Inception

Inception is an action-packed thriller that has unbelievable visual effects in almost every scene. The visual effects in this movie display ethos, pathos and logos arguments that definitely enhance the film by providing the audience with a rollercoaster ride that ends with your mind completely blown.

The Christopher Nolan film won an Oscar in 2011 for “Best Visual Effects” which provides evidence that this film’s visual effects enhanced the movie. The scene which I think handed the Oscar to Inception was the fight scene with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This scene happens in a dream inside of a dream and shows the audience how actions in the first dream affect the current dream. In the first dream Gordon-Levitt’s character is asleep inside of a van that is in the middle of a car chase. During the car chase the van loses control and rolls down a hill. Meanwhile in the next dream Gordon-Levitt’s character becomes engaged in a fight in a hotel hallway. As the car rolls in the dream above it affects the next dream and the world begins to spin. It seems as the actors begin to defy gravity and are floating from wall to wall while fighting.

The movie does a very good job at shooting this scene without computer generating it which makes an ethos argument. The effects team actually built a 100 foot rotating room to shoot this scene in. Yes, there is some computer generation involved but the room is actually rotating and that’s why it looks so real. There is also a logos argument in this scene, because the room is actually rotating the way the characters are moving is very accurate as if there was no gravity. This makes the scene logical to the audience. This scene also provides a pathos appeal to the audience through the special effects. The effects make the fighting so much more intense with the feeling of zero gravity. The scene is so thrilling because something like this had never been shot so well in a movie before. The closest attempt would be the Matrix series beginning in 1999. Trust me the ability of computers and special effects have greatly improved since then.

Another scene that has cool special effects in this movie is the scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is showing Ellen Paige’s character around the dream world for the first time. He leads her around a map designed by one of his teammates. The map is all created in their minds and represents a city. DiCaprio’s character shows Paige’s character how things move and can be manipulated in a dream. The most impressive thing in this scene is when the city starts to fold as if the world was folding up into a cube. The buildings, streets and everything on one side begin to fold up just as if someone was turning the page of a book. The special effects in this scene are unbelievable and suspenseful. When I saw this scene I didn't know what to think because I had never seen anything like it before. It was so cool and gives an appeal to pathos because it effects the emotions of the audience just like it did to me.

The entire movie of Inception is full of unbelievable images that twist your mind but also seem realistic. I was impressed to find out that a lot of the effects in this film were real and the actors acted in front of a green screen. The acting never seemed fake which gives an ethos appeal. I thought this movie was great and the visual effects helped the movie a lot. The effects truly made the movie and it wouldn't be the same without it. Everyone needs to see this movie at least once to see what a great job the special effects team did.