Movie Review: Inception

In a word: INCREDIBLE. Though I'm still restling with the concepts and the questions, this film is probably the best I've ever seen. If you know me and movies, this is no small statement. A good movie is hard to come by, a great film even harder. It takes a lot to make it on my top 100, and must rank fairly highly in a number of categories including the music, the cast, the chemistry of that cast, the performances, the story, the ending and its ability to inspire, challenge and emotionally connect. Inception did ALL of that.

For many people, the Matrix delivered in many of those aspects. It did for me. Everyone left the theater looking up and around at the people with them, wondering if they were really awake or trapped in the Matrix. It was fascinating. It brought up that one question: what is real? But of all the questions or concepts raised in the Matrix, it all revolved around that. Powerful, but limited. Inception opened an entire Pandora's Box of concepts about reality, dreams, creativity, inspiration, hope and ideas. "What is the most resilient entity in the world? Is it a virus? An intestinal worm? No. It's an idea. Once planted, an idea can grow and spread and survive almost anything." This is just one of the many concepts into which Dicaprio and crew delve in the movie.

In the Matrix, when Neo asks if he can dodge bullets, Mopheus tells him that when he's ready he won't even have to dodge them. The concept of this changed and changeable reality is fascinating, but it's in a computer essentially. In Inception, it goes farther. It's all in dreams. Not only can you alter that reality. You can construct absolutely anything you want. Creativity is limitless. Time is no different. As in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it's very different inside this other realm. Just 10 minutes of dreaming seems like an hour in the dream and it's multiplied if you go into a dream from within the dream.

As with Avatar and the Matrix before it, this movie delivers on absolutely new and unique visuals that blew me away. The cast is all-star. Dicaprio delivers a performance between his ingenuity in Catch me if you Can and his madness in the Aviator, with a bite of something new that is insired by Chris Nolan's Batman and the grittier aspects of Bond. Chris Nolan chose Han Zimmer for the score (incredible) and 3 of his best actors from the first Batman movie (Ken Watanabe, Michael Kane and Cillian Murphy), besides rising star Ellen Page and a fast-maturing Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I hate about You, Brick) and old school Tom Berenger. The evil Picard clone from Star Trek: Nemesis even joins the team.

The movie is hard-hitting, deep, thoughtful, confusing (without being impossible) and absoluting stunning in every way. They filmed it in six countries. I don't recommend it for anyone who clings too tightly to reality or takes heavy anti-psychotic medication, but to anyone with imagination and curiosity, it could easily be the best film you see this decade.