Inception- (12A)- 9 out of 10

Hype is a funny thing. No matter what the subject of said hype, England's World Cup chances, a sunny summer or your first sexual encounter, almost invariably it ends with tears, soggy sausages and frustration/disappointment (in that particular order, though in some cases all four). However, there is a reason we all still believe the hype and that is the hope that hype brings. The hope that, maybe, just maybe, the next overly hyped subject will be worth and that perhaps, just this once, we will come out of the other side of it with our faith rewarded and our hope restored until the next crushing blow that life brings, you're bus being late or something like that.

Anywho, after reading countless reviews marking inception down as THE SHIZZ and that I would be blown away, it was with some trepidation I took my seat. But some 2-and-a-half-hours later (which flew by incidentally) my hope was indeed restored until the crushing blow came (it being that my favourite takeaway was shut for the night…)

The story follows Dom Cobb (Di Caprio) who is essentially a man that goes into people's dreams to steal ideas. Oh, and he has a lot of emotional baggage. A lot. Which may or may not affect the plot of the film in a substantial way. Or maybe not at all. This is me trying to be spoiler free.

To get what he wants (spoiler free!) Cobb is offered a job by a businessman where he must plant an idea (rather than steal one) into the head of the businessman's rival's son and heir. To do this, Cobb puts together a team to travel into the head of the heir via his dreams.

What follows is a gloriously put together action-cum-Sci-Fi-cum- tortured romance film sprinkled with one-liners. The fight scenes are perfectly choreographed with echoes of The Matrix in places, the relationships between characters built steadily, plot twists coming thick and fast and enough action in amongst the intellectual aspect to keep the 14-year-olds behind me interested for a whole 140 minutes.

My two criticisms would be these. First, the film largely uses Ellen Page's character as basically a plot device. Her lines largely seem to just be questions aimed at Di Caprio's character which aim to clear up any intellectual barriers for the audience (kind of a layman's approach) and makes her character seem misplaced in the 'dream team', so to speak, that Cobb puts together, an apprentice among experts if you will.

My second criticism is the ending which, without giving too much away, at first appears to be a very good idea but on reflection seems flimsy and ultimately one twist too far.

But largely, this is a terrific film full of twists, incredible action sequences, an intriguing intellectual element, solid albeit not spectacular acting, all delivered at a steady pace that allows you to keep up. Although, as a friend of mine noted, it may now cause you to question your own dreams.