Inception

Chris Nolan's latest endeavor places Leo DiCaprio and his team in a Matrix-like world where dreams can be shared and influenced by the visitors. Sounds a little hoky and confusing? Perhaps a little redundant or overly ambitious? It's actually not.

Unlike the Matrix, which relied on breakthrough visual effects and incredible choreographed fight sequences, Inception follows a more mainstream approach with a deep, layered story and A-list actors. The sci-fi element is unbelievable, but they do a nice job masking that with the dialogue and acting.

Inception refers to planting a seed of an idea into a dreamer's head thus deliberately influencing their subconscious into making decisions that benefit the client. Leo plays Cobb, an expert extractor, or team leader who goes into other dreams to get valuable information. His supporting cast includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Michael Caine, Cilian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, and Tom Hardy.

Most of the film is setup for the big extraction, or in this case the inception, and the introduction of the various characters and their roles in the job. There is the architect, the chemist, the dreamer, etc.

Particularly effective are Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Leo's right hand man, Arthur, and Tom Hardy as Eames, a sort of chameleon operator. Levitt is a rising star even though he is approaching 30. He's been cast in some choice roles lately, and will continue with an upcoming action flick, and a Seth Rogen cancer comedy (that's not a typo). Hardy on the other hand, has been on my radar since his stunning role in the little known 2008 biopic titled Bronson, about a psychopathic inmate with a serious penchant for violence. He is a great actor, and gives Inception just the right jolt of action and some quick one-liners.

Leonardo DiCaprio, one of my favorites, just seems to go through the motions with this one, overshadowed by Nolan's haunting score and vivid scenes (see Dark Knight) the true beauty of this film lies in the dreamworld visual effects and the intrigue of the story. The supporting characters pick up the slack (if you could even call it that) and are the perfect assemblage of talent.

Truly original and suspenseful, the viewer gets sucked in as the team dives deeper and deeper into dreams within dreams, until the brilliant climactic conclusion. Some people may balk at the Sopranos-like ending, but it was perfectly complementary to the style and tone of the rest of the film.

All in all, this is a great film. If you enjoy the mindbending entertainment and can put on your disbelief suspenders, you will love it. We haven't seen a story this original in the action genre since the original Matrix, and probably won't again anytime soon. It was an excellent project for Nolan to slip in between Batman's, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with for that one in the next couple of years.

My only complaint, albeit a minor and insignificant one, is that Ellen Page seemed wildly miscast as the young, cynical architect joining the group. I can't get her cute, silver-tongued Juno out of my mind, and I really think the film would have benefited from a young male actor. This would have obviously cut women almost completely out of the picture, which was clearly a conscious decision on the Nolans' part, but I think for the story it would have been both more appropriate and more believable (take that very lightly).

I really enjoyed this film. Great film to kick off July. 9/10.