Sci-fi Thriller

Rating: 10/10 (11 May 2014)

Writer-director Christopher Nolan explores the realm of dreams in Inception, his first film since his acclaimed box office juggernaut The Dark Knight. The sci-fi thriller's premise sounds simple enough, but its execution by Nolan is anything but. Ostensibly an international heist caper, Inception follows Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), an "extractor" whose form of corporate espionage is to invade the dreams of the rich and powerful and pluck their most tightly guarded secrets from the depths of their subconscious. "A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules," Cobb says at one point.
Cobb is an international fugitive due to a dark deed from his past that prevents him from being able to return state side to see his children. A shady corporate titan, Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe), offers Cobb a chance to wipe his past clean and go home. The job? Inception -- planting an idea into a mark's subconscious rather than stealing one. Saito wants Cobb and his longtime point man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), to invade the dreams of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the heir to an energy conglomerate who is also riddled with daddy issues. Saito wants to take out the competition so to speak.