Inception

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2010)

"And then they woke up and it was all a dreamor was it?!" Deh, deh derrrrrr!
This is pretty much the basis of Inception and although it reads like the ending of a short story written by an ill-read twenty-nine year old dullard who think they're an author and therefore too busy to get a real job mum, it makes for a very appealing watch.
Or does it?! Deh, deh derrrrrr. Yes.
Leonardo DiCaprio is an extractor, an operative-for-hire who hacks into people's dreams in order to pinch the ideas right out of their dreamy slumber. Ken Watanabe hires DiCaprio to do the opposite, to deposit an idea, an Inception if you will, into the mind of billionaire businessman Cillian Murphy.
This is in no way slightly similar to Johnny Mnemonic.
His infiltration takes the form of inventive dream sequence set-pieces in which the nature of the reality you are viewing is continuously questioned or distorted. At one point, someone is dreaming a dream which they believe is someone else's dream when in fact it is their dream of what someone else's dream would be. See? Easy.
Inception's foundation is character development and with the help of a frankly terrifying performance from Marion Cotillard we expose the aching sense of loss that DiCaprio feels toward his dead wife. His grief manifests itself as an aggressive character from his sub-conscious, effectively making Leo both hero and villain.
It's all very Cartesian, leaving you to wonder whether anything you've just spent two and a half hours watching was meant to be real, or partially real, or if any of the characters were real. Or if you're real.
Mercifully though Inception, like any good shampoo commercial is light on science and light on the causes of science and doesn't get immovably glued down in a Matrix style techno tar-pit.
Inception is certainly attracted to special effects and some are genuinely inventive however, it's more of an embarrassing office fling than an oppressive, "I carved your name in my arm." teenage obsession.
The plot complements its viewer rather than obviously telegraphing what is happening or what is about to happen. Inception takes an early intellectual lead and it does not pull over and wait for those who have lagged behind because they weren't paying attention to the road, and you will need to pay attention.
This is refreshing as there are far, FAR too many films that presume you have gone to the cinema as part of your day release programme from the mental hospital. Don't get too excited though or you'll spend the next 24 hours chained to a radiator, being force fed emotionally paralysing brain medicine.
Perhaps a shade too long but undeniably a flattering and enjoyable experience.