RATING:***** (5 stars)
In a future where technology allows people to enter other's dreams, Dom Cobb has made a mercenary living all over the world doing extraction--using this shared dreaming to steal information. When a potential employer offers Dom the opportunity to return to the children he has not seen in years, he is eager to hear what the job is. It is a job assumed to be impossible--planting an idea in someone else and making them believe it to be their own.
Everything you've heard about Inception so far is true. It has an all-star cast in Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe and more. The acting is top-notch from a group that you would expect nothing less from, and they deliver outstandingly. Definitely keep this in mind when Oscar season starts up again; we will likely see at least one or two acting nods coming this way.
The special effects are equally well done. Particularly during one action sequence, I felt like I did the first time I saw The Matrix. It was exhilirating watching it all, even when you know the behind-the-scenes details of how they did it. Beautifully rendered backgrounds and striking scenes help to make the many layers of the film stand out and make the rather complex story a little easier to follow. Nothing particularly exceptional about the soundtrack, but it helps to move the story along and does much more for emotional cues and one notable story element than it does to stand out by itself.
Considering how deep and complex the story is, Christopher Nolan did a good job of directing on Inception. Particularly during the third act--when you are literally bouncing between four different dream worlds--things are about as visually distict as they could possibly be. As some people have already been saying, you may need to see this film twice (or more) just to wrap your head completely around everything that is going on on-screen. Plain and simple, Inception should be considered a must-see film for summer 2010.
Trailer
