365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 88 - Inception

I went to see Inception today and all I can say is that the film deserves all the buzz and hype it's been getting. It is a fresh new film, structured with layers upon layers of reality, that is so well done that the viewer always understands what is going on, even if they don't quite know what is dream and what is real.

The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an "extractor", a man who gets paid to enter the dreams of others and remove ideas that cannot be gotten otherwise. Ken Watanabe is a man that hires him to do something new. Instead of taking an idea, he wants DiCaprio to plant an idea that the owner would think is their own original thought, an "Inception". Along with Watanabe and DiCaprio the film stars Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger and Lucas Haas.

I went in half expecting to see a "Matrix" like movie, but aside from dealing with multiple realities the film is not bogged down in the psycho-babble of The Matrix. Instead it is a pretty straight forward heist movie, a team is assembled and they have a plan and once the heist starts all hell breaks loose. if I had to find fault it's in the simplicity of the action sequences with guns and car cashes. Since all the action takes place inside the dream of one man I think so much more could have been done. The dream world seems to structured and linear. I know when I dream they never make sense.

The film is written and directed by Christopher Nolan and he does an outstanding job of taking the audience along and helping them understand where they are at any given moment. The film sustains an almost constant level of suspense. The last third of the film you literally sit on the edge of your seat as the action in multiple levels of dreaming take place.

It's an original film with stunning visual effects that serve the story. Go see Inception.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars