Movie Preview: Inception

Watch out, there is a new completely derivative movie coming out soon. Considering it will star the overrated Leonardo DiCaprio, you can guarantee a couple of things: It will get far too much hype, it will make a profit, women will be the main audience (mostly in their late teens and early 20's).

Those are about all the positives that I see from the movie trailer for his film Inception.



The film is described as "A contemporary science fiction action thriller set within the architecture of the mind."

What does that mean? A story made up of the plots and devices of a host of other films. The list of films that make up elements of this film are not limited to:

The Matrix
Dark City
The 13th Floor
Tron
The Lawnmower Man
Fantastic Voyage

It's the latest rehash of the concept that in someone's mind, connected to a computer and thus made into a virtual reality, you can do almost anything. And if you are a greedy CEO, that wants the top secret plans to some new widget that will make you millions, you go into the mind and steal it.

This is an idea that has been done in part and in total many times before. But it tries really hard to disguise the copied material with lots of neat photography tricks, and ample helpings of CGI. The end result is a trailer that is uninspiring, and likely a movie that will only work for fans of the looks (not acting ability) of DiCaprio.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and a small role for Michael Caine.

Now I like Caine and Watanabe. I'm glad that Hollywood continues to recall their talent and include them in major films. But this film appears to be a waste of time, and their excellent talents.

As for the rest, Joseph Gordon Levitt really needs help after the fiasco that was the GI Joe movie but this isn't it. Ellen Page wants another hit like Juno so she can claim to be an A-list star (with it's pay) but likely will not acheive that here. Marion Cotillard is relatively unknown and this film will help her stay that way. Much like the rest of the cast.

As an indication of what will be out for the 2010 blockbuster season (the film will be in theraters in July but after the holiday) I can only saw that it's a good thing you can always go and see Iron Man 2 again.