After The Matrix came out, every movie-going mouth-breather nationwide suddenly began waxing philosophical like coffeehouse hipsters. You may remember it sounding something like this, “So if reality is just a perception, and technology was advanced enough, how would you be able to tell if your life wasn’t just a super realistic videogame you’re plugged up to?”

Minds. Were. Blown.

Meanwhile, those of us who had actually read a book in our lives, or played enough videogames to already appreciate this sort of 21st century zen koan prior to the film… we still thought it was a hell of an action movie with a surprisingly intelligent sci-fi storyline.

The film was a box office hit and a cultural landmark. Matrix posters becoming as common a sight as MC Escher and Salvador Dali on co-ed walls.

For the purposes of this review, and to forgive great directors their latter day sins, we’ll refrain from discussing the sequels.

Fast-forward roughly 10 years and Christopher Nolan – Mr. Dark Knight himself – goes and does the impossible. He out-Matrix’s the Matrix. How?

He writes and directs Inception, a film where he essentially puts the Matrix…get this…IN THE MATRIX.

Except they’re dream worlds instead of “videogame” worlds; though I suppose your stoner roommate would be more than happy to argue over the differences and similarities. Have fun with that.

Don’t worry - I’m not spoiling anything. As if you haven’t already had a dozen friends, family members, and co-workers attempt to explain the film’s plot, here goes my best attempt:

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a dashing yet troubled DiCaprio type who works as a sort of “thought thief” by using a machine that allows two people to share dreams. Just when you think you’re in for a Terry Gilliam type experience, it turns out that the dream worlds are meticulously designed by “architects”, such as the ever-doe-eyed Ellen Page, who somehow manages to not play Juno for all two and a half hours.

Tom Hardy (who is stellar in Bronson and Rock n’ Rolla’) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is stellar in…goddamn everything since 3rd Rock from the Sun) are DiCaprio’s dapper accomplices. They shit Oscar nominations by the dozens as they assist DiCaprio in his anti-heist. Say what?

Apparently, it’s one thing to simply “extract” a piece of info from a dreamer’s mind, but something entirely different to plant a fresh one – which is called inception.

DiCaprio’s crew is hired by some Japanese guy to convince Cillian Murphy (the lead from 28 Days Later and the Scarecrow from Nolan’s Batman Begins) that he ought to dash his daddy’s multi-national corporation on the rocks.

Hopefully I haven’t lost you already, because this is where I explain the part that is likely to throw you for a loop.

To pull off the job, DiCaprio and company end up using the dream-sharing machine inside a dream. Then doing that again. And again. So imagine if Neo was in the matrix world and found a chair where he could plug into another matrix. Or, if you’ve ever played a videogame in which your character gets to play a videogame…it’s sort of like that, only way trippier.

Anywho the rest of the film goes something like – bang bang, boom boom, holy shit DiCaprio is mentally unstable? Wait. When did this become Shutter Island? Fuck it, this is intense. Why is the soundtrack so loud I can’t hear the dialogue? Whatever, this is amazing. Will they make it or not? Oh no, that thing they said would be the worst thing ever? It just happened. What’s real and what isn’t? [KILLER ENDING]

In other words, this isn’t a perfect sci-fi action film, but hell, neither was The Matrix. It was just the closest thing to it at the time. Now, Inception is.

It’s important to appreciate just how hard it is to do one better than The Matrix. Even the creators of The Matrix couldn’t pull it off (okay, so maybe they’re not entirely forgiven). But Nolan has managed that miracle in every possible way.

Whether intelligent sci-fi action blockbusters are your thing or not, you really might as well see Inception. The mind-blown mouth-breathers of the world will surely be huffing confusedly about it for the next few weeks. And if you’re reading this, it means you’re literate, and that means you might be able to snap one of those unfortunate souls out of a mental loop – dare I say an existential crisis.

Oh, and once you see the movie, you can actually appreciate that last sentence.

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