Inception [Blu-Ray]

On the home offering of Chris Nolan's dreamy Inception, the acclaimed blockbuster director (The Dark Night) is happy to pull back the curtain and let us see how the sausage is made ― determining if a sausage is in fact just a sausage is naturally left to us. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his dream team dove deep into various psyches in order to manipulate the subconscious; Nolan left us with a heady thriller that engaged our higher brain functions even as it tickled our action-adventure-loving lizard brains. Most left theatres trying to unpack the film's complex structure, as well as interpreting its underlying symbols, making repeat viewing a must. And this package doesn't disappoint, unless you really thought Nolan was going to explain the deliberate ambiguities with which he packed the film ― not likely. But the mechanics? He couldn't be prouder of the fact he's pushing against the Hollywood grain by building massive mechanical marvels like a gyroscope to spin a zero gravity hallway, the full-scale destruction of a Japanese-style castle or even achieving the literally impossible. For a dream world constructed of an Escher-style never-ending staircase, Nolan tasked his production team with actually building him one. That they almost succeed (it is literally impossible, after all) is a testament to Nolan's ambition, as well as the dedication he inspires in the talented individuals surrounding him. Computer-generated trickery is useful (and Nolan doesn't deny that), but it's not interesting, so it receives barely a mention. As he's proven since Memento, Nolan is equally engaged by complex ideas; the dream world gets its own feature in "Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious," in which co-star Joseph Gordon Levitt engages his curiosity via sleep monitoring, and the nature and content of dreams are explored. A little prequel action is offered through motion comic "The Cobol Job," a mostly interesting use of a largely inert format. On Blu-Ray, the "Extraction Mode" inserts various pieces of the Inception making-of into the film ― when the relevant scene is in progress, the movie fades into an exploration of how it was constructed, then back to the film. It's surprisingly non-disruptive, playing well into that sense one gets during featurettes that you want to go back and watch how the scene unfolds. Once again, Nolan demonstrates great intuitive sense of how to create an immersive experience; you'll rarely find one as engaging as Inception.