Inception - Fabulously phenomenal to say the least

Inception. I'll be honest. The first time I saw the name and the tag line - 'Your mind is the scene of the crime', I imagined another Matrix. Zany stunts, psychedelic imagery, and a concept so abstruse that you need to keep Wikipedia open in parallel to understand what's happening. But then, there was this nagging hope that because this movie is directed by Christopher Nolan of 'The Dark Knight' fame, it might be understandable and the directorial pedigree meant that it had to be really good. In stepped IMDB and 9.6/10 with 2000+ reviews bode well and we took the plunge. And I came out calling the movie fabulously phenomenal to say the least.

The concept itself is out of the world - all to do with dreams, psychology and the sub conscious mind. A difficult premise, and decidedly very easy for anyone to lose touch with reality while making a movie on such a delicate yet arcane concept! But having seen Batman Begins, where the movie is all about Bruce Wayne's struggles with his own psychological demons and more recently the Dark Knight which was more a movie looking into the evil psyche of the Joker, one can understand that the Nolan would make a movie that has the potential to explore the intricacies of psychology, all the while keeping a strong plot in place. In a gist, as perhaps the summary itself shows, the movie is about manipulation of the sub conscious mind. It begins with a psychedelic sequence in some oriental place, and you wonder what's going on. Suddenly there are flashes of another place and a few moments later, you can link the two. Every now and then, there is this mystery lady who shows up and you are intrigued about her role in this whole charade. The movie begins in perfect Pulp Fiction style, with a standalone scene that has little semblance to anything. And once it grips you, you're there for the whole two and a half hours, glued to the screen. Part of the reason for this is that the editing is perfectly crisp, enough to make you quickly fill in the conjunctions while you watch the movie itself! Letting out more about the plot, would perhaps kill the fun in the suspense.

The Dark Knight won a lot more because of the evil portrayal of the Joker assayed by Heath Ledger. Here, though we have Leonardo di Caprio, fresh out of yet another psychological thriller Shutter Island, one can't say that the movie is awesome just because of one leading man. The whole story is very neatly woven with threads of the plot, the concept and an additional track covering a side story involving Leo's own life. Not once in the movie do you find a disconnect between any of these threads or a redundant scene. And this is what makes the movie even more interesting. If you are even a slight bit inclined towards the arcane nature of the human psyche, you will not only enjoy the two and a half hours but also the numerous hours you might spend post the movie, thinking deeper about the concept and trying to piece all the ramifications of the taut storyline. And the music - Hans Zimmer works his magic all over again. The haunting dream signal tune stays with you forever and the background score is an integral part of the story line.

All in all, a must watch. Don't let this one go. After watching this, you'll perhaps lose track of which is reality and which one's is a vivid dream.