INCEPTION - 2010 - DECEPTION OR PERFECTION?

I was intrigued by the concept of the film Inception, but not enough to spend two-and-a-half hours in a dark theater trying to figure it out. However, it seems my “friend” Phileas had other ideas. I was taking some much needed time off from my work in the lab, to spend some quality time with my buddy Bill E. Bones. We were in a deep discussion about who was the hottest horror hostess of all time. Bill said it was Vampira and I remained steadfast in my admiration of Elvira. When I pointed out to Bones that Vampira was dead, he said, “My point, exactly”. Before I could lay waste with another verbal assault, I found myself instantaneously transported to the local cinema, where the film Inception was just beginning to unreel. I turned to my right and sure enough, Professor Phileas Photon was sitting beside me with a guilty grin on his bearded puss. “Phineas”, I yelled under my breath, “I thought I told you never to space-time-port me again, just to watch another of your damn ‘artsy-farsty’ movies”? Phineas pulled out his trump card and simply said, “Then don’t ask me to time-transport you to Memorial Day in 1977 again.” I tried again to convince him that the premier of Star Wars was a significant historical event, but as usual he wasn’t buying it.

 

Fast forward to two-hours, thirty minutes later….

I’m not a huge fan of director Christopher Nolan. I still haven’t seen Memento and have no wish to (don’t get any ideas, Phileas). I liked Batman Begins well enough, but The Dark Knight was too dark and overrated. The Prestige, his underrated dark and fantastic study of two competitive magicians was my favorite film of his, but still I found it too dreary for my tastes. Inception also deals with dark and deadly ideas and themes, but, for Christopher Nolan, it had a surprisingly upbeat ending. I’m not wasting our brief time here telling you what Inception is about – that’s what Google is for people – so, I just want to let you know that if you are waiting to watch Inception on DVD/Blu-ray, because you think you’ll get bored with Inception’s “mind-bleep” plot (as I read one critic call it), think again. If you are a film fan, and more importantly, a fan of science-fiction/fantasy, you owe it to yourself to give Inception a try at the theater, where you will be forced to sit through it’s entirely without any breaks or interruptions (which almost always happens when viewing movies at home). Yes, because Inception takes place almost entirely in the dreams of other people, the time and place of events in the film can get confusing. However, don’t let anyone convince you that you need a degree from MIT or Harvard to understand the plot or themes of Inception, because Nolan has done an admirable job of using the medium of film and the structure of story to make the plot understandable and the themes of Inception perfectly clear to any film fan.

Phineas kept looking at me expectantly as we exited the lobby of the theater, and I reluctantly admitted to him that I liked Inception. After promising me that he wouldn’t abduct me for further film viewings, Phileas “popped” back out of our space-time, leaving me to hitchhike home. Hey, I don’t carry my wallet in my lab coat!