Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic theatrical ratio, the picture is sharp, detailed and colourful with,
generally no problems whatsoever.
For the record, I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
Audio-wise, you get a 5.1 DTS HD MA soundtrack, for which I got the 5.1 DTS version, which is faultless when it comes
to getting across everything you'd expect from an action film with battles and explosions, plus Hans Zimmer's
fantastic score and all of the ambience.
I say there's no problems, but - and I'm blaming this on the disc I received so if you get one like this from a
shop then take it back - I counted 10 very minor and brief audio dropouts during the whole movie. I know it's not
my player as no other disc has done this and it sometimes made the film jolt a bit at the same time. It was clearly
not intentional.
The extras begin with the Extraction Mode, one of those feature-length Blu-ray 'making of's which look at all
aspects of the filming as it progressed and shows more behind-the-scenes moments than you can shake a stick at. It's an
essential for fans of the film and is rather like a visual commentary, rather than plain audio.
At various points throughout the film, it will cut to one of 14 featurettes about how various aspect of the film
were put together and, in all, has a running time of around 3hrs 10mins. If you choose "Jump right to the action" (44:13)
then you can view all these independently. They include Christopher Nolan talking about how he's been working on
the concept of this film for around 10 years, the special FX of an early scene in the film about blowing up a
Paris café (a scene that's been used many times on example clips on TV) and Hans Zimmer's wonderful and emphatic
score.
A second Blu-ray disc brings up a further selection of extras, and this is the first time I've actually come
across a package with two Blu-ray discs. I remember an article in the late 90s in Home Entertainment, being promised
how one single DVD could, for example, hold all three of Quentin Tarantino's films to date, but of course, like an extra
lane on the motorway, no sooner do you provide extra space for content that someone finds a way to fill it. Anyway, I digress:
- Dreams: Cinema of the subconscious (44:29):
Joseph Gordon Levitt introduces a feature about the latest facts that we know about dream research with various
leading scientists giving their opinions and experiences.
- Inception: The Cobol Job (14:33):
A comic prologue with full animation and motion to see the events that led Cobb, Arthur and Nash to where they
began at the start of the movie. I really enjoyed this.
- 5.1 Inception Soundtrack (38:38):
Not really any need to go out and buy a seperate soundtrack CD, Warner have done a spot-on job by making ten of
the CD's 12 tracks as part of this package. The box states that they are all in 5.1 (doesn't state whether this is DTS or Dolby Digital),
but my amp was only picking it up in Dolby ProLogic, so I can only presume there's a mislabelling going on here.
Either way, if any Warner execs are reading this, please include this sort of feature in future, and if you can
include every single track and also a 5.1 option then all the better. If you can also get Ellen Page to
hand-deliver the package then I'm sold!
- Conceptual art gallery:
A great number of scenes from the film in... erm... conceptual art form.
- Promotional art archive:
12 pieces of promotional art.
- Trailers:
Three here, the first one being a teaser (1:03) from August 2009 (I hadn't even heard of this back then),
then a trailer from December 2009 (1:22) and finally one from May 2010 (2:24) which *was* when I first heard of
it.
- TV Spots (11:28):
Thirteen in total.
This is also one of those Blu-ray packs which contains a bonus DVD - handy to give to a friend to watch it if they
don't have Blu-ray, or you want to watch it in a different room - and a digital copy, which is less handy since these
are usually of low-quality and so not really worth bothering with. Note that the DVD in this package doesn't have
any extras on it, so I don't know whether the regular DVD will have although I'd assume those come on a separate
disc given that Warner are asking over £20 for it (although it's on Amazon at the above link for just under a tenner as
I write this).
There's also an expensive Limited Edition Blu-ray package which contains the same disc here in a briefcase containing:
- PASIV (Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous) Device User Manual
- Movie art-cards
- Inception Spinning Top
- Will include a disc of Special Features
The menu mixes clips from the film with the track "Dream is collapsing" from Hans Zimmer's haunting score, albeit all on a very short loop.
There are subtitles in English, Castilian Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish.
The chaptering is a bizarre odd number of 15, which isn't anywhere near enough. I work on the rule of thumb for
approximately one every five minutes, ensuring one apiece for the opening and closing credits. This film lasts for
TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS! That's one every 10 minutes, approximately, and they generally come around with that frequency,
too.
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