The Movie
Where do you go after directing The Dark Knight, the blockbuster comic book movie that found acclaim beyond most filmmakers' wildest dreams? Well, if you're Christopher Nolan, you enter dreams themselves, for the intelligent heist flick Inception.
There are lots of engaging characters and at times the plot becomes really complicated, so I'll just give you the highlights rather than reveal any of the wild cards and twists. Seems that scientists have developed "Dream-Share" technology, which allows bold, trained interlopers to enter other people's unconscious minds. They do this, naturally, for personal gain, and it has become the hot new method of industrial espionage. Stealing secrets is called "extraction," but planting a critical idea is far more difficult, especially if you want the subject to believe it is truly his own.
This is called "inception" and the best in the business (Leonardo DiCaprio) assembles a dream team to help him pull off just such a nigh-impossible, ludicrously dangerous caper. Even when I felt certain points of the story slipping beyond my grasp, particularly late in the film, I took comfort knowing that Nolan, who also wrote the script, had it all figured out as he did with his similarly complex Memento. It makes sense even if I don't get it right now, and I fully intend to watch it again.
Wake up! It's time to read Karen Dahlstrom's review of Inception.
The Picture
There are incredible visions photographed with a stunning clarity, at times like an M.C. Escher work of art come to life. The colors are beautiful, and the elaborate special effects (the entire city of Paris folding in on itself like a crepe!) play well at 1080p. There are rare issues with focus and compression and noise in this 2.4:1 master, but so slight and far between it's almost embarrassing to mention.
The Sound
Nolan really exploits the freedom afforded by his fantastic premise by creating wild soundscapes beyond anything we'd encounter in the real world. The active DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundstage is marked with generous details as well as sharp explosions, and the tense shootouts sound simply amazing. There's also a subtle manipulation of the channels, a deft phasing around the room, in addition to the big, powerful surprises I wouldn't dream of giving away.
The Extras
We are invited into "Extraction Mode," either while playing the movie which branches away at 14 points to the little topic-specific videos, with graphical transitions, or "Jump Right to the Action" to view any or all of these 44 minutes of featurettes. On Disc Two, there are experts and artful explorations in "Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious," hosted by co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, plus the "Inception: The Cobol Job" animated comic which provides backstory on one of the movie's early plot points. All of these video extras are in HD.
"Project Somnacin: Confidential Files" further illuminates the central Dream-Share Technology, via BD-Live. (Discs One and Two are both BD-Live-enabled, incidentally.) "5.1 Inception Soundtrack" collects about 39 minutes of Hans Zimmer's wonderful score in DTS-HD Master Audio quality, each of the ten tracks starting with the title, followed by a blank screen. There's also an interactive Conceptual Art Gallery and Promotional Art Archive.
Disc Three is a DVD of the movie with no special features. A unique code is also packed inside to download a Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media.
Final Thoughts
Although clearly influenced by a variety of other media (most obviously The Matrix), Inception is further proof that Christopher Nolan is without question one of the most gifted filmmakers working in Hollywood today, dreaming up and then realizing a sprawling, thrilling, mind-bending heist like no other, one that begs to be enjoyed at the higher standards of Blu-ray.
Product Details
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