In a summer bogged down once more in sequels and adaptations, The Dark Knight helmer Christopher Nolan has delivered a film of staggering originality, that packs more intellect into its two and a half hour running time than most filmmakers manage in a career. Full of ideas - every one of them wholly realised - Inception is also executed with skill, precision and perpetual innovativeness. The fact that a film this smart has been made on this scale is a testament not just to its makers, but to studio Warner Bros. who deserve credit for bankrolling something so inherently complex, it may go over the head of some less receptive viewers.Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a thief who specialises in stealing ideas direct from the mind of those who came up with them - while they sleep. Living life essentially on the run, he's given the chance to return home to America and see his children, if he can subvert his ability to steal ideas and instead implant one in someone's head. To do so he works with the few specialists who know how this almost-alternate reality works; his partner Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy's forgery expert, and Ellen Page's brilliant young architect. They must delve deep into a foreign mind that will prove more dangerous than any other job they've ever had.
Innately multifaceted, with a plot that takes actual concentration to follow, Inception is the first film in a long time to engage the viewer as much intellectually as it does visually. Almost every scene is part of some complicated puzzle - the visual aspect of which is difficult to comprehend never mind covey - yet Nolan doesn't baulk, and instead pushes the boundaries of what CGI can do while never overshadowing the context of the core story. The effects here aide the plot. There are sequences that will literally cause your jaw to drop; it's really the type of stuff that has never before been committed to celluloid, and a marketing team have, for once, conveyed that tone wonderfully in the trailers. Dreams by their very definition are a subjective and singular experience; finding that indefinable middle ground and taking in an audience requires an immense magnitude of skill.
Of course if we haven't got people or a plight we care about then none of this would matter. DiCaprio has proved himself a wily selector of material before, and the quintessential Hollywood leading man plays another character full of regret and inner torment - he's predictably great as are the supporting cast. Levitt does spend a lot of time explaining what's going on, but also has probably the stand-out sequence of the film; while Page's character acts like the audience, asking questions when applicable and filling in the blanks herself. Tom Hardy almost steals every scene he's in, and Cillian Murphy makes a small, but crucial impact as the man at the centre of it all.
Without a doubt Inception will take multiple viewings to fully digest. It is a film that respects its audience completely and asks them to play along and stick with it, as it continually digs deeper, until its emotional climax. A remarkable and stunning piece of work.
Review by Mike Sheridan
