Inception
Layers upon layers of visceral, cerebral magic, you'll emerge from Inception feeling like you've travelled to the moon and back.
Steven Spielberg was once moved to describe Lawrence Of Arabia as a "miracle of a film". This is that feeling. Green screens and computers don't make masterpieces - imagination and meticulous attention to detail do. Christopher Nolan filmed Inception on location in six different countries, and there is something about the way the light falls, and the essence of a nation, that can't be artificially created. That's the difference between a masterpiece and an otherwise perfect film, what convinces us, and takes us into that world. Ironically, that's exactly what the job of the dream architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), recruited by Leonardo DiCaprio's Dom Cobb, an exceptional dream extractor.
I'm loathe to go further into the plot, as a film this perfect should unfold itself to the unsuspecting viewer. The construction of Inception is inspired, and the trailers actually give little away, other than the mind is the "scene of the crime". Dreams in films are niggling asides; they're not "real", thus are not to be taken seriously. So to set an entire film around them - and to have the majority of the action and plot take place inside the mind - is daring and dangerous, but Nolan's seed of an idea is so utterly compelling. The dream is real.
It's painstakingly thorough, without even a pin-sized plot hole, and Nolan doesn't have to make allowances for his audience's intellect, so fluid is his ambitious script. A rare gift for a screenwriter, Nolan doesn't have to resort to trickery to bend viewers' minds - only the film's victims are subject to that. He could go for twists, and a less confident filmmaker possibly could, but he has the conviction to use every other method possible to give his audience the "kick", the pulling of the rug. His incredible concepts take root in your mind as easily as they do in Ariadne's, and you're along for the ride in no time at all. However, for a "sci-fi" film, it isn't heavy on the science - the mechanics of the dream extraction are never fully explained, but the knowledge isn't missed.
Nolan instead reaches in to scare us with the power of our subconscious, and the execution of our deep fears in sleep leads to the nailbiting moments. The way our brain processes the passing of time in our dreams is put to the most astonishing use, exponentially increasing the nailbiting drama. Alongside the dream heist is a heartbreaking love story, making it a fantastic vehicle for DiCaprio, finally getting to put those exceptional acting chops to good use in a role far outside his comfort zone. It takes an actor of his magnitude to convey these multiple layers of guilt and redemption when a world is literally collapsing around him, and his focus holds every thread of Inception together for us. DiCaprio carries the emotional weight of a much older, weathered actor, and this dignified holder of secrets is most becoming on him. Also, the bewitching Marion Cotillard's role as Cobb's wife is unexpected, at times terrifying, and completely unforgettable.
As your brain is giving itself over with uninhibited joy to this tightly-woven, existential, labyrinthine plot, your eyes have the pleasure of processing the wonders before them. What wonders they are, and although they've been glimpsed at in the trailer, nothing can compare to witnessing the skewed skylines and off-kilter cities on the big screen. Even a simple hotel can become the scene of staggering, stomach-lurching thrills in the hands of Nolan and his masterful handling of action. We've seen the teasers, so the delicious anticipation of that stunning zero gravity moment with Joseph Gordon-Levitt is almost as glorious as the scene itself.
Without explaining too much about the characters, it needs to be pointed out that although DiCaprio is the leading man, Inception is essentially one big buddy movie. The atypical casting of Juno star Page as an action hero's sidekick works, and she's given the chance to be vulnerable as well as gifted. Gordon-Levitt delivers witticism and heroics with sharp-suited panache, as well as sparkling chemistry with every single person within five feet of him. Ken Watanabe impresses in a vital, initially unsympathetic role, and it's up to a particularly on-form Tom Hardy for the light relief. The privileged Cillian Murphy exudes weariness, despair and pity as an unlikely victim in the unlikeliest of crime dramas - to say more would be to give too much away.
There's so much to marvel at, multiple viewings will be necessary to establish its place in cinematic history. However, I'm confident that Inception deserves to be filed alongside 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence Of Arabia and There Will Be Blood for sheer audaciousness, bravery and conviction on a massive scale. Layers upon layers of visceral, cerebral magic, like the dreamers themselves, you'll emerge from Inception feeling like you've travelled to the moon and back, read a life-changing thousand-page novel, and watched a hundred episodes of Lost in the space of just two and a half hours.
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