At last! An intelligent Blockbuster!!!

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2010)

If you can suspend you belief in reality for 148 minutes then this is the film for you, if you can't then it may only confuse you. Fortunately I am of the former persuasion and was very intrigued to see Christopher Nolan's latest effort, particularly given the reception it has initially received. And so, having avoided seeing anything much beyond the trailer I took my seat in the theatre and waited with much anticipation for it to start.
I will keep my summary very brief and try not to give away any spoilers, this is best seen without knowing too much about it. Cobb is a thief, using technology he can go into your dreams and steal your secrets. He can't do it alone though, he needs a team around him for backup, to design the dreamscape, to chemically induce the dream and someone to wake them all up when the mission is completed. He finds that committing industrial espionage is a good way to make a living while he figures out a way to get back home to see his estrange kids. He cannot go and see them because he is implicated in the untimely death of their mother, Mal, who still haunts his dreams. When a powerful industrialist, Saito, comes to him with a proposal he is interested, particularly when the fee is to be his longed for reunion with his children. There's just one snag, the job will entail inception, planting an idea in someone's mind via their dreams, a very risky process. I'll leave it there or I may say too much, but that's a very general outline.
This is without doubt one of the best films I've seen ever. Always engaging, entertaining, sad, dramatic, action-packed, enthralling, intriguing and above all, intelligent. It kept me gripped from start to finish, which is a long time to be gripped, believe me! Although it's pure fiction, I found it easy to identify with the characters which is testament to both the writing and the performances of the entire cast. So, hats off to, Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Ellen Page as Ariadne, Tom Hardy as Eames, Ken Watanabe as Saito, Dileep Rao as Yusef, Marion Cotillard as Mal and Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer, Jr. Also honourable mentions go to Tom Berenger as Browning, Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer and Michael Caine as Miles.
The effects were amazing, not an awful lot of CGI used, but some excellent wire work, physical effects and some use of miniatures was really effective. The scene (it's in the trailer) where gravity is lost in the building is quite breathtaking. A word of warning though, be sure you won't need a toilet break, if you do, you could find yourself lost in this most excellent and labyrinthine plot. I cannot praise everyone who worked on this one enough, in particular Christopher Nolan, a brilliant film and very very highly RECOMMENDED!!.
My score: 9.7/10