Anything is possible when a filmmaker trusts his audience.

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2011)

Director/writer Christopher Nolan clearly trusted his audience to follow him through a labyrinthine story of dreams within dreams within dreams. He obviously believed that he didn't have to "dumb things down" to get an audience, he didn't think he had to beat people over the head with obvious hints and blatant explanations, and he didn't have to apologize for making a movie that is smart, requires intense attention to follow, and doesn't have an obvious ending that ties it all up neatly and hands things to the audience on a silver platter.
And I LOVE that about this movie. Nolan clearly believes that there is an audience out there for movies that aren't comic-book action "morality plays" intended to appeal to the people who want the filmmaker to do their thinking for them, or sequels/prequels of an established franchise film that has a built-in audience.
He has made a film that is intelligent, nuanced, clever without rubbing your nose in it, and that showcases established talents (Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Leonardo DiCaprio), allows Ellen Page to show that her work in "Juno" was just the start of what I hope is a long and distinguished career and that Cillian Murphy's work in "Batman Begins" showed he not only looks good, he acts well; and brings a wider audience to some actors (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao) who aren't very familiar to American audiences.
"Inception" has an amazingly complex plot. At it's most basic, it's about conducting espionage/sabotage by entering someone's mind through dreams and stealing their secrets. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, the lead "thief"/"architect" of a group of men who engage in this apparently very lucrative work. (In passing, we learn that there is also apparently a very lucrative industry in training potential targets of such plots how to protect their subconscious and fight attempts to break into their minds and steal their secrets.) Watanabe plays the role of Saito, a mega-billionaire industrialist who wants Cobb to undertake a job for him: not to steal secrets, but instead to implant an idea in the son and heir of his greatest business rival. The rival, Maurice Fischer, played in a very brief appearance by the late Pete Postlethwaite, is dying. His son and heir Robert (Cillian Murphy) can ruin Saito by just continuing the consolidation of his father's business empire.
Saito wants Cobb to implant in Robert Fischer's mind the seed of an idea that will make young Fischer break up his father's business empire, rather than consolidate it. Saito asks Cobb if this action, implanting the inception of an idea so deeply in someone else's mind that they are unaware that the origin of the idea came from outside, is possible.
Cobb knows it's possible. He also knows it's dangerous. We aren't initially shown how he knows this.
Cobb is reluctant to take on the job, but Saito can offer him the one thing that Cobb wants and can't get any other way: Saito can make charges pending against Cobb for the death of his wife, Mal, go away, making it possible for Cobb to return to the USA and be with his two children. Saito can, and will, do that for Cobb if Cobb will undertake the inception.
Cobb agrees, and so the ride begins.
Ellen Page is Ariadne, a talented young architecture student who is introduced to Cobb by Cobb's father-in-law, Miles, played by Michael Caine. Miles, we learn, started Cobb in the business of dream espionage.
Cobb also has other cohorts in the business, Arthur (Gordon-Levitt), Eames (Hardy), and Yusuf. Each plays a part in the complicated business of first designing a scenario that makes the inception feasible and then carrying it out.
I don't want to get into a slavish description of what happens. That would spoil it. In the end, it involves going through different levels of dream consciousness and different worlds. Nolan challenges his audience to try to follow Cobb through the different layers of dreams, and to keep track of what is really a dream, and what is a dream reality. He doesn't hang out signs that tell you where you are and where you're going, and he isn't afraid of ambiguity and nuance. He also doesn't preach or proselytize about what's "right" and what's "wrong." This movie isn't a morality play. It doesn't take sides and you don't get any hints about who, if anyone, the heroes and villains are.
It also does an astonishing job of presenting a literally mind-blowing alternate reality universe. Man oh man, this is the kind of story that had to wait until computer animation technology caught up with it before it could be done. And the wait is worth it, and then some. Nolan is one of a very small group of filmmakers who have looked at what the technology can do and envisioned using it to tell a story that couldn't previously have been told in film, not in any way.
I've watched this movie more than half a dozen times already and I know I'll watch it at least that many times more. And I don't think I will ever be completely sure about what it's really about or what is really going on. And that's fine with me; I wish there were more movies that trusted the audience enough to be ambiguous, to allow uncertainty, to not try to tie everything up in a tidy package that doesn't challenge you or leave you unsettled.
I can't wait for Christopher Nolan's next movie. BRING IT ON.