Films To Watch Before You Die #95

D.J. Haza presents the next entry in his series of films to watch before you die…

Inception, 2010.

Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard and Michael Caine.

Inception is Christopher Nolan’s complex and thrilling story of thought extraction and inception through dream sharing. Dom Cobb (Di Caprio) is a specialized thief who’s work involves entering the dreams of his targets, creating a world for their subconscious to inhabit and then extracting key information that he can supply to those hiring him for their corporate espionage.

The world of the dream and dream sharing is complicated world that can be manipulated and altered, where time moves much quicker than reality and anything is possible, but also a murky place where people can get lost or trapped. Cobb’s own wife was the victim of such difficulties, taking her own life and framing Cobb so that he is a fugitive unable to return home to see his children – something that Cobb and his subconscious have not been able to deal with.

When Mr Saito (Watanabe) hires Cobb for an almost impossible job of planting a thought rather than stealing one in the mind of the heir to a global business empire, Robert Fischer (Murphy), Cobb assembles his team. The plan is to get into Fischer’s dreams and then take him into a dream, within a dream, within a dream, so that they are so deep into his subconscious mind that a simple idea can be planted and left to flourish without raising suspicion.

Inception is an amazing film that has almost everything you want – complexity, mystery, action, suspense and thrills all rolled up into a new and different story that leaves you dumbstruck with awe. The fantastic ensemble cast are brilliant and DiCaprio is his usual quality self in the lead role.

Inception is a film you must see before you die as Nolan has made some great films over the last few years, and I have a feeling that he isn’t even close to being done yet, but this is possibly the best to date. Inception is a cinematic phenomenon.