Master Director Christopher Nolan plays with our sense of time, space and reality in this futuristic drama of corporate espionage. The quote from Edgar Allen Poe, “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream,” is the basis of the film’s intriguing, original plot. And for almost two and one half hours we are captives in the dreams of others, thanks to the creative talents of Nolan, his cast and twenty-first century cinematic technology. The trick to enjoying the action is to give in to the premise and dream along with the action.

Following the cast into layer, upon layer of shared dreams is not always an easy task. The fast action and convoluted twists of plot demand your full attention and can be exhausting, but the result is well worth the effort.

The basic story is straight-forward. Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) is an idea thief. The unusual twist is his method. He extracts ideas from deep within the minds of his victims when they are in a dream state and, therefore, most vulnerable to his attack.

Corporate espionage is his game and “extraction” is the term applied to his particular skill.

Following his wife’s death, Cobb has become a hunted man and longs to be reunited with his children. One last job could set him free, but it is so complex that executing it could be disastrous to both Cobb and his team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao). Rather than extract a memory, Cobb has been commissioned to plant a thought into someone’s mind, an inception. But, someone or something is on to them and the task becomes even more dangerous.

The film is thrilling in its intensity and complexity. With a reported budget of $160 million, a lot is riding on the public’s taste for an intelligent exercise into a dangerous dream world.

IMDB