Surprisingly Spectacular!

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2011)

I was a bit hesitant to watch this movie for the first time. Raving reviews from friends was one of the convincing factors. But just walking around everywhere and seeing Leonardo DiCaprio's name headlining the DVD cover was putting me off, I've never really been a fan of his. It wasn't until I found out who directed the, to the best of my knowledge, mainstream masterpiece. Christopher Nolan: the man who brought us Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Judging by the outstanding quality of those two films, I gave in, and settled down for a long two and a half hours.
And by the end, I was surprised. Literally stunned silent, until I could finally say, "That was better than I expected."
No synopsis to be found here. I'm sorry, it's a long movie. Peruse the other reviews, I'm sure you'll come across at least one.
So, as I mentioned, I'm not a big DiCaprio fan. Again, I apologize. I just wasn't impressed by his Romeo, nor was I ever keen on watching him die in Titanic. But here, I was extremely satisfied with his performance as the emotional component of the film. To be frank, I just expected him to be the name carefully selected to draw in a female audience. Well, I will gladly admit I was wrong. If the characters in this movie are personifications, DiCaprio's would be feeling. Desperation, guilt, regret, torment. He portrayed the emotions near flawlessly, which I felt was his most important task in this role, as Cobb. Kudos, sir.
I had never even heard of Joseph Gordon-Levitt before, but I feel like I need to give him some mention, considering. I was pretty impressed by his portrayal of Arthur, the steady, no- nonsense, yet very clever ("elevator" scene) aspect of Cobb's team. A thoughtful kind of guy, described as having no imagination ... why so serious? In all honesty, I was impressed by Gordon-Levitt, what a phenomenal bit of casting! I suppose the real reason I feel he deserves, let's say, honorable mention, is because I recently learned he did all of his own stunts in the "revolving hallway" scene. Okay, maybe I was bit overly impressed, but hey, it looks difficult. Kudos to you too, sir.
The rest of the cast was well picked, but not very surprising. Cillian Murphy as Fischer, we saw him in Nolan's Batman flicks, along with Michael Caine. Ken Watanabe, Saito, we know him from Batman Begins as well. Marion Cotillard as Cobb's wife and antagonist, Mal, was great. I recognized her from Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale... Christian Bale. Two degrees to Batman? Ellen Page did very well as Cobb's outside voice of reason and architect, Ariadne. Tom Hardy as Eames was fantastic, the perfect creative man to match unimaginative Arthur. Superb casting, overall.
I will tell you, though, the plot is incredibly detailed, well written, and enjoyable. Of course, it's a little ludicrous, but it's so amazingly different and so finely depicted it's almost perceivable. It is the kind of story that even when you can predict what will happen, you're stunned when you see it. Thanks, in part, to the eye-pleasing, fantastic visuals. Excellent scoring, too... REALLY excellent. I was also impressed by the repeated dialogue throughout the scenes, it was powerful and emotional.
The only negative is that, at first, this is definitely not a sheer entertainment film. If you're tired from a long day's work, I wouldn't recommend picking this one up. That is, if your initial intention was to gape at explosions, regardless of the plot. This movie requires thought.
This is getting to be lengthy.
Okay, the ending. Endings can be famous for ruining movies, we all know that. And it's devastating. Seriously. But Inception ends with slight ambiguity, and you may be left wondering... *** SPOILER*** is Cobb still dreaming when he's reunited with his children. ***END SPOILERS*** I particularly enjoy films that have endings designed to be interpreted. Kind of gives you the opportunity to decide how it all ends.
In short, I had a lot of faith in Christopher Nolan's directing coming in, and nothing disappointed. I really enjoyed this movie, it was very quality work, far exceeding my expectations. From the acting to the effects, I was very, very... entertained. Highly recommended.
Thanks for reading!