Inception

"Wait, whose subconscious are we going through exactly?"

Dreams hold our deepest secrets, the things we hide away from the rest of the world.  For Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) and his team, this is the scene of the crime: they are hired to extract information through a subjects dream.  He is the best, but his dreams are haunted by his late wife Mal (Cotillard), and he considered a fugitive, never able to see his children.  He is offered the chance for a clean slate and the opportunity to go home, after completing one final job.  He is hired by businessman Saito (Watanabe) to plant an idea in a competitor's, Robert Fischer (Murphy), mind: inception.  Inception is a tricky and layered process that tends to backfire and put the thieves in danger.

To get the job done Dom hires the best.  On point is Arthur (Gordon-Levitt), his frequent collaborator with a plan.  Eames (Hardy) is a forger with the ability to impersonate other people.  Ariadne (Page) is the new architect, hired to design the layout of the dreams.  And Yusuf (Rao) created a heavy sedative to keep everyone asleep for the necessary amount of time.  As the pieces fall into place, will the team be successful or will Mal lose sight of reality?

Once again Christopher Nolan delivered a knock-out!  A fast paced, complicated story which takes a bit to fully understand (there are dreams within dreams... it's complicated); interesting characters that grab you from the beginning, and awe-inspiring effects that leave you speechless.  Add a great cast, and you have a bona fide hit!

It's the kind of film you watch once and say "I don't know what happened, but that was awesome," and want to see again to try and understand it better.  After watching the film (I've only seen it once) I sat through all the end credits, trying to gather my thoughts (and ability to speak) and process everything from the screen.  I'm still trying to wrap my mind around parts and have been reading everything I can about the film.

The cast is great.  Tom Hardy's Eames steals the show, but not by much.  Everyone holds their own and creates memorable and interesting characters that you want to encourage...

And then there are the effects.  MINDBLOWING!  And the best part: most were done without the aid of computers.  How awesome is that!  Joseph Gordon-Levitt does an extended sequence of stunts (pictured above), which he actually performed, walking on all four sides of the room and other gravity-defying acts.

I would see it again in theatres or splurge and see it in IMAX, if it was still available in local theatres.  Definitely planning buy / rent this film as soon as it is available and have an Inception party, followed by lengthy discussions / analysis.  Good times!

Inception (2010) 148 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur
Ellen Page as Ariadne
Tom Hardy as Eames
Ken Watanabe as Saito
Dileep Rao as Yusuf
Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer
Mario Cotillard as Mal