Inception Review

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    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Screenplay: Christopher Nolan
    Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer), Ellen Page (Juno), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai), and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins)
    Gross Revenue: $499,754,000 worldwide as of 8/15/10
    Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 87%
    IMDB Rating: 9.1

    Christopher Nolan is arguably the greatest filmmaker of his generation.  After 12 years in the industry, not only has he created some of the most critically acclaimed films of the last decade, but also some of the most commercially successful.  His latest film, Inception, is a huge risk financially.  Budgetted at 160 million dollars, it is completely original and not based off a pre-existing property, such as a video game or comic-book.  This is a rarity in today's blockbuster-driven world, and is a huge gamble for Warner Bros. studio.  Fortunately, they had faith in Nolan's masterful abilities and the film is simultaneously an engaging and entertaining "heist" flick, and a cerebral look into the world of dreams and the subconscious.
     Since this is one of those movies where the least you know about the movie the better, I am going to try and keep this plot description as thin as possible.  Leonardo DiCaprio (Cobb) plays an "extractor", who can journey into people's dreams and steal their secrets.  He is given the opportunity of his life: "inception", or creating an idea within a person's mind, instead of stealing one.  He assembles a team to help him do this, including his newest recruit Ellen Page (Ariadne), his right-hand man played by Joseph Gordon Levitt (Arthur), his financier played by Ken Watanabe (Saito).  They seek to plant the idea into Saito's rival energy tycoon played by Cillian Murphy (Robert Fischer), which Saito sees as a business opportunity.  The team has to complete the job, which becomes burdened by Cobb's past and personal demons.

     This is the perfect summer movie.  Not only is it entertaining and engrossing, it is also smart and really leaves thinking long after one leaves the theater.  Christopher Nolan's "dream logic" is rock solid, and no plot exist in this film.  What makes this film really work is how Nolan takes the traditional heist film, and completely turns it on its ear.  Not only is the point of the heist not to steal something but to create something, but most of the movie takes place primarily in the minds of the character's.  While the concepts in the movie are quite complicated, the movie never "dumbs down" to the audience, yet is not too complicated to understand.  The movie explains everything at a breakneck pace that never leaves the audience bored or uninterested.  However, no matter how complicated or exciting a movie it is, it is nothing without interesting characters that the viewer empathizes for, which this movie has.  Cobb's personal demons and his struggle to correct his past mistakes are the driving force for his newest mission, and the emotional backbone of the movie.  He is the most thoroughly developed character, and the audience really empathizes for him.  Leonardo DiCaprio does a satisfactory job, and all the actors do quite fine in their roles, but this is a not a movie about acting, which is perfectly fine.  All in all, a masterful work of intelligence and entertainment.
    I predict this movie will receive a large number of nominations once awards season rolls around.  This has been a slow year for movies, and this is the rare movie that is popular by both critics and audiences.  Expect a nomination for writing, directing, and for Best Picture, for Christopher Nolan this winter, which he rightfully deserves.  In summary, this is the best movie I have seen this year, and one of the best I have seen.  I highly recommend this movie to everyone, and hope everyone goes out and sees it as soon as possible.  A perfect movie: original premise, interesting characters, exciting action, and a lasting feeling of satisfaction that lasts long after the movie has ended.  10/10