Inception: Review By Angelo Liberati, CPA

'Inception', a clever, and very unique movie, opened in theaters on Friday, July 16, 2010.

The film stars Leornardo DiCaprio, as Cobb, Joseph Gordon - Levitt, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, as Robert Fischer, Ellen Page, from the movie 'Juno', the beautiful Marion Cotillard, as Mal, and a special appearance by Michael Caine.

This movie delves into the various levels, and sub levels, of a person's subconscious mind, when that person is asleep. The principal plot is to delve into the various levels of the subconscious mind of a business man, named Robert Fischer - played wonderfully by Cillian Murphy - to plant an idea in his subconscious mind.

This movie is loaded with action, and it challenges the viewer to pay attention to every detail, and the storyline, as the fast - paced movie steamrolls by. However, in the same way, this movie can be very confusing, especially when DiCaprio and his gang travel the three levels of the subconscious mind of Robert Fischer.

This movie, on the surface, appears to be a 5.0 star movie. However, with closer examination, there is confusion and/or a lack of an explanation of several things in this movie.

For starters, there are way too many characters in the dream sequences of this movie. One such character is a family friend of the Fischer family, whose name is Mr. Browning. I see no point of having this character in the real world of this movie, and, in a dream sequence as himself, as well as a dream sequence in which the Mr. Browning character is impersonated by one of Cobb's dream team members.

The third, and final, level of the subconscious mind of Robert Fischer presented a wintry scene on some mountain, complete with a big fortress ,guarded by numerous military men. These military men wore all white snow - type uniforms. But, you know what? So did Cobb and his dream team members. It was very confusing to discern the military men from Cobb, and his dream team members, during this sequence.

During the first level of the three level travels of Cobb, and his dream team members, a van fell in backwards, purposely, off a bridge, towards the surface of the water below. This first level was cleverly shot in slow motion, which built up the suspense of the team waking up in the lower two levels of the dream sequence before, or at the same time, that the same team in this van hits the surface of the water, and wakes up. However, as explained in the movie earlier, only the feeling of free fall in a particular dream will wake someone up from that dream. Therefore, the dream team members in this van should have awoken from their first level dream while the van was in free fall, and not when it hit the surface of the water below.

The movie dragged at the beginning, and it was very difficult to grasp onto something solid, like a plot, and knowing what is going on, until Sieto, acted by Ken Wantanabe, offered Cobb the job to delve into the subconscious mind of a rival business man.

It was very confusing - even though there was an explanation in the movie - to discern that Cobb was actually in the real world - and so was his wife, Mal, acted beautifully by Marion Cotillard - when she jumped off a ledge of a building.

Why was Mal in the third level sequence of the subconscious parade - of Robert Fischer - and why did she shoot Robert Fischer himself, and killed him - in his own dream?

Everyone enters the dream world by attaching certain wires to each person, which are all attached to some small central, circular device, that has a big white button in the middle. Everyone enters the shared dreamworld when this white button is pushed, assuming that everyone is asleep. The film made absolutely no attempt to explain how this is done, and by what technology. Also, with everyone in the shared dream sequence, asleep and attached to this device, how is it ascertained whose subconscious is the main dream sequence?

Are you confused yet? This is nothing. Go see the movie.

Despite the confusion, and the unanswered questions, go see this movie, because it is a fun, roller coaster thrill ride that is just perfect for the summer movie season.

I saw this movie with my lovely wife, Susan, on Monday, July 19, 2010, at the 09:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time showing; in theater # 10 of the AMC Loews Multiplex Theaters; on the fourth floor of the Palisades Mall; in West Nyack, Rockland County, New York State.