Inception

Rather like Pixar, but with very different films, Christopher Nolan is on a very strong run of films as director from Memento to The Dark Knight, taking in the likes of The Prestige and Batman Begins along the way. Inception, his latest, deals with some familiar themes on the boundaries between perception and reality, coping with loss, etc...

Leonardo DiCaprio is Cobb - an expert at extraction (or stealing secrets from peoples dreams). For reasons to do with his wife (Marillon Cotillard) he is unable to return to the States to see his children until Ken Watanabe offers him the chance back through one last job. Therefore he assembles a crack team (including Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy) to perform an inception (planting an idea in somebody's head through a dream) which involves a complex set-up involving a dream within a dream within a dream. Meanwhile, problems in Cobb's own subconscious threaten to de-rail the whole endeavour.

As you may have noticed from that, its a difficult story to describe and there are quite a few exposition moments. However, the exposition is well handled and accompanied by such stunning visuals that it will carry you along. Shots of Paris folding up and the paradoxical architecture are wonderfully executed. Thus its complicated but never too confusing. Nolan credits his audience with the intelligence to follow and keeps things moving along well. He's aided by a great cast who fit their roles well and some great set-pieces, including gravity free scenes in a hotel and a bond-like final layer. Dicaprio (who keeps getting better and better) holds a strong centre to the film, whilst Gordon-Levitt and Hardy make a good double act for both the action and humour.

Put it altogether and you have an intelligent action thriller which will keep you hooked throughout its two and a half hour running time. It never tries to pull the rug out from under you in the way that, say The Prestige, did, but rather takes you with it through all its twists and turns. Be warned though, the ending might really infuriate!

Overall - 8.5/10 Not quite Nolan's best, but still a really good intelligent thriller with an ending that might delight or frustrate but will definitely have you talking.