Inception

Christopher Nolan dreams big, so it makes sense that his colossally expensive movie about dreams turns out to be, well, gigantic. It's also huge, massive, gargantuan, and a whole host of additional synonyms that represent oversized adjectives. The sheer scale of this blockbuster production is staggering. The movie reaches such death-defying heights that it might give some audience members nosebleeds. Once the movie gets rolling, it starts to feel like Nolan is hanging us over the edge of a cliff, threatening to drop us like one of the many characters in the movie who are about to wake up from their dream state by experiencing a falling sensation. In that sense, Inception, Nolan's big, beautiful creation, is like a dream wrapped in celluloid, a startling and unforgettable journey given life through unstoppable imagination.

Shot in six countries at a cost of more than $200 million with costly action sequences that actually look like they broke the bank, Inception is almost too big for a single movie screen to contain. But the brilliance of Nolan's fantastic flick is that it is specifically designed to be an action movie that can overwhelm and entertain all at the same time. Set in the near future, the story involves a team of experts who make a living by entering people's dreams and extracting information for the gain of whatever shady figure has hired them.

The team is led by Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, continuing his long streak of great performances), who is very good at what he does, despite the fact that he's haunted by the fractured memories of his dead wife Mal (a luminous Marion Cotillard). Dom's past is soaked in tragedy and he yearns to return to some sense of normalcy, so when a new job materializes with the promise of rectifying some of Dom's problems, the temptation is too powerful to resist. The challenge is that this new job involves a supposedly hypothetical process called Inception, which basically means that Dom and his team have to plant an idea in someone's dream in order to trigger a response in the real world.

It's complex stuff and very dangerous, but Dom is convinced he can pull it off, so he rounds up his trustworthy co-workers Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Eames (Tom Hardy) and also adds a new member to his team, the freshly interested Ariadne (Ellen Page). The idea of planting an idea in someone's own dream and trying not to get caught is quite novel and Nolan knows how to make the plot pop in unexpected ways. The narrative sizzles with intensity as the story progresses further down the rabbit hole of consciousness and Inception only gets more fun and exciting as it goes along.

But Nolan's richest idea lies in a familiar notion of time. As Dom explains to Ariadne during a training session, time is stretched in the dream world. In fact, there's even a mathematical equation that helps determine how greatly time will be extended during a dream. The idea of dreams feeling longer than they actually are is nothing new, but what is amazingly unique is how Nolan adapts this idea to craft one of the boldest series of action sequences I have seen in a very long time.

With all of the pieces in place and much of the exposition out of the way, Inception launches into an explosive dream sequence that is several layers deep. That means that Dom and his team end up in dreams within dreams within dreams. And the chronology of each layer increases exponentially with every step below. At one point, a mere ten seconds in one dream layer allows for the next layer to last for another three minutes and a third layer to last for one whole hour. The result is a head-spinning, mind-boggling, heart-pounding chunk of action cinema that quite simply has very few rivals in ambition and scope.

In order to make this kind of tightly structured action extravaganza work on the necessary levels of narrative engagement and visual verve, it is imperative that the cast and crew operate at the peak of their abilities. The cast is uniformly excellent, with everyone lending their fair share of super-sized charisma to the big picture. I wouldn't venture so far as to say that each actor delivers a performance that registers as the best of their career, but that is more of a testament to the exceptional work previously compiled by DiCaprio, Cotillard, Page, Gordon-Levitt, and Hardy, rather than any slight on their performances here.

Each character plays a specific role in the dreamscape and each actor makes their character stand out as a unique creation in this exciting world. Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy and Tom Berenger also provide solid performances that add additional thespian depth to the onscreen adventure. The acting further fleshes out the movie's overall tone, as each actor's meaty presence fills the frame with a delicious dose of confidence. The whole cast helps ground the movie in a recognizable reality without ever losing sight of the larger-than-life magnificence of Nolan's vision.

A collection of frequent Nolan collaborators also provide magic from behind the camera. Cinematographer Wally Pfister makes no apologies for his love of a cool colour palette that is defined by blues and greys, but he's such a master of constructing images that it doesn't really matter if he's been down this road many times before. His work in Inception is incredible once again, which comes as no surprise. Pfister and Nolan together just click in the realm of visuals and their continuing collaboration is a treat.

Another creative force that fuels the extreme energy of Inception is editor Lee Smith, whose startling work is pretty much a master class in epic cross-cutting. This gargantuan movie wouldn't feel quite so huge if it weren't for Smith's contribution. Composer Hans Zimmer is yet another artist who adds a sumptuous ingredient into this intoxicating mix. Zimmer's loud, booming score for Inception might well be one of my favourite pieces of movie music he has ever produced.

All of these pieces, both in front of the camera and behind, come together to breathe life into the behemoth that is Inception. Under the direction of Christopher Nolan, this movie becomes something spectacular, a blockbuster with brains and big ideas to fill them. The adventure unfolds at a furious pace and the narrative just keeps picking up speed, everything increasing in intensity. But even as the movie catapults into the layered dream world, Nolan is sure to make his movie accessible enough to prevent the audience from lagging behind and getting lost. This is careful, thoughtful filmmaking on a preposterously huge scale. Inception is a dream come true, an expertly realized thrill ride, and an exceptional experience that blows modern action cinema wide open on the largest canvas imaginable.