Great entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2010)

Nolan showed with Following that he is a cut-above the rest, and stays on track in this thrilling movie. These days it is difficult to separate the hype from the film, so much so that much of the criticism of Inception seems to be along the lines of "It's not the greatest movie of all time." No movie is, bar one, but if you can take a grounded approach to Inception you'll enjoy Nolan's most original and thrilling creation since Memento.
Cobb is an extractor, stealing information from the sub-conscious mind of dreaming victims. Our flawed hero has a secret, one that draws a female nemesis into his work and threatens to undermine all his endeavors.
The particular endeavor at hand, to plant an idea rather than extract one, proves a bit of a MacGuffin to take Cobb on a journey to battle his own demons on a CGI-infested landscape. The plot-plus-effects adds up to The Matrix meets Eternal Sunshine. Cobb has to get to the heart of the beast, Limbo, in order to win the ultimate battle. Getting there, he encounters crumbling worlds akin to warming Antarctic shelves (and Jim Carey's own subconscious). That lack of originality aside, the whole thing is done with aplomb. DiCaprio again displays a range that he gets little credit for, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ken Watanabe complement him perfectly with loyalty and skepticism. The ending is predictable, but not a cop-out. Personally, I would have preferred a more definitive ending, but I can respect and understand why Nolan makes the choices he did.
Final note: big screen, please.