Inception.

If you haven't heard about Inception then you have most probably been living under a gigantic boulder for the last six months. Christopher Nolan's latest (and arguably greatest) feature is a film of mind blowing scope, a film which excites, enthrals and intrigues in equally bombastic measures. Nolan is probably most famous to the general public as the director of The Dark Knight and of course Memento, both highly respected films for very different reasons. Memento for its superb screenplay and mind bending narrative progression and The Dark Knight for the scope of vision on display and its re-invention of a fairly worn out franchise (although I would argue Batman Begins was the stronger of the two Batman films he made, but that's me opening up a whole can of worms that should remain firmly shut). With Inception it seems to me that Nolan aimed to combine the intense action filled spectacle of Dark Knight with the complexity of Memento's narrative. Boy, oh boy did he do an outstanding job.

Inception is set in a world where people can hack into one another's dreams. The movie's protagonist called Cobb (played by the superb DiCaprio) hacks into people's dreams to divulge information/ideas for money. In many ways he is like a Hitman in your brain for want of a better analogy. Cobb works with his long time business partner Arthur played by the absolutely outstanding Joseph Gordon-Levitt (easily the coolest man on the planet). I am very aware in writing this review that many people will not have seen the film so I will avoid plot spoilers. So fret not anonymous reader, you're in safe hands. The plot revolves around the extreme difficulties Cobb and a team of dream-hackers he has assembled have in planting an idea inside a man's head. A task which as the characters state is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. Although you might now be thinking that this all sounds fairly straightforward-it isn't. You really do have to keep your head firmly screwed on your neck and concentrate to fully appreciate the multi-stranded narrative's progression (as I previously stipulated I don't want to go into further plot details).

What struck me most about Inception was how superbly cut together it was. We have sequences where we are cutting to and from action sequences occurring in and across 3 different dreams/dimensions. The tension is relentless, the action un-remitting and the narrative somehow manages to remain entirely intact. What's really extraordinary about this film is that the action sequences are not in expense of the narrative, the taughtly strung suspense that runs through the plot makes almost every second of this feature a hair-raising and nail-biting experience. Certain moments had me genuinely saying 'wow' out loud, sitting on the edge of my seat tapping my feet manically. Only once in a blue moon do you see action sequences of this quality. The secret to it's success lies in the films originality-at no point are you really able to predict with any form of accuracy what will happen next; a luxury often not afforded to audiences within the all too familiar and predictable snares of generic convention. Inception manages to perfectly balance being generically identifiable to audiences (Action-thriller) whilst keeping them constantly second guessing and re-configuring their expectations.

On top of containing some mind-bendingly impressive action scenes Inception manages to tackle some fairly intellectual subject matter at the same time. Issues of existentialism seep seamlessly into the text with the sub-plot of Cobb's dead wife and her interference within his dreams. At what point are the characters' dreaming and at what point are they awake? What's the difference between the two? Nolan tackles these more intellectually engaging narrative threads and manages to sew them perfectly into the narrative without it seeming dis-jointed or out of place at any point. Even some of the action sequences are utilised to raise some of the more profound philosophical elements to the narrative. A hugely impressive feat by anybodies standards.

Inception boasts a very impressive supporting cast with the likes of Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page,  Michael Caine, Tom Berenger (Berenger got fat), Cillian Murphy and the relative newcomer Tom Hardy. All of whom deliver superb performances for a series of fantastic characters who all seem as original as the last. One of my worries with this film was that Nolan may have side-lined scripting the dialogue and the character's personalities in favour of developing the layers of narrative complexity. Clearly I should have more faith in the man as he did an absolutely superb job in fleshing out some very dynamic and engaging characters.

It is very hard to find many things to fault about this film. My one and only criticism would be that in one or two sequences the camera work and the edit cuts were slightly too fast paced and it was hard to get a real grasp for what was actually going on. However this only occurred briefly in few and far between moments. All in all I couldn't recommend this film more highly. There is something in this film for everyone: intense action, narrative complexity, humour and a romantic arc. What's most impressive is that each of the above elements seem completely necessary without having simply been placed in to widen the target audience like so many other big budget Hollywood pictures do. The romantic arc at times is intrinsically linked to the action sequences and even manages to heighten both the excitement you feel within these scenes as well as the emotional core in the text.

  If you are in fear that you might not understand what's actually happening during Inception, don't be-the film explains every detail very effectively without the 'explanatory dialogue' sequences seeming like overtly obvious plot exposition. Even if you are not able to entirely grasp at what is going on the sheer mind-blowing scope of the action and visual effects will be enough to keep you on the edge of your seat for the 148 minutes. 2 and a half hours may seem like a stretch for some audiences, but for what it's worth I didn't look at my watch once and it felt like your familiar 90 minute feature. Inception is a remarkable accomplishment, dare I say it a masterpiece in almost every sense of the word. You'd be mad not to go and see it.