Inception

UK Release Date: 16 July 2010
Certification: 12A
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Dileep Rao, Ken Watanabe
Rating: 100%

The dream is real.

Review:
Christopher Nolan has quickly established himself as my favourite director and after watching Inception, this view has been reinforced further. I love how he is able to convey a complex story that is easy enough to follow on first viewing, but equally adds so much more on further viewings. 

Leonardo DiCaprio is excellent as Cobb, a complex and intriguing lead character. Cobb's struggles with reality become more and more evident as the movie goes on and DiCaprio deserves full credit for this as movies tend not to be shot in chronological order. Cobb's partner, Arthur is played brilliantly by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (which probably landed him his role in The Dark Knight Rises, also directed by Christopher Nolan). The dynamic relationship between Arthur and Cobb, makes the action scenes more meaningful as you don't want either character to be hurt.

The supporting cast is on par with DiCaprio and Gordon-Levitt. Ariadne (played by Ellen Page) provides a wee bit of arrogance and cockiness to the movie. Tom Hardy's character, Eames is an integral part of the team and is eminently likable thanks to some great one-liners. But it is the action scene set in a polar base where the character excels. And Michael Caine continues the trend of appearing in Nolan's movies [He appeares in six of Christopher Nolan's nine movies released to date]. Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, in fact there is no member of the cast that doesn't deliver a great performance. 

Inception's cinematography is phenomenal. Some of the shots blew me away - the fight scene involving Arthur in the hotel where gravity keeps changing, and when Cobb is teaching Ariadne 'the physics' of how dreams work. 'The physics' of the dream is such an iconic scene [I had already seen it before I watched Inception] and Scott Derrickson borrowed from it when he directed Doctor Strange.

Hans Zimmer's score is absolutely perfect. When the team are trying to escape using 'the kick', the score adds so much tension which makes the scene much more intense.

Inception is one of the best movies I have ever seen and it isn't even my favourite Christopher Nolan movie, again demonstrating how good he is. I recently wrote a blog post entitled My Favourite Movies of the Decade where I listed Despicable Me as my favourite movie of 2010. I wish I had seen Inception before writing this post, as Inception would now be my favourite movie of 2010. It's stylish and thought-provoking, but above all it's an exceptional action thriller.

Equally in My Most Anticipated Movies of 2020, I ranked Tenet in second, but after watching Inception, I am so excited for Nolan's tenth movie that I would definitely move it up to first place.