2:30 hours for a 20 minute movie

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2010)

I found "The Prestige" engaging, so I went with my nephews on Sunday to see "Inception." Mr. Nolan has codified the internal logic of dream reality and then sketchily/impressively/expensively? followed it. Most memorably, he identifies a formula for time as we delve into dreams within dreams... time shifting being a basic concept in movie shutter speed... the lower our subconscious level, the faster the passage of time, increasing in multiples of 6 -- ?? The arbitrary nature of dream landscapes opens wide the director's possibilities, including weightlessness while falling. "Inception's" visceral images of the four elements are awesome and exceptionally photogenic... Mr. Dicapria's commitment to raise his motherless children is the ticking bomb needed to propel us into a difficult dream invasion. Corporate assassins are after him, plus he's criminally charged with murdering his wife. He must return home to see his children's faces.
The reason for most of the battle scenes in this movie is the military armament of the subconscious to fight all invaders. That mental training allows for the most extended chases and fights...a little goes a long way, and there is a lot.
Everyone in the cast is charming and familiar. I recommend in the future that they have more dramatic dialogue and interaction. Underwritten and overplayed, "Inception" is more inspiring than fulfilling, and that is of course just fine...
Christopher Nolan is the director who skillfully documented the actual flipping a tractor trailer in "The Dark Knight" (of the Soul?), so it is to be expected that much of our time in "Inception" will be spent examining his skillful documentation of how well he can destroy his dream landscapes.
My nephews did not seem overly engaged in this story of dream invasion. However, to its creator's credit, "Inception" is ground floor entertainment with no direct antecedent as Mr. Nolan mixes the major cinema breakthroughs achieved in "The Matrix" with Charles Dickens' story of three ghosts implanting a viral idea in the mind of Ebenizer Scrooge.
As always, my interaction with this work continues. The preceding words are my thoughts on Inception as of today. Yes, I've already been referred to Pedro Calderon's play, "Life is a Dream." Thank you for that.