Rated: PG-13

Release Date: 07/16/2010

Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures

Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Michael CaineKen Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao and Tom Berenger.

Directors: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas. Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Zakaria Alaoui, Jordan Goldberg and Thomas Hayslip. Executive Producers: Chris Brigham and Thomas Tull. Screenwriter: Christopher Nolan.

By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

With Hollywood cranking out remakes, sequels and movies based on comic books and old TV shows, it's absolutely refreshing that Warner Bros. and writer/director/producer Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") have taken a gamble, bucked the trend and released "Inception." It's one of the most, clever, exciting and inventive movies of the summer.

Prepare to be impressed. Actually prepare to be blown away. "Inception" is a high-tech, sci-fi action thriller that will grab and hook you into its smart and twisty plot, from the moment you sit down until well after the final credits roll.

In "Inception" Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a thief who is highly skilled in the art of extraction. It's a process that allows him to enter other people's minds and dreams and then take their innermost thoughts and secrets. He can rearrange and alter them and pretty much do whatever he wants with them.

Cobb (DiCaprio) doesn't do this espionage work alone. He has an equally gifted crew that assists him on these big time corporate missions. Yusuf (Dileep Rao "Drag Me to Hell") is a chemist who has all the right formulas needed to put anyone to sleep and Ariadne, an architect (Ellen Page) and designer of the dreams.Eames (Tom Hardy) is another shyster thief and Authur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is Cobb's right hand man. Adding to all the layering and complexity is Cobb's wife Mal (Oscar winner Marion Cotillard) who appears at various times--and we later learn the reason why--to spoil his missions from taking shape.

Their biggest job involves one of Cobb's clients, a corporate billionaire named Saito (Ken Watanabe). Saito wants to get the upper hand on his competition which happens to be Richard Fischer (Cillian Murphy), a CEO and heir to a global energy corporation. Rather than extract information from Fischer, they need to attack his dreams and implant information about his family.

"Inception" dazzles with jaw-dropping action sequences that move from Paris, Tokyo and even into downtown Los Angeles. Reality becomes mired in dreams within dreams. In other words, there's a lot going on in "Inception." The movie's fast pace, snappy dialogue and multiple storylines forces viewers to stay two steps ahead of the action. And the action is pretty spectacular, especially the gravity defying elevator hallway scenes.

For a movie that's 2 ½ hours long, it never feels excessive or weighed down by its special effects. And enough can't be said about DiCaprio. What is it going to take for this guy to win an Oscar? He's certainly long overdue. DiCaprio always brings powerful performances to the screen. His role in "Inception" is another shining example. To be fair, the supporting cast delivers as well and is what makes "Inception" an exceptional movie.

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