Inception

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento), Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a corporate spy skilled in the art of stealing ideas from people’s minds as they sleep (aka extraction), with the aid of his loyal sidekick Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and a never-explained machine. When wealthy new client Seito (Ken Watanabe) asks Cobb to try the reverse procedure and plant an idea in the mind of a rival businessman (Cillian Murphy) – a process known as inception – Cobb is reluctant, until Seito promises him that if he’s successful, he’ll be allowed to re-enter the States and see his children again.

Cobb and Arthur duly assemble a crack team for the heist-like job, including new dream architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), ‘forger’ Eames (Tom Hardy) and chemicals expert Yusuf (Dileep Rao). However, as Cobb gives Ariadne a crash-course in dreamscape-creation, she realises that Cobb’s wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) is lurking in his subconscious and that her destructive presence could jeopardise both the mission and their lives.

The story is ingeniously constructed, with four separate layers of dreams-within-dreams all playing out simultaneously, thanks to skilful editing and a brilliantly written script that rewards close attention during the exposition scenes. Similarly, the action sequences (most notably a zero-gravity fight in a rotating hotel corridor) are both original and genuinely thrilling, while the effects work is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

 – Matthew Turner, ViewLondon