You're Waiting For A Train

Last weekend, I saw Inception. And I loved it more than I have loved a movie in a very long time. One of the things I liked best about the movie was the soundtrack, which I had to have. As it were, I have Thinky Thoughts regarding it. First, a few general comments:

- Apparently, Hans Zimmer scored the movie without having seen it; he just a brief summary of the story as Nolan told him. This is mind-blowing. Zimmer is a freaking genius.

- Specific attributes I enjoyed in the soundtrack include: use of rock guitar within orchestral structure, and creating music based on a few repeated notes and motifs, as opposed to the bold, epic stuff like Zimmer did with Gladiator. Which is another soundtrack I love, but it's very different.

- Every song is subtly creepy; Nolan originally wanted movie to be a horror film and it shows.

Of course, I have Thinky Thoughts about each song on the track. Be warned, HUGE SPOILERS approacheth! I kind of just went free-form, stream-of-consciousness with how each song made me feel/remember.

Half-Remembered Dream - strains of Time at the end, only made haunting. Short track, not much to say about it, but it sets the tone.

We Built Our Own World - unforgivably tragic, it reminds me of limbo; I see Cobb and Mal making sandcastles, I see him and Ariadne walking through dead streets. It reminds me of Mal holding a knife and Cobb taking it away.

Dream Is Collapsing - FRIGGING AMAZING, guitars alongside violins making magic. Sounds like time is running out, like things are unraveling, like fighting in zero-gravity, like a cascade of kicks that must be perfectly timed, like IMPENDING DOOOOOOM. So powerful.

Radical Notion - like a mixture of Dream Is Collapsing and We Built Our Own World; tragic but tense at the same time. Sounds like carefully planning out the inception in the latter half of the song, or when they're deciding on their next move in level 1, maybe even the initial heist with Saito.

Old Souls - Dreamy and nostalgic but shaky and edgy somehow too, happier times between Mal and Dom in limbo, or "you know where to find me", the children locked up in memories. Also, Ariadne manipulating and creating for the first time. For some reason, it reminds me of music from Shenmue taken to a whole new level.

528491 - CREEPIEST SONG ON THE SOUNDTRACK. Starts off vaguely disconcerting with rushed tenseness but the end is freaking terrifying. WHEN DOES THAT PART HAPPEN IN THE MOVIE I NEED TO KNOW. When the water bursts in at the beginning? When the train rams through level 1? NO IDEA.

Mombasa - Killer track, screams precision and 'action sequence', Cobb running through crowded streets and Arthur kicking ass on the way to the elevator. Use of electric guitar = A++ awesome; possibly the most fun track on the OST.

One Simple Idea - This is all Cobb doing the Mr. Charles gambit, everyone watching and waiting and hoping Fischer's militarized mind doesn't turn on them. Not the most memorable track, IMHO.

Dream Within A Dream - initially a callback to Dream Is Collapsing, but the orchestra sounds a lot more electronic somehow. Then it turns into a creepy version of Time. Really captures the essence of all the inception scenes, from jumping off buildings to kidnappings to the van flying off the bridge.

Waiting For A Train - reminiscent of Old Souls. This track is fairly long and quiet, Cobb remembering Mal or telling Ariadne exactly what happened. The hotel room scene, Mal jumping, especially at the end when things are still dreamy, but sad and nightmarish sounding. And then, non, je ne regrette rien, back to fighting in a hallway or shooting armed men on a snowy mountain, the dream is collapsing.

Paradox - Quiet, so quiet, walking down decrepit streets while tombs tower around you, slits of sunlight peeking between each structure, happy memories and creations that have decayed with time, and somewhere inside this world she's waiting for him. I know it has nothing to do with the paradox scene with Ariadne and Arthur, but that's what the music reminds me of.

Time - Oh this track, it moves me so. It's definitely the Cobb/Mal love theme. They are the heart of this movie. This song is epic and moving and tragic and hopeful all at the same time, so much done with eight little notes. Beautiful pace, beautiful simplicity and complexity, effective use of guitar, and randomly creepy ending that gives you a jolt like the final scene of the movie.

In conclusion: GO SEE INCEPTION. ;D