Inception

The quick review: You really, really, really ought to go see this movie.

If Memento was the warm up, Inception was the main event. I really don’t want to go into a lot of detail about the story or the concept. If you want to know either, you can read other reviews and get a reasonable explanation of both. But to be honest, I think it’s best to just go in knowing that there are dreams, and a McGuffin that allows people to share them, and then you can just get knocked on your ass by the rest.

It says a lot about the writing, and how tightly plotted the movie was that afterward, my husband and our friend David were bickering about whether or not a section of screen time that was supposed to be three minutes actually was three minutes long, or if it was longer because it felt longer. When the plot of the movie is so tight that you are left with nothing to pick at but tiny details, it is impressive indeed.

And of course, there was one moment of plotty gut punching powerful and genuine enough that it made every occupant of the theater let out a dismayed exclamation at exactly the same time. Which is quite the accomplishment when you consider the average audience, which has had its brain melted by horrible attempts at 3D this summer.

It’s beautiful, and it’s suspenseful, and I actually cared about each and every one of the characters. Go see it.

And: Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Bigger win than Sherlock Holmes on the music front, and I didn’t think that was possible.