Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team of high-tech thieves are into more than simple thievery: they go directly into people’s minds, employing dream-sharing technology to invade someone’s subconscious and make off with whatever lucrative idea can be found within. On the run due to his livelihood and haunted by visions of his late wife, Cobb is hired by industrial tycoon Saito (Ken Watanabe) to invade the mind of Robert Fischer (Cilian Murphy). But Saito doesn’t what’s already in Fischer’s mind. He instead wants Cobb to perform an inception--plant an idea in Fischer’s mind--which is an entirely different operation altogether. The stakes are high, and the venture is risky, but should he succeed, Cobb has been promised the one thing he wants more than any other: a return home to his two young children.

CRITIQUE

If you’re looking for an Armond White-style screed (and I sincerely hope I don’t come across that way when I voice my dislike for a movie), you’ve come to the wrong place. Although I don’t think Inception is a perfect movie (it’s damn close, though), I haven’t been as purely entertained by any other movie this year. This is a smart, fun, inventive, exceptionally well crafted (on every level possible) piece of filmmaking. In this day and age, blockbuster moviemaking doesn’t get much more satisfying than this.

I went in knowing as little as possible about this movie. I’ve come to trust Christopher Nolan implicitly over the past decade. He has yet to make a disappointing movie, much less a bad one. And there’s always a genuine surprise or two to be had, and I prefer to be surprised by the movie itself, not by one of my loudmouthed friends or some doofus on the ‘net. I’d seen the incredibly intriguing trailer (the shot of that city block folding in on itself is an incredible hook), and I knew a little about the plot, but I’d manage to avoid any spoiling of the particulars.

But now I’m not sure if anyone could have spoiled it. I don’t know if exactly what Nolan accomplishes can truly be expressed through words. This is one of those movies that uses the language and particulars of film to an astounding degree. You couldn’t tell this story via the written word, nor can you adequately summarize it via the same. There are moments here which must be seen; no other form of sensory input or communication could accurately convey them.

Of the group of filmmakers who are (more or less) of my age group, the only two I will follow unreservedly are Nolan and David Fincher. I’ve become somewhat wary of Wes Anderson and P.T. Anderson (because of The Life Aquatic and Punch-Drunk Love, respectively), but Fincher and Nolan can lead me straight to the gates of hell if they want. I still think Fincher is the closest thing to the second coming of Kubrick I’ll see in my lifetime, and I’m now convinced Nolan is an amalgam of Kubrick and Spielberg (a realization which immediately had me wishing he’d been allowed to take on A.I.).

Like Kubrick, Nolan continually finds new vehicles for his particular set of obsessions and has a complete mastery of every technical aspect of filmmaking (the latter is something Fincher gets credit for but Nolan rarely does, likely because Nolan’s visuals are often stately and elegant while Fincher is more adventurous), but at the same time he has Spielberg’s commercial acumen. The themes Nolan toys with are far deeper than what usually fills movies that cost 150 million bucks, but he’s able to present them in a way that hooks mass audiences and ends up more than justifying the expense.

Like The Dark Knight before it (and all of Nolan’s movies, really), Inception is a genre movie with a brain, a piece of pop entertainment which is easily consumable but also sends you out the door ruminating.

So Inception is a heist movie, but it’s a heist movie with something on its mind. What’s on its mind is identity and obsession, and amidst all of the action, science fiction, and thrills is a rather fascinating examination of these subjects. The movie was criticized in some circles for being too clinical and lacking an emotional hook, but I didn’t find it deficient in this area. Cobb is a broken man, a man looking for one thing and constantly denied, a man capable of amazing excursions but unable to get to the one place he desires more than any other. How is that not an emotional hook? No, the movie doesn’t exactly wear this on its sleeve, and on its surface it (and this is true of most of Nolan’s movies) comes across as far more cerebral than emotional, but that core is still there.

So Inception is a heist movie with a brain and an emotional pull that somehow eluded some people, but you can forget all that, just view the movie as a heist flick with sci-fi and action elements and still have a completely satisfying time. For all its razzle and dazzle, all its ideas and themes, Inception is still a great story told in absolutely the best way possible.

Ambitious as he is, Nolan doesn’t skimp on the framework, constructing his script (which he reportedly spent the last decade perfecting) in such a way that the core story itself is more than enough to deliver a completely satisfying movie experience. Although it involves some fantastical and metaphysical elements, the inception plan is laid out in typical heist-movie manner, with every step carefully and methodically explained beforehand.

