Genuine filmmaking at its finest- and smartest

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2011)

Unlike many great films, I knew from the start that ''Inception'' was going to be a film beyond astounding. A film that grabs you from the get-go and never loosens its tight, adrenaline-packed grip, this sci-fi heist masterpiece centers on a creative idea that some may claim is not original anymore: dream space (''The Matrix'' ''Paprika'' ''Dream Scape''). At times an intelligent corporate thriller and at times a haunting moral study, ''Inception'' centers on a team of freelance elite corporate spies who use people's dreams to break into their subconscious and steal important ideas. When their leader, Dom Cobb (played heartbreakingly layered by an always talented Leonardo DiCaprio, in a role that makes you forget he was ever Jack from ''Titanic'' or the mole from ''The Departed''), is offered the chance of returning home to his children (from whom he has been estranged ever since the haunting suicide of his wife, which has been blamed on him) at the cost of performing the opposite of stealing an idea and instead planting one, he searches for a dream architect and tries to control his own raging subconscious, which is ridden by a menacing projection of his late wife, played inhumanly perfect by a stunning Marion Coutillard. The cinematography is impossible to describe. At times styled to be fancy and sleek, at others to be haunting and roughly angled, it captures action sequences, heartbreaking flashbacks and an alienating but nevertheless baffling ending, it is perfect and I find it impossible to picture some pretentious independent film taking the Oscar from a genius like D.P. Wally Pfister. The score is a classic throwback to James Bond and Bernard Hermann, and Christopher Nolan's direction is nothing short of genius. Highlights of the film's many breathtaking moments include a thrilling fight in a rotating chamber and a dazzling ski-chase. ''Inception'' is one of the best films of the year, and the most ambitiously well-done in a long time.