Inception

The Take:  "Inception" amazes the eye and is laden with some serious acting power by the design of Writer and Director, Christopher Nolan.  Despite the aforementioned good elements, the movie is just a very good movie and not a great movie in my opinion.  Nolan pushed the envelope with the 2008 hit, "The Dark Knight", but seems to have tried to pack too complex of a story into a two-and-a-half hour movie.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend seeing the film.  However, I did not get the "wow" factor, which I my book does not put it in the elite movie category.

The Set-up:  In a world where technology has made it possible to enter someone's dream, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a specialist in his field.  Cobb is a mercenary for hire to penetrate dreams and extract vital information.  Additionally, Cobb and his team will teach you how to fight off would be dream attackers for a price.  Saito (Ken Watanabe) auditions Cobb and his right hand man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt) to see if Cobb can live up to his stellar reputation.  After being convinced, Saito enlists Cobb and Arthur to assemble a team to cause "inception" in a business rival, Robert Fischer, Jr. (Cillian Murphy).  Inception plants and idea deep in the subconscious to alter one's behavior when they are awake and making it seem to the subject like it was their idea.  Cobb assembles a team consisting of a thief, Eames (Tom Hardy), an architect, Ariadne (Ellen Page), and a chemist, Yusuf (Dileep Rao) to plant the inception.  Cobb's team faces a challenge when his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard) keeps showing up in his dreams and causing serious disruptions as he deals with his past misfortunes.  Cobb is precluded from seeing his family due to his prior issues with United States authorities.  Saito will provide a way back to his family if Cobb can complete the inception in Fischer.

The Skinny:  Nolan throws a ton of information at the audience in the first hour of the movie, which really gets the head spinning.  He creates a world that is so complex that he had little choice in spending the first part of the movie trying to get the whole "dream" concept across to viewers.  Amongst all of the complexity, there is quite a bit of action in the first hour which helps a little with the brain overload.  Getting this complicated of a story line across is what leads to the 148 minute running time, which only seems to lag in a few spots dealing with Cobb's past.  Really, the first hour fire hose of information and the length are the only negatives I can find about the film.  However, these factors stop it from being a "special" four star movie.

Originality is one of the key underpinnings which makes "Inception" a really good movie.  Nolan does a masterful job of creating an alternate reality that is both visually stunning and very intriguing.  My favorite sequences where the dream sequences and the heart pounding score to accompany them.  Nolan showed some of this in "The Dark Knight", but really brought out the creative this time around.  I felt totally captivated by the "dream world", and like the characters in the movie, really felt the "need" to get back the reality scenes.  He created a great sense of uneasiness combined with a sense of awe during the dreams. 

No doubt, DiCaprio brought his "A" game to this movie set.  He has had some great performances in the past, but he really pulled out all the stops for this one.  His role was so deep and tortured that he had to bring all of his acting skill to make Cobb believable.  Ellen Page came a close second when it came to her performance as "the architect".  A far cry from the sarcastic and  older than her years pregnant teen in "Juno" (2007).  A mature Page really did a great job and played well opposite DiCaprio.  Joseph Gordon-Leavitt gives his usual steady performance and plays DiCaprio's tough right-hand man well.  While other performances were notable, DiCaprio really stands above all and delivers a masterful performance.

The special effects are truly amazing, period.  Dream sequences abound coupled with some serious action are surrounded by some spectacular backdrops.  Nolan is to be commended on the beauty of the film.

The Pay-off:  DiCaprio and cast will not disappoint and you will definitely get your money's worth when you view "Inception".  I cannot give the movie four stars based on the over complex story and the length.  However, it will certainly give everyone something to think about and has a very interesting ending.  I was not lucky enough, but I would see it in IMAX® if possible.  One can only dream.

By:  Rilio Mastrantonio

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.

(Three stars)