A dream inside a dream?

I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... Having finally seen it, I am not sure where the movie stands with me. I waited, and I anxiously bothered, and I patiently waited, and I not-so-patiently waited. Finally, this past week I got to see Inception. Now, I have to say that upon re-imagining a world where Batman movies weren't just good, they were great, Christopher Nolan earned my lifetime appreciation and made a reserved spot on my very long Hero list. I have seen every movie he's made since Batman Begins. I loved The Prestige and have very anxiously been wanting to watch it again. The Dark Knight took my love of Batman to new heights, and was a very great memorial for Heath Ledger. With Inception, I wasn't sure what to expect.

When I first saw a teaser trailer, I was intrigued. It was what a teaser should be. It showed who all would be playing the cast and gave a hint at what a possible plot could be. From the teaser only more questions remained and that's how it should be. To go off on a tangent with my prime example being the upcoming movie, "The Town." The trailer started off intriguing about a girl who was in the midst of a vicious crime. She meets a character played by Ben Affleck and they start to fall in love. The movie seemed intriguing until the trailer revealed that BEN AFFLECK WAS ONE OF THE CRIMINALS IN THE HEINOUS CRIME!!! Had the trailer not gone there, had they kept that rather KEY element to the plot secret. I might have actually really wanted to see that movie. Far too many movie trailers give away TOO MUCH of the plot to the point that you don't need to even watch it. Terminator: Salvation was guilty of this as well and it's fucking infuriating!

Anyway, back to Inception. From the opening moment, I was sucked in. The movie took the time to tell its plot properly and anybody who has the gall to complain about it simply wasn't paying attention. Unlike The Prestige, Inception takes the time and establishes the rules of the story right off the bat. It establishes the expectations of surrealism right out of the gate so there is nothing left to wonder as far as limitations are concerned. To go off on another tangent, this was one of the weaknesses of The Matrix, which established NO limitations. The trilogy grew outside of itself to the point of absurdity, where as Inception sets a standard that it does not stray from and it only makes the movie stronger. Compared to Nolan's other film The Prestige, Inception is focused in its complexities and it's a far superior film because of it.

The cast was great; Leonardo DiCaprio was excellent in the lead role Cobb. I feel like he's finally starting to come into his "prime" as an actor. For so long I had a really difficult time taking him seriously but now he's one of my favorite actors after films like Body of Lies and Shutter Island and The Departed, all of which he was excellent in.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also excellent in this movie as Arthur. He is an actor who is building himself an excellent resume and will probably be one of the biggest movie stars of the next decade should he keep himself in great films such as this. He played a rather by-the-books character, you could call him Leonardo's partner in crime so to speak. He was strong as well.

Tom Hardy played Eames, the con artist of the movie and really one of the more important characters to the plot. I thought his character was one of the most well rounded of the movie and he was the prime source of laughs in a movie which really needed none (but they were very well placed when they had them) and he's an actor who I will be keeping an eye out for in the future, he was great in this film.

Ken Watanabe plays Saito, the 'contractor' of the whole job (to give away about as much about the plot as I want to) I've loved him in all the movies I've seen him. My favorite movie of his will always be The Last Samurai but I liked that he was in the Dark Knight and he was particularly excellent in this film.

Last but not least, Ellen Page was really the show stealer (IMO, I may be a bit biased as she's Canadian and got her humble acting start on the tv show "Trailer Park Boys") she plays the architect and is really one of the more important and central characters to the plot. Honorable mention goes to Cillian Murphy who also was great in this movie as well.

Enough about the cast as really it was top notch, and gets "all-star" status from me, even though all the characters aren't A-list they put forth "A-list" performances and that helps add the element of mysticism to the plot which, without, this movie would have just came across as hokey and ridiculous and it is truly far from it.

Without a doubt, I feel this is Christopher Nolan's best film. I haven't seen Memento and I know I don't have to. For all the great things I have heard about that film, I know Inception is better. Inception doesn't miss a single beat, Christopher Nolan's expert craftsmanship of the film shows as he truly is one of the most talented directors in all of Hollywood. A lesser director would not have been able to do the subtle complexities of the plot justice. I can't think of too many others who might have been able to pull this off but the fact remains as it's Nolan's handiwork, he wrote the script and he directed the film and without Nolan, Inception would've been a hollow and empty.

The movie is obviously about dreams, and it makes you think which I love. Inception is placing in idea into somebodies mind so that when they wake from a dream, they believe in the idea you put into their head. The key however, is to go into the individuals dream and become a part of it. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? That's as much of the plot as I will give away and really I think that' saying too much. Inception is Christopher Nolan stretching his muscles after making really the most complex movie the Super Hero genre has ever been given in The Dark Knight. The result is breathtaking, I sat through most of the movie slack jawed, eagerly anticipating every consecutive moment. I could not wait to see where the movie was taking me, and I hope that everyone else who has seen this movie feels the same way.

My advise to you is do not let the hype build up this movie for you. In my experience anyway, when that happens it can cause a movie to come up as disappointing. This is what happened with Avatar. However, with Inception, the movie completely surpassed my expectations. I left the theater in a state of awe, I had no idea that the movie would be as good as it was and I have faith that anyone seeing it for the first time will have a similar experience. Just go into the movie with an open mind, be ready for anything and allow yourself to be lead through an intricate and exhilarating story. Inception is the kind of movie that Avatar wished it could be. Inception is the kind of movie that comes along once a decade, and it will stand the test of time as a truly great piece of Cinematic history.