If 'ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND' and 'THE MATRIX' had a child together and 'MISSION IMPOSSIBLE' was the sperm donor 'INCEPTION' would be the conception!

Rating: 10/10 (14 October 2010)

'INCEPTION': Five Stars (Out of Five)
If 'ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND' and 'THE MATRIX' had a child together and 'MISSION IMPOSSIBLE' was the sperm donor 'INCEPTION' would be the conception. Writer / director Christopher Nolan, arguably the greatest filmmaker working today (and the man behind such beloved blockbuster and indie cult classics as 'THE DARK KNIGHT', 'BATMAN BEGINS' and 'MEMENTO'), gives us this ingenious sci-fi / horror / drama / 'thinking man's' action film about shared dreaming! The movie is so well made and confident in every way that the viewer just automatically believes they are seeing something truly great and clever from the opening scene to the last. To carry out his impossible mission Nolan has assembled the most talented and fitting cast and crew members he possibly could.
At the heart of the film is Leonardo DiCaprio's performance. The man is one of the most talented and iconic actors working today; like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp and a few others he's as gifted at the art of acting as he is famous and this is one of his best performances to date (although very similar to another lead performance of his this year in the similar themed Martin Scorsese film 'SHUTTER ISLAND', in which he was also dealing with the battle of reality versus perception and the reconciliation of the loss of a loved one in order to save his sanity). There's also the extremely talented Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard in impressive key supporting roles (as well as Nolan regulars Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy and Michael Caine). The editing, cinematography, art direction, makeup, etc. are all top notch as well but the most memorable and impressive thing for me about the film (other than maybe the writing and directing) is the score; Hans Zimmer (who also recently co-scored Nolan's 'THE DARK KNIGHT' and 'BATMAN BEGINS') has outdone himself here with music that embodies almost the entire film and empowers it. It's almost as if he's created an entire new genre of score music and it's the best I've heard in quite some time (If Zimmer doesn't win an Oscar for this there's no justice in Hollywood).
In 'INCEPTION' Nolan creates a very realistic and believable alternate reality in which dreams can be shared and controlled and business's as well as of course government's have created technology in which they can infiltrate someone's dreams and steal key valuable information from someone's subconscious, which they call 'extracting', at the time when it's most vulnerable (when it's in the dream state). This is a very dangerous and complex act though considering it requires a very strong sedative to keep everyone involved in the dream asleep and therefore if you die in your dream and cant wake up your mind goes into a deep limbo which can seem like an eternity and drive you to insanity. This is made even more difficult and frightening by the fact that the most at risk minds have been trained to militarize their brains and established dream defense units to ward off any intruders. DiCaprio plays Cobb the most experienced and wanted dream expert the world has ever seen. He leads a special unit of dream con-artists in routine 'extraction' assignments for various employers. His one flaw is that he's haunted by the loss of his wife (The very memorable Cotillard) on a dream adventure they concocted together. Due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of his wife Cobb is wanted for her murder and can't return home to see his two young children. One big seemingly impossible assignment involving the act of 'inception' (implanting an idea in a mind's dream rather than 'extracting' it) could change all that, by clearing his name, and finally be his ticket home.
The movie is extremely fast paced and complicated which does make it very hard to follow upon first viewing but every detail of it's fantasy world is so well explained that this makes the movie so much more enjoyable the second time around. The characters also feel somewhat underdeveloped, all except for DiCaprio's Cobb and his assignment; the mark (Murphy), at least the first time around. There's a lot of screen time given to people like Page and Gordon-Levitt but all we really know about them is what they know and think about the dream world and Cobb. It kind of feels like a 'MISSION IMPOSSIBLE' film in which players are only put into motion to perform their skill in supporting the Ethan Hunt character 'Cobb' on his mission and character development. This make's the film some what frustrating and not relate-able considering the fact that Cobb is a mystery most of the film and is only fully understood and loved at the film's end, which is a very emotionally powerful climax. This all changes upon a second viewing though. Only after you fully understand the dream world and what's going on from the very beginning can you fully appreciate every detail of every second of the film and it's characters. No longer are you head-ached by trying to figure out what is going on and you pick up so much more of the film in every way. These are the best films in my opinion; movies which require multiple viewings to fully understand and love them. I can't wait to see this movie a third time and it's by far the best movie I've seen so far this year!
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