Review: Inception Blu-ray

STUDIO: Warner | DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan | CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard
RELEASE DATE: 12/7/2010 | PRICE: DVD $28.98, Blu-ray/DVD combo $35.99
BONUSES: featurettes, dreams documentary, motion comic, concept art gallery, promotion art gallery, digital copy
SPECS: PG-13 | 148 min. | science-fiction thriller | 2.4:1 aspect ratio | DTS-HD audio | English, French and Spanish subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Fans who want to know the secrets behind Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending Inception are in luck: The Blu-ray reveals all, or at least, most.

In Inception, which grossed $292 million when it was in theaters, Nolan, who began his career with the time-twisting Memento, brings audiences into the world of dreams and how to manipulate them. Leonardo DiCaprio (Shutter Island) plays Cobb, an expert in breaking into people’s dreams and extracting information. After an accident, Cobb is on the run and unable to go home to the U.S. to see his children. But when a job comes along that could give Cobb the leverage he needs to clear his name, he jumps at it, no matter that it means the almost impossible and extermely dangerous task of planting an idea into someone’s subconcious while they dream.

Visually stunning, with bending cities, floating people and a fight in a rotating corridor, the movie looks and sounds great in high-definition. The clear picture shows off the details in the film’s backgrounds, and the eery soundtrack gives the subwoofer a workout.

As impressive as the movie is, the special features package on the Blu-ray disc is just as entertaining.

The highlight is the Extraction Mode, which plays the film and interrupts occassionally with a brief featurette about the current scene. The featurettes cover all aspects of production, including the art design and visual effects, pulling back the curtain on how the earthquake, rotating corridor and other law-of-physics-defying scenes where shot. All of this would take hours, but Warner wisely enabled viewers to jump straight to the featurettes and watch only the ones they want. They’re all interesting, but it’s nice to be able to pick and choose.

A separate DVD in the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack offers the documentary Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious. Hosted by Inception co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Uncertainty), the program interviews professors and sleep scholars about dreams and our subconcious mind, as well as people whose lives have been changed because of a dream. Nolan also is present, talking about why he wanted to write a movie about dreams. It’s always nice to see studios extend the story of the movie with features like this one.

The DVD also includes the fun motion comic Inception: The Cobol Job, which tells the story of the job that led Cobb and his team to the beginning of the movie.

All in all, Warner has delivered a solid Blu-ray offering for Inception, one we can highly recommend.

Except, note that the digital copy included in this package expires in May, a quick six months after street date instead of the usual year.

Warner also is selling Inception in a limited edition Briefcase box only on the WBShop.com.

Buy or Rent Inception
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