Lose yourself in Chris Nolan's dream-world. You may never want to wake up.

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2020)

Watching Inception was like gulping down an ice cold beer knowing the rest of the six-pack is still to go, after being lost without hope in the Gobi Desert of Hollywood re-makes, sequels and movies-by-numbers for what feels like a living eternity.
The well-crafted and all-encompassing veil of secrecy this film has been hidden under since it's, um, inception, has been catnip to Nolan fans everywhere. Inception is the most talked about non-vampire movie of the year so far and barrelled straight to number 3 on the IMDbTop 250 Films. Only The Godfather and perennial fan-boy favourite The Shawshank Redemption are more popular.
So what's all the fuss about?
I'm not telling you anything you shouldn't already know about Inception when I say this is a movie about dreams.
It's about a thief called Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator), who can access people's dreams, and steal their ideas.
He has some issues to sort, and a past to atone for. One last job and he might just get the chance to go home.
Effectively, you could call Inception a heist movie. You could call it a love story. You could call it science fiction, I guess, but of this world. We all dream, imagine if those dreams weren't just ours alone.
It's immersive and thought-provoking, set in a big screen world delivered so flawlessly through seamless CGI and live action, that it feels like a film CGI was invented for.
The cast is top-notch. DiCaprio delivers, as does Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, Public Enemies). Brit Tom Hardy moves from his Handsome Bob outing in RocknRolla and slots in nicely here, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer, Brick) and Ellen Page (Juno, Hard Candy) are similarly well-cast. Nolan regular Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) is a Nolan regular for a reason, I loved him again here.