Inception

Sorry for the short post, but there's not a whole lot I can say without talking about specific parts of the movie, or parts that weren't in the movie.

A group of us went to see Inception on Tuesday night. It's well-acted, with a very mind-bending/reality-bending concept, even more so in the Matrix. Of course, since I knew the basic idea going in, I was even more confused about what was supposedly a dream and what was supposedly reality. Are people outside the matrix actually outside the matrix, or merely inhabiting a different matrix constructed for people who reject the 1999 reality? Does anyone ever escape, or is the Architect too clever to create only one layer of simulation? I'd have blown your minds, but it's a fairly easy concept to understand.

There are a lot of concepts in this movie that I could talk about and spoil pieces of (that was poorly worded). But since I think everyone should see it (and then we'll talk about it), I'll refrain from doing that. So there's not a whole lot to talk about. I guess I'll talk about the vague (few) things that disappointed me.

The theatre audio wasn't great. The right speaker kept cutting out, so the audio level jumped noticeably (it wasn't enough to deafen, but very annoying). The music was all right, I guess. Hans Zimmer is turning into John Williams. Fantastic music that goes right with the movie, but not something you'd want to listen to by itself. Which means I probably won't buy the soundtrack. There was only one good song I can remember liking (although the movie was so engrossing it's possible I simply forgot other good tunes).

There was a fairly long setpiece in the snow (A la James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service), but since everyone was wearing white parkas with hoods and ski goggles, it was really hard to tell who was who.

I think the thing I was most disappointed in was that it wasn't what I was looking for in a mindless movie. There weren't enough jokes (there were some, and they were really good), and there wasn't enough action. Sure, there was some, but not up to, say, the A-Team. It was enjoyable to think about (and you'll be left with many questions), but I really look forward to going to ridiculous movie. This was not a ridiculous movie.

Still, it's a theatre movie. It's hard to be mindless when most of the movie takes place inside of an actual mind. Who's mind, though ... that's the question.