Inception – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Have you ever had a dream, one that was so deep, that felt more like it was real? Sometimes within this deep dream, unknowingly to yourself, you’re unaware that your subconscious has placed locks around you, barricading you into the dream. What are we keeping in there? A lost love, a decision revisited, a maze? You wake and a wash runs over you. How do you feel? These deep dreams don’t happen often, so when they do, don’t wake us up if it’s directed by Christopher Nolan. His Inception is this deep dream we spend so much time with that when it’s over, it digs in deep. The reality isn’t kind, especially knowing what awaits you in other theater (and television) screens, and the only possibility of the situation is to see Inception again.

Nolan’s walking on the finest of wires, dancing carefully, expertly, between deep, emotional, even artistic movies, while creating them in escapist entertainment. Hefty words, but others have been calling him the next Stanley Kubrick, but Kubrick was never this much fun. In fact, why do we compare great budding directors to past masters? Can Nolan just be Christopher Nolan? In the film, the characters have a little personal medallion that they keep on them to ensure themselves the dream is just that, a lasting memento that doesn’t let the dream fold over into a deception of reality. Like the characters, we too must find the little medallion that will allow us to catch hold of the dream within a dream world Nolan’s created, to ensure us we will receive each clue and come back to reality unconfused.

To spoil really anything about Inception is a crime. Whatever feelings or ideas you think the film is from the trailers or marketing campaign, the film isn’t. Nolan’s Prestige, a film he made in between his Batman films to take a break from that world, was a slight of hand, a film worthy of multiple viewings to get the clues. Inception is like that, but deeper and cleverer. Nolan knows how to craft a film that looks and feels organic, all in a world of digital manipulation to simulate a lie, he does it right before us without such tricks, and for that, his films steal our breath each and every time. While some believe Nolan is getting free rides just for The Dark Knight, saying it as such might be true (to certain extents), but it is very unfair. He earns our respect as a film maker who has a story to tell and he has a grand scheme of how to tell that story.

Isn’t that why we go to the movies, to escape into a story? When you escape into Inception, you’re diving head first into an original story, full of action, emotion, and gravity, where the director is three steps ahead of you. If he wasn’t, then the very end wouldn’t be sending people out discussing and analyzing, something that will spur an interesting divide of feelings, worth of plenty of forum posts. And if for some reason, we’ve been duped, well, just don’t wake me from the dreams Christopher Nolan is giving us with each film.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Warner Bros. offers up another strong HD presentation. It’s pretty darn gorgeous; deep blacks, fine details, natural colors. The DTS-HD 5.1 audio is just killer. There’s no other word for it. Crisp dialogue, loud bass, constant activity in the sound field, Hans Zimmer’s great score is never lost, it just goes to show you why WB is one of the better studios when it comes to releasing new films on Blu-ray.

Like most huge titles, Wb is offering up a few options. A one-disc Blu-ray, this three-disc Blu-ray, as well as retailer exclusive Blu-rays. All extras are in HD.

Extraction Mode: The only extra on Disc One, is not a typical picture-in-picture feature like on most WB titles. It switches back and forth from the film to the interviews or on-set footage, giving each its own time. Kind of odd, but luckily you can view these interviews seperately.

The below extras are all on Disc Two.

Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious: Joseph Gordon-Levitt host this documentary on the science of dreams with other psychologists and experts. As informative and interesting as it is, it’s a little dry. 45 minutes.

5.1 Inception Soundtrack: I love Hans Zimmer score (here), as it’s played here, but sadly, against nothing but a black frame. Too bad it wasn’t a true isolated track over the film.

Inception: The Cobol Job: This is a motion-comic prequel to the film, well worth seeing for the diehards.

Trailers and TV Spots, Art Galleries, Promotional Art Galleries, BD-Live stuff, and the DVD and Digital Copy versions of the film round out the extras.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: