After a summer sitting through mediocre and even disappointing movies, Christopher Nolan finally brought us a summer hit worth going to see. Overall this year has been marked be unoriginal ideas, remakes, and of course, 3D. But to the pleasant surprise of all in attendance, Inception delves into a topic that is been largely untouched by filmmakers; the ever-elusive world of dreams. While this film could be categorized as Sci-Fi, the fictional aspect of the movie was still within our grasp of reality. Better put, you are left wondering if there is actually truth to be found in this concept of the dream state.The main character, Dominique Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is both someone you do not envy, yet can truly relate to. Through his work exploring the human mind during the dream state and learning to extract information from a person’s dream, Cobb has lost everything he loved. Though he goes about it in a more unconventional way, most of us can relate to the feeling of helplessness as you try desperately to cling to someone you have lost, in whatever way you can. His skill in extracting dreams has made him a highly sought after mind criminal and Cobb is tasked with the ultimate challenge in exchange for getting back to his family. This time it is not extraction, but inception. He must implant an idea into someone’s mind, a task perceived by many to be impossible. Stellar performances by DiCaprio and costars Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt along with impressive graphics and action create a movie that captures your attention for the full 2 and a half hours. This is one of those movies that you don’t simply see the credit screen roll, leave and never think of it again. At the end of watching this movie in a theater full of people, you could hear the chatter of every couple or group of friends discussing and taking guesses as to what really happened. I’ll probably go see it again just to try and better understand everything, because by the end everything you thought you knew is called into question and you are left wondering what is real and what is only a dream.
