Inception spoiler

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2010)

This film contains spoilers for Inception and also several other movies.
* * * Inception not the most original film. But for those not paying attention it might feel that way.
Inception reminds me of 5 films. 1. Dark City. 2. Total Recall. 3. What Dreams May Come. 4. The Matrix. 5. Eternal Sunshine for the Spotlessmind.
I have not seen the "13th Floor" & only elements of "Existanz" remind me of this. Maybe its the portable of the unexplained-super-science-shared-dreaming-device. Also an element of the long-lost-love plot device from "Shutter Island" and of course the questions of *sanity* are in "Inception" but it deals with that slightly better in this film than in that film and I say slightly because it's mainly just a distracting Muffin from the plot at hand ; aka the 'corprate espionage' a far more interesting plot than the wispy (*run now spoiler*) romance plot. First of all "Dark City" a film about an alien race who've kidnapped humans and change their memories in order to discover the secret of the human soul. Night after night on a timer they change the setting using a thing called 'tuning' (Changing the surroundings and landscapes around humans while simultaneously changing their memories to see how human beings react under different circumstances in search for the human soul), the film "Inception" employs the concept of an architect to do this within the dream strait that is. They've added extra rules but the concept of memories fading and creating realities from these memories and the search for peaceful memories is still an interesting theme throughout. And the cliché of some lonely romantic beach is indeed attached. (Shell Beach) Total Recall leaves you with an ambiguous ending. And throughout gives you awkward moments allowing you to doubt what's reality and what's Recall the same way this film implores that mainly through it's horribly disjointed editing to create the feeling of doubt as to whats real and what's not. Also considering Mari Coliard's repeat this theme ad~nausea. Also the wink that hey maybe the fact that you're a super agent is an absurd dream anyways. In the film "What Dreams May Come" based on the highly praised novel by 'I am Legend' author Richart Matheson. Robin William's character creates his own heaven. (Based on what appear to be Thomas Kinkade paintings) to live out an eternity with his wife, a perfect world they can grow old together in eternity. But several times when he sees her she's a fantasy, a shade of his memories of her. The same exact thing happens ad-nausea in "Inception" when Leo's character is in the dream state. Also the idea of a strange disjointed hell like state is in "Inception". So if I ever meat Chris Nolan and he's not seen the movie or read the novel "What Dreams May Come", I probably won't believe him. The correlations to the Matrix are obvious and been bled to death in other reviews and I don't give a care. In the Matrix the characters are capable of strange feats of gravity and reality but other than that there aren't very many correlations. The Matrix point was a strait forward allegory to whatever society I don't really remember or care. "Inception"'s plot is far far more involved. And it's also bloody obvious when they're in the Matrix and when they are not. And there is no romantic themes in Matrix or camaraderie with the group so the comparisons only have to do with style not the actual plot or themes of the films because plot & themes in these two are far drastically different. The film only slightly reminds of "Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind" and there isn't any one specific thing I can point to. The plot of "Eternal Sunshine" was romantic. The romantic aspects in "Inception" seemed like an after thought and was far too rushed than they needed to be adding and interested back point to the corporate espionage plot that the film is claiming to have but really the film "Inception" is 100% about Leo's character Cobb. The corporate espionage is more of a Muffin. Because we're never fully explained why it's that important. Which is a very weak point of the film. The film will twist your mind and is so ambiguous at points that it seems to be more about mood and style & higher themes than actual plot. It does not deserve any merits of originality for the script however the visual effects & cinematography of the film are absurdly good. There are plot holes in the film which are probably devised purposely by Nolan to confuse and disorient the viewer. 7 1/2 out of 10 stars : Don't think too hard & don't lose yourself in the plot holes sit back & enjoy the exposition, the ride, & the film. Don't compare it to other films & enjoy the ride.Also you might have noticed that I refer to both the 'romance' and 'corprate espionage' plots as muffins because they both are. This film is far more about themes and style than plot. But that's not a bad thing for me. This film literally and figuratively allows you no leg room to stand on. Which is the mark of a well thought out and masterfully directed piece of cinema. (Even though it's derivative, divisive & full of plot holes I like to refer to as questions or huh? moments.) Hmm did anyone else notice the french music in the movie. It kinda reminded me of another movie with Mari Collard? I also had the distinctive pleasure of seeing this film at a private screening room last Monday at Warner Bros. I wasn't allowed to talk about it until it was released and just saw it for the second time in theaters at an I-Max so this was my review based on that secondary viewing experience. (Muffin is also a replacement for a word I can't post.)