Thank you, Christopher Nolan, for the breath of cinematic fresh air.

Finally, someone with the competence to give us a film with an intricate, conceptual story told plainly and perfectly. Inception is proof that not every film needs to be 3D to be amazing.

What we have here is a classic heist with characters such as “The Architect”, “The Chemist” and “The Forger”, all represented with unique personalities befitting their specific jobs. However, the heists in Inception take place in the subconscious; in a dream. A dream world created by an architect. Therein lies the beginning of the many layers of the surreal, psychological journey of director Christopher Nolan’s latest.

In this surreal world there are labyrinths, paradigms and many layers. But within these layers of dream, there are rules. Often times, to use a quote from the film, movies want you to “take a leap of faith” when the rules of reality are broken, as if the director is saying, “I know these robot parts are moving in every direction, defying mechanical physics, but when it’s done, it will be a semi-truck.” For instance, the film presents rules like, “Don’t create a dream from memory,” because the lines of reality can then be easily blurred and the dream state can be interrupted. Also, if you are killed in your dream, you wake up. But not to worry–these rules are explicit to the audience, and reality remains in plain view.

Though the primary subject of the film is the ethereal and metaphysical world of dreams, it is not without the hallmarks of an archetypal action flick: the car chase, the gun fights, even some snowy mountainside skiing and snow mobile shootouts. The best visual example of this dream state world, is the fight scene involving Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and some mental “projections” of security guards within another character’s mind. The scene involves shifts in gravity, and thus fighting on walls and ceilings. As a filmmaker I can truly appreciate the composite set and the stunt and camera choreography that together beautifully create one of the most difficult fight scenes ever put on film. Arthur, an expert in his field of subconscious espionage, handles these shifts in reality with ease and experienced confidence.

Beyond storyline and action, the characters in Inception have incredible depth and are portrayed in solid performances. Leonardo DiCaprio–though he finds himself dealing with a psychological struggle of losing his wife, an plotline reminiscent of Shutter Island and even Revolutionary Road–delivers an undeniably dynamic performance. Another hired expert, Eames, a.k.a. “The Forger” (Tom Hardy) delves into the impersonation of the ideas of people within dreams. The newbie, Ariadne, “The Architect” (Ellen Page) takes on the challenge of building the physical world of these dreams with some apprehension but relishes in the pure creativity of it.

In dealing with the subject matter of dreams, Nolan could have borrowed Matrix-like technology as a device in telling the tale (it would have made sense), but he didn’t. He used simple, cinematic technique with exquisite simplicity and integrity. He has not done anything profound, nor did he reinvent the wheel. In fact what’s most striking about Inception is that Nolan presents it to moviegoers, like myself, who are otherwise stuck in a nightmare of blue aliens, lackluster myth-telling, and disappointing 3D. He manages instead to explore an intellectually challenging concept in plain cinematic language, and he has set a prolific standard.

Finally, I can sleep comfortably and maybe drift into a pleasant dream.