Dreamworld

Having seen Inception early – jealous? – I can safely and responsibly say that you’re going to have to think of the film, most definitely, as a trip.

This, of course, means its director, Christopher Nolan, is your cruise director. The Dark Knight helmer has, for lack of a better way to put it, dreamed up a world in which we can go into characters’ dreams, and the dreams within the dreams, and the dreams within the dreams within the dreams. It’s quite a ride.

Now, I didn’t say it would be an easy trip to take, and that’s because I’d much rather think of it as a most cerebral one.

The plot of Inception has been shrouded in secrecy since Day 1, I don’t think because it’s necessarily difficult to follow – although, I will concede, it can pose a bit of a challenge if people don’t focus – but because it revolves around such a far-out idea....

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Dom Cobb, a skilled thief and the bestest at stealing valuable secrets from deep within a mark’s subconscious during the dream state when their mind is at its most vulnerable. This is called extraction.

His is a rare ability that has made him a coveted player in this high-stakes new world of corporate espionage. It also has made him an international fugitive and cost him everything and everyone he’s ever loved.

As it often happens in this sort of film, Cobb is offered a shot at redemption and a clean slate. All he has to do is pull off one last job, one that could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible – inception.

Yep, he has to plant an idea in a mark’s mind, which is considerably harder and requires more layers of work. See, to pull off this type of job, these dream infiltrations, Cobb and his team, which include an architect of dreamscapes and a forger of identities within them, have to create a world for the mark to do their thing in, a world they can enter and manipulate in order to get, or introduce, new information.

The problem is anyone who goes into these dreamworlds faces dangerous...eventualities, some of which are created by the mark, some of which are manifestations of their own minds. In Cobb’s case, the danger is all-too familiar, beautiful, and full of baggage.

I think I’ve said too much, so I’ll close with this: See Inception, pay attention to it, be dazzled by the scenarios Nolan has come up with and his cast (which includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page), try to resist newcomer Tom Hardy, who pretty much steals ever scene he’s in, and don’t let the ending melt your brain more than it needs to. This is supposed to be a fun trip, after all. The journey is what matters most.

My Rating ***

Photo: Warner Bros.