Inception

A cerebral action-thriller that takes the concept of the layered story to a new level—well, levels, really—Christopher Nolan's Inception is inarguably one of the smartest movies ever initially intended for the summer-blockbuster crowd. Whereas most big-budget films expect—and often even encourage—audience members to switch off the analytical parts of their brains, Inception asks the opposite, rewarding viewers who pay close attention and actively observe the unfolding tale. So what's it all about, then? The movie, which is best enjoyed without knowing much about it, follows tense, sullen Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), an operative who specializes in extracting ideas from the dreams of his sleeping targets. When Cobb is recruited by Saito (Ken Watanabe), an enigmatic corporate head, he must use his very specific set of skills to plant an idea in someone's mind rather than remove it, a complicated mission requiring a team of experts that include a researcher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an architect (Ellen Page), and a forger (Tom Hardy), among others. While Nolan's expansive dreamscape scenario sets the stage for an anything-goes escapist adventure, the writer/director proves to be relatively restrained, and, as he did with The Dark Knight, keeps the proceedings grounded in a fair amount of realism, an aesthetic decision that makes the more fantastical elements of Inception—and, indeed, the entire film—that much more effective.