I couldn’t have put it better myself, so I didn’t. And doesn’t the architect lady look so much hotter in this picture?
Disclaimer: Many, many spoiler alerts included…
Anyway, I first heard about Inception here, followed by a few more statements around twitter. I got curious, so I asked my favourite movie buff, Mr 3CB. He was impressed with it, and we agreed to find a good torrent. Of course while I was out torrent hunting, his boys decided Inception was going to be guys night out. *russumfussumboy’sboys*
He watched it on big screen and wouldn’t stop raving about it, so I figured I’d find a good torrent. Google led me to this page, and I was so excited that I did my little clapping dance. I’ve been known to do it at the ATM and on MSN, so you might be familiar with it. Anyway, the page.
While I was still clapping, Mr 3CB looks over my shoulder and says, ‘Don’t load anything that says CAM or TS in the file name.’ Yes Mr. Grinch. Now you know he watched in big screen and I wasn’t going to sit still now that I’m all hyped up about it, right? I waited till he was asleep, then I torrented it. It only took all night.
Then this morning, with a cup of black iced tea [*russumfussummilkallergies*], I watched Inception. The torrent was actually pretty good for a camera copy.
First thing I noticed was Leonardo Dicaprio. F**k. Not him again. I forgave him for Romeo and Juliet [beach version] and Titanic because he redeemed himself in The Aviator and Catch Me If You Can. But him scaling a wall in a suit was totally killing his brownie points.
Then I noticed that there were no credits. Ok. The run time was 2 hours 10 minutes. Shouldn’t it have been closer to 2.30? I figured my torrent skipped the first 20 minutes or something. Also, I started the movie at 9. I had a skype meeting at 11. So I kept looking at the clock as I watched. I will insist it was because I was worried about the meeting, but it could also be that I wanted the thing to end.
I remember hearing their arguments about how 5 minutes in the real world is an hour in dream time, and how three levels of dreaming quadrupled the time. My response to that was, ‘Have they been talking for ten minutes? It seemed a lot longer …’ But then again, I’ve never been much good at maths.
By the time the clock was at 45 minutes, I was thinking up excuses for Mr 3CB. He loved this movie, so it wouldn’t be enough to just say I hated it. I would need good solid reasons. I would also need to watch the movie again, because despite knowing the concept and the plot, I had no idea what was going on. Because there was way too much going on.
In my head, I kept hearing these questions. Why are the steps upside down? Who’s the dreamer and who’s the subject? If the subject is in the architect’s dream, then why is the subject’s subconscious attacking the architect? If they’re having shared dreams, how come just one person gets attacked? And is that woman’s name Mall?
When I couldn’t answer any of the questions, I decided that would be my perfect excuse – I’m too dumb to get this movie. Yay! I mean, it’s supposed to mess with my mind and make me question reality. It’s supposed to make me wonder if I’m awake, or if I’m dreaming. I’m supposed to ask myself how I got to where I’m sitting, just to be sure that I’m awake. I’m supposed to wonder if someone can get into my dreams and plant or steal ideas? And considering I sometimes dream in Manga, I should be susceptible to this kind of thing.
But the only question I was asking myself is, ‘If I say I’m blonde, will he think I’m patronising him? And just how comfy is my couch anyway?’
When the movie got to the 1.40 mark, Mr Charles showed up, and they fell onto a snowscape. Then I got reeeaally confused. The Arthur guy was swimming in corridors and killing people without gravity, which was cool, the hot Indian guy was driving really really badly, and everyone was doing some really twisted math-talk. The money guy was dying, everyone was shooting, and Leo was sniping people. I heard maybe the one deep line in the movie:
“You’re shooting projections from Fischer’s subconscious. Are you killing off parts of his mind?”
Ok, so now it gets to the part I like, because you take an abused kid, give him a paper spiral-fan-wind-toy- thingie, and convince him that his daddy is proud of him. Aaaaaaw. Never mind that this sweet gesture of human affection is really part of diabolical scheme to take over the world. Only Hollywood can take a good deed and make it evil. Sigh.
