Film File - Inception

'This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime' - This is the tagline for one of the year's most engaging and out there films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, 'Inception' is a whole new kind of thriller, a place where the power of dreams engages in mortal combat with outside forces intent on planting ideas and directives for their own gain into the sacred peace of human slumber. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the best in the dangerous art of extraction: stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's unique ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but at a high price to his personal life. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption - one last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible: an inception rather than an extraction. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse; their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. In that nether world of dreamlike trances, however, Cobb encounters deadly forces beyond his understanding and an enemy beyond his control. Nolan, already acclaimed for his challenging cinematic angle on the subconscious in films like 'Memento' and 'The Dark Knight' has nurtured the film for the past 10 years. Based on the paradox that everything within a dream - frightening or happy - is produced by our minds as it happens, 'Inception' hinges on the premise that it is possible to share dreams that have been designed to look and feel completely real. And in that subconscious state, a person's deepest and most valuable secrets are there for the taking. The idea that an outsider could invade the privacy of dream space to steal an idea, no matter how private, became the core driver of the film. "There is also an incredible contrast in the world of dreams, I wanted to create a film that would allow the audience to experience the limitless realities that only in dreams can we realise," Nolan said. This is clearly not your standard 'shoot 'em up' summer blockbuster. With a few visual nods to films like 'Minority Report' and 'The Matrix', the storyline of 'Inception' sees Cobb and his partner, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), trying to retrieve a secret from Asian businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe), who turns the tables on the pair by offering them a huge payoff to mess with the mind of a business rival. This time, Cobb is hired to implant an idea in the mind of British financier Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) to break up the multinational conglomerate of his dying father (Pete Postelwaite). Even with the aid of his extra 'dream architect', Ariane (Ellen Page), Cobb finds his one last job a task where the hunter becomes the hunted as he is enveloped by the dreams he once controlled. Marion Cotillard plays a pivotal role as Cobb's deceased wife, Mal, whose malign presence threatens his plans. With a solid performance from Di Caprio, very much in the same emotional vein as his last outing in Scorcese's 'Shutter Island', the film belongs to Nolan's directorial skill in making a concept so dense and challenging become beguiling entertainment - even with a murky plotline that will have many wishing to see it a second time. 'Inception' is a visually stunning feast, and despite a plot that some will find too strange, it will surely become one of the summer's most talked-about films.