Inception

Christopher Nolan’s Inception was one of the biggest hits this past summer. It was ambitious and cerebral in nature, yet it still delivered big-budget thrills. Therefore its home release’s special features should focus on the technical and the theoretical. Inception's Blu-Ray/DVD Combo does a good job emphasizing the technical, but is a bit half-hearted with the film’s theoretical aspects. That being said it provides enough content to make it an essential purchase for anyone who is a diehard fan of Nolan’s.

The movie tells the story of Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is a dream extractor, which is essentially someone who steals corporate secrets from inside their mark’s dreams. He and his right hand man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are contracted by Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe), their previous mark, to perform “inception” on Robert Fisher Jr. (Cillian Murphy), the heir to the energy empire that stands in Saito’s way. “Inception” is the process of implanting an idea into a dreamer’s head so as to fake inspiration. Cobb’s other teammates include Eames (Tom Hardy), a forger who is capable of shape shifting inside the dream world, Ariande (Ellen Page) an architect who constructs environments inside the dream world, and Yusuf (Dileep Rao) a chemist who creates a powerful enough sedative to allow layer upon layer of in-dreaming. Dreams within dreams are the main device which “inception” is brought about, a very difficult process even for Cobb, who is the most skilled extractor. Matters are complicated by the fact that his dead wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) haunts him the dream world.

If it seems like there is a lot of explanation in that plot description, it’s probably because the film is full of expository dialogue and spends more than half its time establishing its universe. While solidly entertaining throughout, the film almost threatens to become overwhelmed by its laws and abundant descriptions. Simply put, Inception works best when the viewer lowers their defenses and accepts it on its own terms.

The bonus features are informative for the most part and attempt to provide some insight. The first disc contains the film along with Extraction Mode, which was implemented in lieu of a proper audio commentary. Extraction Mode plays along with the movie and at certain points dissolves into the film’s trademark overhead cityscape, which leads into brief clips of making-of footage. These 3 or 4 minute featurettes mostly focus on the film’s numerous setpieces, all of which are fascinating to watch. Many of the production’s key crewmembers are interviewed during these segments. The lack of an audio commentary shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has watched a Christopher Nolan film on DVD upon initial release.

Of course the second disc contains the bulk of additional content. The largest feature is Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious, a 45-minute documentary on the nature of dreams. The documentary first attempts to disprove Freud’s notion of dreams as a field of repressed subconscious emotion. It then segues into the filmmakers’ intentions of translating dreams to film, and how there are many parallels between the two. It finishes off with the perception that the dream reality can be as valid as the conscious one. This feature mostly serves as a way to show how real world dream studies are integrated into the film; such subjects as lucid dreaming, dreams within dreams, and actually being able to share dreams are lightly covered. While this documentary has a subject to explore, it doesn’t really have a focus, it more or less just presents these various aspects of dream research. This is unfortunate because it’s a fascinating subject, and you almost wish it didn’t feel like such a tie-in to the movie.

The other main feature on this disc is Inception: The Cobol Job, which is an animated prequel comic. Cross media tie-ins are always an exciting opportunity to further explore a given universe. This time we see what takes place immediately before the movie while also providing the set- up for the first 15 minutes or so of the film. The animation itself is a little strange. Since this was initially based on a traditional comic, the images are intrinsically static. When given motion, the results are sometimes varied; on occasion facial features swim across a subject’s head. The story itself acts more as a prologue and unfortunately doesn’t add anything
significant to the world of Inception. Still fans might appreciate it for containing similar thrills to that of its parent film.

The disc also contains Project Somnacin: Confidential Files, which lives up to its name because it can’t be accessed with out a BD-LIVE account. There is also an Inception soundtrack, which includes pieces of Han Zimmer’s score presented in (you guessed it) 5.1 surround sound. Other features include a comprehensive Trailer/TV spot gallery. Somewhat less comprehensive are the conceptual and promotional art galleries.

The packaging comes with a lenticular slipcover depicting the iconic image of a city avenue folding onto itself. There is also a standard barebones DVD of the film. This third disc doesn’t even include a chapter select. This is acceptable only because the rest of the content is on the other discs in the package. Its only purpose is to show it to your friend who hasn’t seen the movie and doesn’t own a Blu-Ray player. The stand out extra feature is definitely on the first disc. The second disc’s extras provide some insight but not much in the way of depth. Still it’s a relatively a fun and comprehensive package to a film that at times may appear to be more impenetrable than it really is.