Movie Review: Inception Starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Inception Movie Review: Introduction
This is a movie review of the action movie Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard. Also featured in the film are Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Tom Berenger and Michael Caine. The recipient of the inception is played by Cillian Murphy. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, an expert at getting information out of people's minds. His deceased wife is played by Marion Cotillard, who is Mal in the movie. Dom's father is Michael Caine. Others include Ken Watanabe, the person who wants the idea imcepted (Saito in the movie), and the helpers in the dream: Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is Arthur, Ellen Page who is Ariadne, and Tom Hardy who is Eames. The uncle of the person who will be incepted is Tom Berenger.

Dom Cobb has been extracting ideas from people's minds by putting them into a dream state which he can tap into. He has been messing with dreams for a long time. He and his wife, we discover, were part of a dream that lasted for many years in dream time, but was a much shorter time in reality. Dom Cobb was accused of murdering his wife, so he cannot return to his children. His main goal in accepting the job of the inception is to finally get back to his children so he can raise them himself.

Movie Review of Inception: Idea
The plot for this movie to me is brilliant. It has the makings of being right up there with The Matrix, which is one of the best psychological thrillers in existence to date in my opinion. The idea of this movie is to find a way to implant an idea into someone's mind. This is the highest form of criminal activity available, and one that can get you away with almost anything. If you need someone to do something, plant the idea in that person's mind. Then, you don't have to do anything further yourself, everything just falls into place.

Movie Review of Inception: Special Effects
Inception is a movie that you want to see in theatres. When in the dream states, reality starts to change in the world, where people can walk sideways and buildings turn upsidedown. If you watch this on a simple television, you wouldn't be able to enjoy some of these effects as well. The special effects are worth seeing, although after watching the movie there were less than I thought there would be. Once inside the dream states to plant the idea into the character of Cillian Murphy's mind, the special effects were multiple but not voluminous. There were some great effects, like the bending of gravity that makes it look as if people are walking on walls, and some slow motion special effects. I would have liked to see a few more during the final hour when the group is in the dream state to plant the idea. Towards the beginning of the movie, Dom Cobbs puts Ariadne into one of his dreams, to convince her to help him with the inception. The special effects are at their height during this time, when we see cities bend upsidedown and walls get blasted into little pieces that fly through the air.

Movie Review of Inception: Story Line
The story line in Inception is incredible. If you're looking for a romance movie, you've found one. If you're looking for a tearjerker, Inception delivers. If you want a story where everything comes together and makes sense, you'll see it in Inception. In this movie, Dom Cobb is an expert at getting extractions from people's minds. He does this while they are dreaming. A man comes to him wanting him to do the opposite: implant something in someone's mind. No stones are left unturned as we learn about the man Saito wants incepted, Fischer, and learn about Fischer's background. Different things are presented during the movie, and all these thoughts are expanded upon and finished by the end of the movie. There are no loose ends still hanging. For instance, the fact is brought to light that Dom Cobb has done inception once before, and we find out at the end of the movie when and whom this was done to. No stones are left unturned.

Movie Review of Inception: Character Development
The most rounded character is the main character, Dom Cobb. We learn everything we need to know about his life and why he is willing and able to incept this idea into Fischer's mind. His character is developed throughout the movie, as he realizes that he has to end his dream state of reality to truly get back to his children. None of the other characters experience much growth, but the movie is really a journey of Dom Cobb as a subplot to the inception idea.

Movie Review of Inception: Actors
One thing I look for in a movie is suspension of disbelief. You may have learned this when you were studying great literature. Suspension of disbelief is where you continue to believe that what you are watching is real, and not a dream or movie or something fake. It doesn't take much for me to lose my suspension of disbelief. In a zombie movie, I lose it before the movie begins. In some religious movies, you might realize things aren't real after about five minutes. In this movie, the suspension of disbelief carried through for a good bit of the movie. Although I did pick up on some things that I thought could be minor flaws in the perfection of form, the movie was believable as being possible. The actors made all of this come to life. Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't just a hot star during this film, he was really Dom Cobb, a man who had lost his wife and couldn't return home to his children. The other actors were just as believable.

Movie Review of Inception: Plot
There is a main plot, which is the idea of the inception. This plot is fully developed as we watch the creation of the inception and the action to make it happen. The subplot, which is about Dom Cobb's character being able to let go of his wife and his dream state, is also developed nicely and drawn to a close at the end of the movie. The two plots come together nicely. The only thing that could use further development is how the dream states are made possible. We never really come to learn how people get into other's dreams. We also never learn how Ariadne's architecture of dreams brings them to life in the dreams. If she designed the snow scene in the third dream state during the inception, how did she get this design into the dreams themselves, for example. This could have been developed more fully. I would like to see a second movie where this is better explained.

Movie Review of Inception: Overall
Overall, I would give this movie a five star rating. This is one of those movies that will be considered a masterpiece in the future. It gives a love story, a journey of someone's life, an incredible subplot of that journey coupled with an ingenious idea for a psychological thriller where ideas are implanted into someone's mind as the ultimate form of crime. Leonardo DiCaprio will be praised for his performance in this movie for years to come. The movie isn't perfect, however. There could be, as mentioned, more development of how people are induced into dream states. The action can go a little slow since the special effects somewhat wane about 2/3 of the way through and the movie is over two hours long. There are a couple of potential flaws, such as how it is possible that the state of someone's gravity at dream level one affects dream level two, but not dream level three. Perhaps these will be answered in a future film.

I hope to write screenplays one day, and this will definitely be one of those rare motivational movies that drives me to write an incredible psychological thriller of my own. This is a summer of 2010 movie you don't want to miss.