked in a person’s mind is extracted from their dream state. Inception is the opposite of extraction, and supposedly much more challenging. For some loose and out-of-thin-air reasons, the team has to insert an idea into the mind of someone.

So the team of 6 (too many characters!) go on a merry adventure of dreaming and dreaming an adventure within dreams to introduce an idea into the mind of their target. It is complex to describe but in actuality the movie is pretty straightforward and simple.

The question at the end is whether Cobb, the character played by Leonardo Di Caprio is still dreaming or awake. I think the answer is obvious, based on what he and Ellen Page discussed in the French cafe. The cognitive load of the movie at the beginning is large though, especially because the concept is foreign, the view doesn’t know how it works, and the plot omits certain things to speed things up. By midway through the movie, you get it – but I guess it helps to watch the beginning multiple times.

I think the idea of a navigating in a dream world is glamorous; when lucid dreaming, you can do whatever you want – fly, change physics, etc. That gives the movie appeal. But I think that trying to incorporate romance, a tragic flaw in the hero, and a plot twist while cavorting through dreamscape is too complicated and long for the movie. If they focused on fewer concepts, but did it better, then I would give Inception more than 3 out of 5 stars.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: moviereview