My movie rating - 4 stars out of 5
*SPOILER ALERT*
I enjoyed it, although I figured out the entire movie plot/ending within the first 15 minutes of watching this movie. Really fun to watch. Well, until you spend what feels like half of your life watching two people go up a cliff. And after the painful experience of this scene's level of intense boredom, the characters decide "Oh wait! We don't have to do this! Let's go do the correct thing." O_o I was about to punch the theater screen for wasting my time.
There are redeeming qualities to this flick, though! This movie made me laugh, and the next second I was about to scream/wet my pants/etc. The characters Eames and Arthur are the two that make you laugh and not want to jump out of a window from depression. (I'll explain the depression part later, I promise) They have wonderful scenes like:
[Arthur is leaning back in his char]
"This, Ariadne, would be a kick..."
[kicks Arthur's chair causing Arthur to have a mini heart attack moment]
AND
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTC5nz77NtU&feature=related
On the other side of the coin (or should I say totem?) are the only girl characters: Ariadne and Mal. First off, the original Greek legend character Ariadne dies from loneliness and depression, while Mal means "bad" in at least two languages, so the writers give you a hint that they aren't exactly Miss Congeniality. In one particular scene of the movie, Ariadne moves around mirrors, stares at them, and then suddenly shatters the one in front of her. This may not sound terrifyng, but when you don't see it coming, and you're sitting in the 1st-6th rows, well.....let's just say even Chuck Norris might jump out of his seat! And then there's Mal's scenes. I can describe all of her scenes in three words: frightening, depressing, DISTURBING. (See, I TOLD you I would explain the depression bit!) If you haven't seen this movie, Mal is wife of the main character, Dom Cobb. Oh, and she's dead. And is now an illusion person inside Dom's dreams. Or whoever's dreams Dom happens to be in at that moment. Since Dom blames himself for her "suicide" (That's another bit that I'll have to get back to) , the fake Mal is always trying to kill him. And, for some unexplained reason, Ariadne is on her bad side as well. So whenever Mal is in a scene, things get weird. And scary. I think you get the picture.
Everyone who sees this movie interprets it differently. And that's ok! In fact, that's one of my favorite things about "INCEPTION." I've had excellent debates with my friends about it, almost as good as when LOST was on TV. (Yes, I'm a Lostie, yes, Saiko was in season 6 of Lost, yes, INCEPTION probably got a few cues from LOST in my opinion.) Back on subject, this isn't a movie with one solution. Here is my personal viewpoint:
- The never showed reality in the movie. All of the scenes that you saw were set in multiple dream layers. At the beginning of the movie, Dom spins the totem, but never actually stops by itself. He knocked it over, remember? And at the end, the totem never stopped spinning. He was closer to reality, but not quite there yet.
- Mal was right. Those weren't their kids, they never seemed to age! She is in reality during the movie, while Dom's guilt for her "suicide" lead his mind to create the "shade" version of her.
- Something happened to Mal & Dom to make them part of a large dream sharing experiment. Something went wrong, so to save them, Mal & Dom were given false memories. Before you say I'm crazy, remember the scene in the movie where Mal talks about him and Mal committing suicide to get out of Limbo by means of a train. Later on, you see that that isn't true, even though Dom believed it was for most of the 2 1/2 hour movie. Dom is stuck, so the company that started the experiment creates a false scenario to test the concept of Inception. Which means...
- ...Fischer isn't real! Did you notice how careful Ariadne was to point out that Fisher was "real?" If you have to remind someone about that, it looks a little, pardon my pun, "fishy" to me! ;)
- Not all team members are who they said they are. Saito is really the owner of the company that is testing Inception. Ariadne isn't an architect, she's a trained extractor who volunteered to play this part in the company's plan. That's why when she gets upset when she finds out the Dom in psychotic that she yells at Arthur. If she just met him, and he didn't hire her, then why would she blame him? Onto Nash, the architect that apparently "betrayed" them. He no longer wished to be a part of the experiment, so they created a scenario that would make sense to Dom's mind.
Overall, a very fun movie, both to watch and discuss! I recommend it, but I wouldn't pay $10 to see it, more like $7. Or just wait until you can order it straight onto your TV, where you can replay the good bits and skip half of the stupid snow scene. :D
-Erin
