Inception (2010)

Inception was Christopher Nolan's next film after the huge success of The Dark Knight. Quite a few people (me included) were shouting from the rooftops, demanding that he make a third entry into the Batman world. At the time Nolan said no. He wanted to make a film based on a script he had been writing on for the past eight years. Since then over a year has passed since Inception was released in theatres. It achieved just under $1 Billion dollars in worldwide gross, nominated and won countless awards across the globe and became everyones new favourite movie.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio who plays corporate spy for hire Dom Cobb who steals peoples ideas from their dreams. One of the jobs goes wrong and he is hired by the man he tried to double cross to plant an idea in the mind of a rival, this is called Inception. If Cobb succeeds, he can finally return to America and meet up with his estranged children. To do this, Cobb recruits a team which includes Tom Hardy's mimic, Joseph Gordon Levitt's researcher and Ellen Page's Architect.

Inception is a mind blowing science fiction epic. The film is spellbinding and damn near impossible to describe. It's also a film that has Nolan at the top of his game and possibly made him best director out there today (If he wasn't already after Dark Knight) Inception is not a trick, its not one of those films where the good-guy wakes up at the end and realises it was just a dream, Nolan can do stories like that in his sleep. No, what we have here is a film that has formal and mental layers and precise reveals, a film that's about life and death and everything in between. It also has epic gun battles, gravity defying fist fights and stars of the best actors working in cinema today.

Some of the actors do especially well. Cillian Murphy does extremely well as Robert Fischer, who shows a more vulnerable and emotional side unseen in his previous movies. Ellen Page was an unusual choice considering she's more known for indie films then summer Sci-Fi films but is excellent as Ariadne. Joesph and Tom are also both excellent and it's no surprise to see them both returning for Nolan's next film The Dark Knight Rises. Finally we have Leonardo DiCaprio who is superb and easily gives one of his best performances. Leo anchors the movie, showing a great range and depth in his acting. He was also outstanding in his other film released that year, Shutter Island. It's amazing how Leo has gone through his acting career without really being acknowledged by his superiors (namely the academy awards) This movie works purely because you believe his story and want to follow it through to the end (you definitely shouldn't sneak off to the toilet in this film or you won't have a clue whats going on). Forget about all the stunts and the special effects, if Leo's performance didn't work then this movie would of failed. Thankfully it wasn't and proves yet again that Leo is the number 1 movie star working today. I also have to mention the return of Tom Berenger who's last cinema release was Sylvester Stallone's rubbish D-Tox in 2002. Good to see him back.

The film is also massive in scale and style. It has 3 action sequences that are sort of wrapped round together and work simultaneously. This was a bold move by Nolan and his crew but it works brilliantly. The stand out scene has to be the revolving corridor which involved the team constructing a massive wheel and building a 100ft hotel corridor through it. Gordon-Levitt did all his own stunts in this scene and was also filmed in one shot and looks absolutely astounding. Also the scene in the Arctic has to be commended for its shear scale. The building Nolan's team created is massive and really shows the talent Nolan had working with him.

Inception is unlike anything you've seen before, especially compared to other summer blockbusters. Nolan has created a film that is truly original with physic defying action scenes and enough emotion to make the audience believe. DiCaprio is outstanding, giving a performance that was worthy of a Oscar nomination. Easily the best film of 2010 and a film that will be celebrated for years to come. Roll on Dark Knight Rises.