Studio: Warner Bros.
Plot: A contemporary sci-fi thriller based on a thief who invades people’s dreams to steal their secrets
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page
Rating: PG-13
Bottom Line: ****
By Samantha Ofole-Prince
“One thing you should know about me: I can access your mind through your dreams. It’s called Inception.”
A key quote said by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Dom Cobb, it aptly translates director Christopher Nolan’s mindboggling, but ingenious sci-fi fantasy thriller, which even Nolan admits took a decade to craft.
In this engrossing brainteaser, Cobb is a specialist-for-hire with the technology to infiltrate the mind and steal ideas whilst the subject is unconscious. Hired by a powerful billionaire called Saito (Ken Watanabe), he is asked to do the opposite, which is to plant an idea into the head of a wealthy business rival called Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy) and make him believe that it’s his own idea. Naturally, it’s a risky proposition which has never been done before, but Cobb is made an offer which he can’t refuse and if he succeeds, it could be the perfect crime. With a team of specialists, that includes his longtime associate, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a master chemist called Yusuf (Dileep Rao) to create the sedatives needed for the dream, and a new recruit, Ariadne (Ellen Page), Cobb and his motley crew set out to infiltrate Fischer’s dreams. As they dive deeper and deeper into the dreams of their target their realities becomes marred.
Shot across four continents and produced by Nolan and wife Emma Thomas, “Inception” is a perfect mind heist that plays just like a crossword puzzle.
Constructed with a series of clever and logical revelations, it‘s a multi-layered baffling mind maze that churns out more questions than answers, whilst stretching the boundaries of the viewers imagination.
A complex thriller so intricately structured — the movie unfolds in dreams within dreams, which adds to the excitement and it will require close attention and repeat viewings to really understand its twisted reality and tricky images, which essentially is what Nolan wants and has achieved.
This article was originally printed in the August 1, 2010 – August 14, 2010