And when it goes down, each aspect of the plan is presented as its own mini-movie, with each delving into its own aspect of the action genre. Nolan cuts back and forth between a car chase, a mountaintop siege, and a shootout (each sequence, which represents a different level of a dream, designed and controlled by a separate character, and each moving at it’s own dream-pace), and in doing so he creates one of the most assured, impressive sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie. Each time I see it I’m simultaneously enthralled by it and stunned at the craft that went into it. By all rights the sequence should have been a mess, incomprehensible, indulgent, and showoffy, but Nolan keeps it clear, with each cut adding to the tension and momentum instead of adding to the confusion.

Then again, the entire movie should have been a mess. Although Nolan has obviously done his research when it comes to the world of dreams, he’s created his own set of rules for his story, and it all somehow makes sense. Unlike The Matrix, which makes less sense the more you think about it and eventually comes across as the ramblings of a couple guys whose understanding of the world is too informed by anime, comic books, and pop philosophy (and I’m not trying to take anything away from The Matrix, which I still think is a perfectly fine piece of entertainment as long as you don’t try to buy into its pretensions), the ideas behind Inception stand up under scrutiny. Its logic isn’t simply the logic of a dream (in other words, this isn’t a case of anything goes), so you don’t have to shrug off anything and just accept a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.

That line about the gates of hell was hyperbole, but only slightly. The world of cinema is a better place for having Christopher Nolan in it. When it comes to toeing the line better commercial and art-house fare, there’s currently no one doing it better. (I’m getting old, so if I’ve said that about someone else and forgot, I didn’t mean it.) And when it comes to this year’s blockbuster offerings, Inception casts its shadow--a very long shadow--over them all.

THE VIDEO

The 2.40:1/1080p transfer--encoded with VC-1 onto a 50GB disc--is sort of like the movie itself: it’s not flawless, but it’s close. Once again Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister (who were born to work together the way Jagger and Richards were born to work together) have opted for a classical look; with the visuals have a largely natural, stately look.

Colors are dead-on accurate, blacks are rich and deep, and clarity and detail are spot-on. There’s a hint of softness in some shots, although this is intentional and in no way compromises the quality of the image. Some mild jitter and moiré pop up at times (watch the pans across land- and cityscapes), but this only comprises the image to a very small degree.

THE AUDIO

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is perfect. Nolan loves manipulating sound, and this movie is no exception, and the audio here brings out ever nuance. Dialogue is flawless. Every sound effect comes through impeccably; every bass thud is like a bowling ball to the gut (this track’s low end is something to experience). Hans Zimmer’s absolutely terrific score is given an outstanding presentation. It’s a completely immersive experience.

French, Portuguese, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are also included; English SDH, French, Portuguese, and Spanish subtitles are available.

THE EXTRAS

All of the extras here are presented in high-def.

The sole extra on Disc One is what’s been dubbed Extraction Mode. This series of fourteen featurettes (totaling about 45 minutes) can be viewed as the movie plays (in which case you’ll be branched out of the movie when a scene’s respective featurette is available and then sent back to the movie when the featurette concludes) or as completely separate pieces. All of the big scenes and set-pieces are covered here, although not in the depth I’d hoped.

On Disc Two you’ll find:

Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious (44 minutes) is a documentary probing the mystery of dreams. Its overall connection to the movie is somewhat loose, but it’s pretty interesting nonetheless.

Inception: The Cobol Job (14 minutes) is a pretty good motion comic that delves into an important piece of the movie’s backstory.

A conceptual art gallery contains numerous pieces of concept and production artwork, while a promotional art archive offers a look at various poster concepts from around the world.

Ten tracks from Hans Zimmer’s score (running about 40 minutes total) are presented in the form of a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack.

Three trailers and several TV spots close out Disc Two.

In addition to the extras actually included on the discs, BD-Live connectivity will grant you access to the Project Somnacin: Confidential Files, which offer a glimpse at the design and inner workings of the movie’s dream-sharing contraption.

Some copies will also contain a third disc housing DVD and digital copies of the movie.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I type this, Inception is one third of a three-way tie for my favorite movie of the year. Unless Yogi Bear confounds all expectations, I seriously doubt this will change.