Blu-ray Review: INCEPTION Starring Leonardo Di Caprio

I finally got the chance to put my new Blu-ray player to the test thanks to my latest rental from LOVEFiLM, they sent me Inception a movie which I have been put off watching, not because I didn’t think I would like it I just never got round to it, good thing about rentals when you pay for them and have to send them back it tends to force your hand a little into watching the movie.  I’m pleased I did because I have to say straight off that Inception is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe and Cillian Murphy

The Plot

Di Caprio plays Dom Cobb, a skilled thief who is top his game in the world of corporate espionage, but not as we know it.  Cobb is an expert at stealing people thoughts whilst they are in the dream state deep from within the subconscious when the mind is at it's most vulnerable.  Cobb is brilliantly skilled but his job has cost him everything and has made him an international fugitive, he is offered one final job to pull of the impossible "Inception" where he must plant an idea as apposed to stealing one.  Cobb quickly gathers an expert team and they get to work on the subject but, they can't account for the security and conscious problems they encounter along the way.


The Verdict

Am I dreaming?  Is Leo dreaming?  Seriously I think I got this movie but the more and more I think about the different levels I was taken to during this movie and the amount of layers involved, who is doing what and where, this is a masterpiece a word I have seen associated with it many times.  I have put off watching it due to the fact that I'm not the biggest Leonardo Di Caprio fan but, I have to say that this is easily one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Even if your not the biggest fan of Leonardo you can not doubt after watching Inception just why he is such a massive box office big budget draw, not only do you get Leo here but also Joseph Gordon Levitt and Ellen Page who are both sublime.  However the person I was most impressed with was Tom Hardy who plays Eames in the movie, this guy is exceptional.  The moment we met him on screen you are drawn to him as a powerhouse he owns the screen and I can see why he has pulled a signature roll in upcoming movie The Dark Knight Rises.

I love the way this movie started, in a dream, well actually a dream within a dream in what is a pretty confusing start, you have to make sure you are switched on with this one otherwise you will quickly loose track.

Inception really is edge of your seat type stuff, mind you I wouldn’t move any further than the edge otherwise you will miss something and loose the plot of what’s actually going on especially during the long dream with all the levels.  What was so great about inception was the how close to life it actually was in relation to dreaming, that feeling of weightlessness you get when you think you are falling before you get that kick which wakes you up, then take it one step more with something I’m sure we can all relate to, music.  For me it’s not music but I get what it means by sound bringing you out of a dream, it generally happens to me about 6am when my alarm is going off for work, the alarm comes part of your dream or at least that’s what you think.

Sound and colour - 10/10, full 1080p was invented for movies just like this one, the detail during the dream scenes is absolutely amazing, the best probably being the Paris Cafe scene where stalls full of fruit are exploding everywhere.  The sound was brilliant and that's without a surround sound system, it's one of those where if nothing is happening then you need it tuned up but when something does happen like the Paris Cafe scene then you are reaching for the remote in order that you don't wake anyone up.  I would imagine in surround sound with Blu-ray this would be even better again.

Blu-ray features

Extraction Mode:  The full movie which breaks off in parts for interviews with cast and production members including Christopher Nolan himself.

The Inception of Inception: A fantastic look at the Director and writer Christopher Nolan's idea behind Inception, he tells us that he started writing the script to Inception 10 years before it's release and tried to turn it into a smaller movie, however this wasn't possible due to how deep the human mind would go in the different levels of dreams.

The Japanese Castle: The Dream is Collapsing: A look behind the scene on how the come to build the set of the Japanese castle during the earthquake.

Disintegration of The Paris Cafe: Same as the previous, a look at how they set the scene of the Paris Cafe.

Constructing Paradoxical Architecture: Another great little look at how Christopher Noland and the set designers went about creating the illusion of the staircase which loops over and over.

The Freight Train: It's great to see just how much work goes into putting a freight train rolling down the street in the middle of a city.

Ambush on the City streets:  A look behind what was for me one of the best scenes in the movie, how did they get ambushed? it's their dream they are supposed to be in control, exceptional.

The Tilting Bar: Again, this is a look behind the bar scene in the second layer of the dream, the one where they are running around the walls and ceiling in the hotel corridor.

The Rotating Corridor:  Same scene as the above and one of the scenes in the early script, watching how they did this without throwing up was very impressive.

The Mountain Fortress:  A real closed down Ski resort in Canada, this was one of the movies best parts for me.

Simulating Zero-G: A look at how Joseph Gordon Levitt done the scene in the corridor.

Limbo: The Idea of Unconstructed Dream Space: A look at the unconstructed dream created by Cobb (Di Caprio) and Mal (Cotillard).

The Fortress Explosion: Another look at one of my favourite scenes.

The Music of Dreams: The music in this movie was very intense, this looks at how they came up with it.

The Dream Share: A look at how the actors need to be during each part of the dream so the movie would look great, they all done a great job wouldn't you agree?

Would I watch it again?

Without doubt, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen and it’s one of those that on a second watch you may well pick up a better understanding or possibly confuse yourself even further.

Rating: MMMMM