A fun idea for a flight of fantasy

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2010)

This is a breathtaking science fiction film to watch and its 2 hours 20 minutes sped by for me. Even if it borrowed a lot from Matrix, Orphee, even Kane at the climax, and others, it was so confident and assured in the depiction and dissection of its nonsense world I couldn't help but be very impressed. So what if the plot apparently bulges with Real World non sequiteurs and Dream World paradoxes – as recommended to a character in the film (and by Cocteau in Belle Et La Bete) we have to take a leap of faith. It's why so many people believe in a God.
A team of mind altering thieves (Extractors) are recruited and hired by a billionaire capitalist to plant an idea via dreams (Inception) in a rival billionaire capitalist's mind to break up his empire and thus preserve profit margins. As you might or might not imagine it's not so straightforward, leading to a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream and limbo  at least. The acting was good, however the characters were basically 2D and although DeCaprio's was fleshed out a little more I didn't empathise with any of them, but the plot was the thing after all! There's no compromise: it's tortuous to follow at times and relentlessly fast paced throughout – the first 10 minutes were incomprehensible to me but gradually it became as clear as mud, until even I saw the ending coming. My modern-film-savvy daughter was on hand to act as interpreter but we had to lean on each other and promise a re-view next year sometime. I would add that the actual process of putting people under was thankfully skipped over and Michael Caine's usual death-touches were blissfully brief.
On first and second thoughts I recommend this as a film made in 2010 that has absolutely no swearing, no sex, not much violence, a "realistic" amount of cgi cartoonery, but a well made engrossing storyline instead.