Inception: Movie Review

Inception: Movie Review

Inception
Rating: 9/10
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cottilard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger
Director: Christopher Nolan
It's here.
The first quintessential winter blockbuster - and quite possibly a contender for one of the films of the year.
Inception stars DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, who works in subconscious security and steals ideas from people's minds while they're sleeping - via a shared consciousness.
He's approached by Ken Watanabe's Saito who wants to bring down a rival company and its head Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) using corporate espionage by getting Cobb and a team to plant an idea into a rival's brain. However, inception of an idea isn't the easiest thing to carry out...
So Cobb starts pulling together a dream weaving team who can create worlds and carry out the perfect crime.
But when the team gets into Fischer's head, things don't go exactly as planned.
Well, let's be honest - following that description and a tease campaign which has had the internet ablaze with speculation, you'll either be a) rolling your eyes or b) queueing up to get a ticket with rabid fanboy excitement.
But if you're not sure about this let me say that along with some truly amazing eye popping visuals (worlds folding over on themselves and a café exploding around DiCaprio and Page) there's actually a love story in there too about Cobb seeking redemption and forgiveness over his marriage and the ultimate fate of his wife Mal (Cottilard). It's that which keeps Inception from being far too sci-fi that a wider audience can't appreciate it.
And thanks to the brilliant performances of DiCaprio as the tortured soul (once again building on his role in Shutter Island) and a great supporting cast (including the ever under appreciated Tom Hardy as the wise cracking helper) this is never short of smart, intelligent watching.
There's plenty to puzzle on here - you really do need to keep up with the plot and try not to lose too many of the strands. It's smart, slick film making which looks great on the screen but requires a depth of intelligence and smarts from its audience to get the most out of it as the enigmatic puzzle pieces begin to fall into place. That, coupled with visuals which are extremely original in places, will ensure this film's got more than enough to keep people hooked during its 150 minute running time.
Quite frankly though, Inception is mind blowing, mind bending kind of stuff.
You really need to see it twice to take it all in and to work it all out - and even then I suspect there will be fervent discussion about the final shots.
Once again, Christopher Nolan's demonstrated he's one of the smartest, intelligent and original directors and writers in Hollywood.

Just simply - stunning.