Of course it’s pretty cool that they all get out alive, except for Mall. If that was the crazy woman’s name. I was pretty happy seeing them chilling in first class. It made me do my happy clap. Michael Caine was an added bonus. LOVE him.
Also, I started to wonder how tough my subconscious is, and whether I have armoured tanks in there, considering I’m so paranoid. I’d like to think if some dude snuck in there, he’d find an army of Female Samurai Manga warriors with purple hair. And they’d probably be doing the snake mirror dance from Jaden’s karate kid.
Seriously though, I put a lot of emphasis on the power and meaning of dreams. Lots of times I’ve woken up crying because my loved one was hurt in my dreams, and have carried around the grief for days, even when I could see and touch them and know they were fine. I’ve been depressed for weeks after ‘betraying’ a friend in my sleep. So I’m surprised this movie didn’t affect me.
If you ask me what I think, I will say it was okay, or even ‘nice’. But psychological thrillers are not supposed to be ‘nice’. They’re supposed to be mind-blowing. So, conclusion. Well, I liked the last half hour. That has to count for something, right Mr 3CB?
♫ Brain stew ♫ Greenday ♫
Diasporadical 
The name is actually Mal with 1 L. which is supposedly French for sickness/disease or something like that, which is apparently supposed to be symbolic in that she’s somwhat a disease in Cobb’s brain/subconcious brain.
The who’s the dreamer/who’s th subject was confusing while watching it, but i saw a graph later which was detailed & simplified & according to it, th dreams werent shared, but was just someone else dreaming inside someone else’s dream.
And you cant really say, ‘they all came out alive except for Mal’ cos Mal wasnt alive in th 1st place. she’s just a projection. Anyway, i thought twas awesome
Infinitepyro vs DiaspoRadical vs Inception part one. First, Leo and the Jap dude didn’t make it out of the dreams. They got stuck in limbo and the scene at the end was Leo’s last and never-ending dream. The movie was not as amazing conceptually as people made it out to be. Infact, the first in The Matrix series got people asking more than inception ever will. But the undertones are poignant about advertising and freewill and such and such. Therein lies the beauty.
Inception vs The Matrix (Trilogy) va Aviator. Tthat is the order in qhich the whole flm-making world will remember this generation. Good tging about Incepyion is theat it never tries too haed.
Awesome movie. Inception vs The Matrix – I’d probably say double K.O
@infinitepyro – Both Leo and the Jap guy did get out
They missed the kick, how did they get out then? Plus, the top kept on spinning as Leo went to see his kids. Speaking of whom, the children hadn’t aged nor changed their clothes.
I’m of the opinion the whole movie was a dream, especially after the Mombasa scene though.
If you can remember, Leo and Mal were stuck in limbo before and were both able to get out – he (Leo) knew how to get out. How do you think the money guy (old and frail at the end) got back to the plane? And no, the plane wasnt a dream!
Who knows maybe you are still dreaming 🙂
All i know is more original thought ideas in hollywood = much better movies in the future now the houses have no excuse not to back one…and i don’t get why people are comparing this to Matrix, Inception spent almost half the time explaining itself….Matrix not so much hence more questions.
Some people say Cobb never wakes up when he went to sleep in Mombasa, but when he wakes up & goes to th loo, Saito startles him & th top falls on th floor, doesnt that count? i also read a comment that was recently apparently made by th costume designer saying he made two sets of clothes for th kids. when i watched th film again, they still looked th same (same color). i also read elsewhere that th casting director was asked to get two sets of kids for th role, th latter slightly older. still looked th same to me
Some people say Cobb never wakes up when he went to sleep in Mombasa, but when he wakes up & goes to th loo, Saito startles him & th top falls on th floor, doesnt that count? i also read a comment that was recently apparently made by th costume designer saying he made two sets of clothes for th kids. when i watched th film again, they still looked th same (same color). i also read elsewhere that th casting director was asked to get two sets of kids for th role, th latter slightly older. still looked th same to me.
@TheB, that was different. They never died when they were in limbo. This time, the Japanese guy died. Leo dreamt that they woke up on the plane, Jap dude made the phonecall, he went home and finally saw his kids faces.
I think movie critic Devine from chud.com got it right about Nolan’s depiction of the film industry being this movie.