Inception (A+)

Infinitely creative and stunningly bold, Christopher Nolan has created a truly intriguing picture. With the vast amounts of concepts tackled in it--with some pretty strong messages mixed in--one has to marvel at Inception, even if none of the themes are as powerful as what you'd see from most A+ films. Rest assured, though, the movie is A+.
It is difficult to explain the plot in detail without spoiling something, but the basic outline is that of a heist movie--set in a dream! Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio of The Departed) is a thief who steals ideas from people's mind as they are dreaming, something pretty daring in and of itself, but he takes an even bigger challenge when he accepts the offer of a genius, ruthless, yet oddly noble businessman (Ken Watanabe of Letters from Iwo Jima): inception, or the planting of an idea in someone's mind (mainly that of a corporate executive, skillfully played by Cillian Murphy). His reason? To get back to his kids. Most people think he is crazy, but he insists it can be done--that he himself has done it before. He assembles a team of experienced mind-benders (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Dileep Rao), but gets more than he bargains for when he recruits young Ariadne (Ellen Page) to be the architect of the landscape for the mission (one of the pluses of subconscious espionage is you can design the world where the interactions with the dreamer take place). Ariadne begins going into Cobb's own dreams, where she discovers her boss has some terrible secrets--ones that manifest themselves as a malicious entity in the form of his beloved, deceased wife (Marion Cotillard).
Writer, producer, and director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) crafts a story exploring dozens of ideas: among them what is justified for the cause of good (Nolan shows why the answer could be quite a lot), how much people should know, the doubt all people face in spiritual ideas, the doubt all people face when dealing with other people, the doubt all people face when dealing with life, the dangers of dabbling with forces unknown, the salacious temptations of fantasy worlds, the salacious temptations of drugs, the basic personalities in life, the desire to keep living, the mysterious subconscious, and the mysterious mind. All this is wrapped up in a visually enthralling sci-fi action-heist with riveting suspense. Granted, no idea is explored in very much detail, and the movie has more questions than answers (heck, the ending is a giant question), but the fact that it tackles so much, keeps viewers interested, and then makes them think is enormously impressive in and of itself. The synchronized sigh of rapture the audience made as the film ended stood as a stark testament to its merit.
Ellen Page struggles as usual--Ariadne should be lighting up with greed and ambition when she sees the dream-scape (that is after all what powers her character), but instead she stands there passively as if she is dreaming...Ok, bad simile, but you get my point. The other actors though are great--especially DiCaprio (playing the same personality and tone as he did in Shutter Island), Watanabe (riveting scene-stealer), and Murphy (amazing as always, especially in the fact that they haven't cast him as Hollywood's next big star). The whole filmmaking team is incredible, from the art direction to the score (made by prodigy Hans Zimmer who crafted music for Batman Begins and Sherlock Holmes).
The one-of-a-kind Inception is a new classic.