keep_counting | When the dream collapses...

So, I went in and saw 'Inception'. And my mind was blown.

c'mon guys, what's not to like? I love these types of movies and this one in particular just hit a right cord in me. It's original, despite being close to other things we've seen, it has a solid plot and practicallt no clichés, and it might just be me, but those few that are seems necessary to the movie and just adds to the brilliance of it all. Christopher Nolan is my new God, I tell you.

From the start, we're thrown directly into the plot, into a dream filled with beauty and mystery. The film starts with the end, so already from there we're sitting with questiosn: 'Who are they?' 'How did they end up there?' 'What's with the spinning top?'. We sit back and quickly realize what's going on, as it moves away from the end, and puts us into the dream that will start all of this. We slowly learn more about everything, but no one really stops up and explains it all: this, in particular I love. We have to think ourselves, ask question and then sit down and wait until they're answered.

We learn that Dominic Cobb (Leonardo Oh-no-the-ship-is-sinking DiCaprio) is the best Extractor in the world: Extractor means someone who goes into peoples dreams and steal their secrets (in rough terms). He and his right-hand man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have been doing this for a very long time, but in this newest dream something goes wrong. A company called Cobol hired them to extract information from the Japanese business-man, Saito, but he manages to hide it from them. Then shenanigans happen, and we learn that Cobb has two children, a dead wife who roams around in his subconscious and can never, ever go home again.

This is where my interest really started going: in the shot where Cobb is spinning the top and holding the gun and I was like: 'What he gonna do?'. And then it falls and he lowers the gun. And then later we get the whole Totem story and I just thought: 'Wow, that's brilliant'. Not even The Butterfly Effect, held me ensnared like this movie did, so I'm afraid that it just knocked beforementioned off of the title as my fave movie.

The actors are so brilliant and Nolan has, yet again, found some familliar faces to work with. Michael Caine (Miles) and Cillian Murphy (Robert Fischer), who, yet again, just made me believe, despite them having minor characters (especially Caine). And can I just use this moment to tell how much I love Ellen Page? (I love Ellen Page!)

One thing (the only thing) that I weren't completely satisfied with, was the ending. Cobb is finally reunited with his kids and everything is godd in the world. But the top keeps spinning: I thought that was somewhat of a cheap trick and that it didn't fit with the theme of the rest of the movie. Let me explain this by using some examples:

In 'The Matrix', we spend most of our time wondering what is real and what is not. We wonder, is the Prophecy true? Are the Machines actually good? What happened before? Has there ever been a real world? The whole point of the story, is having us question these things. And I just didn't feel the same doubt when watching 'Inception', which is actually a very good thing. 'When the spinning top falls and stop spinning, that means it's not a dream'. Fine. It's not a dream. But if the whole 'Limbo' reality is actually the real world, how does it make sense? What about all the others, are they not real but simply Projections of Cobb or maybe Mal's subconscious? And what about their children? Is Cobb forever caught in a world that isn't real, unable to join his wife and real children?

I just think that ending is too sad. They should've made it more clean, zooming in on the spinning top and, like they did, letting us see it spin slower and falter, and then fall and then fade to black. Instead, it just falters, but keeps spinning and we're presented with the credits.

THAT MAKES ME FRUSTRATED!

But enough about that: it didn't pull away from the sheer awesomness of the rest of the movie (only when I stop to think too much about it, which I choose not to) and I have this desperate urge to go see it again (but I'm too short on money and I have homework and the art-project, and I really don't have time). I already spent most of the night writing an Ariadne-focused (with strong hints of Ariadne/Arthur, I can't help myself, they're just so cute!!) one-shot, because she was banging away in my head with her Totem and I just had to write something. (I'd like to point out the brilliance of her name: go google it).

I've already written more than I actually intended. I need to go now, or I'll possibly get maimed and killed by several teachers tomorrow.

Go see 'Inception' if you haven't (but if you haven't, why the hell are you reading this post??) or I'll Incept the idea into your mind! No, seriously, go see it!