Dream Team

Rating: 9/10 (21 July 2010)

Watching Inception with its futuristic emphasis on getting inside people's heads through dreams, especially hearing Leonardo DiCaprio explain the pitfalls to newbie Ellen Page, I couldn't help thinking about Forbidden Planet and that warning about monsters from the Id. Did earth manage to conquer what the Krells could not?
Christopher Nolan wrote and directed Inception and though it gets a bit heavy at times, it still is an unmistakable masterpiece. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in this and he's essentially a cat burglar of the mind. His mission usually is to invade people's dreams and steal ideas which makes him an invaluable espionage agent. But Leo's also a wanted man.
Some problems Leo has relating to his Id have forced him to rely on others to create dream worlds. He was working against Japanese billionaire industrialist Ken Watanabe and got caught, but then Watanabe likes his style and hires Leo and his team to do a job on the young heir to a communications conglomerate, Cillian Murphy. It's not to steal anything, but to plant an idea in his brain with the dream team. The film is essentially how DiCaprio and his crew go about this job with Watanabe incidentally along for the ride. And its how Leo has to deal with some real demons involving guilt that force him to rely on others.
Very nice computer graphic generated special effects characterize Inception and it will probably earn an Oscar nomination next year in that category. Director Nolan gets his talented cast to read writer Nolan's dialog with verve and conviction.
I truly hope this technology is not in our near future that would be a frightening thought.