Inception (8/10)

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[/caption]What a brilliant concept. Haven't seen anything this original in a long while. So I think it's official. Christopher Nolan is a genius and the one to beat at the moment.The cast was equally brilliant. And I have to say even Marion Cotillard, her eyes when she was looking at Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page when they were going up the lift was scary. Ken Watanabe could have enunciated clearer as at times it was difficult to understand him. But DiCaprio and especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt were a joy to watch. And Ellen Page definitely wasn't Juno anymore.The movie and story had a lot of layers, just like the plot. The "thriller" side of things rarely slowed down. Straight from the beginning, like The Dark Knight, Nolan was able to grip the audience and never let go of the intensity. And rarely a movie today is able to do that. Also, because of the layers and complexity in the storyline, Nolan did very fantastic with it.What I didn't like, perhaps because I didn't understand, was how DiCaprio's team were so adept in fending for themselves and how - like James Bond - bullets were seldom a threat to them. Was it because the projection of the enemies by their owner wasn't strong enough? Or were our heroes'' physical presence in the dreams stronger so they were more in control? I think it was just another James Bond bullshit so I'm shaving one whole point off of my rating.However, Gordon-Levitt had the best action sequence, with gravity kept changing sides. That was just a brilliant piece of action directing. And I went "wow" a few times.Another issue I had was with the dialogue. Too much needed to be explained and a lot of it, especially with Ellen Page's character coming in, were too "explanatory" - making the scene move too fast. Small issue but still.So many claimed this would be one of the best movies this year. I can certainly see why.