Pure Brilliance

Rating: 10/10 (7 August 2010)

Make no mistake: this is the best film of 2010. Notice I don't say "so far", because it will be extremely tough to top everything this movie does right. Nolan is a good story-teller, dating way back to his "Memento" days. However, with this film, he cements his status as a superb writer. What could've been a Lynch-esquire blob of confusion about dreams and alternate realities, Nolan effortlessly weaves his time line and narrative so that most viewers can understand it with a first viewing. The cast is superb (Leo is subdue when he has to be and raging when it's needed) as our protagonist and the Extractor and Tom Hardy is a real standout as the Forger. It was also great to see Cotillard have a part unlike her past roles, that of an intruder and overall gnat for this "Dream Team". The plot is high-concept and high-class, but it never plays down to you or make you feel inferior. It's really centered on entering the mind of one man to force him to make a unique decision. But within that mind, there lies dreamscapes and locales weaved from the collective minds of our team, and they delve layer by layer into the unknown. It's ambitious, it's risky, and it's brilliant.
With dream movies, the limit is your imagination so you need spectacular set pieces and effects to help it come to life. Inception was no exception. Fantastic visuals and gorgeous locales lit up the screen. Of course, with great visuals, you need great music to complement it. Hans Zimmer has outdone himself, providing a pounding and haunting score which is, again, probably the best soundtrack of the year. And, finally, there's the ending.
After the brilliance we're exposed to, we're given with an ending that left my theater with a collective "sigh", "awww!", and "Come On!" When you can illicit a response like that, you know you've made either a really good or really bad movie. Fortunately for Inception, it's the former. Maybe the ending's what you make it. Nolan may have just left it up to you, or maybe a second viewing will uncover something that was missed. Regardless, it's a great way to end a great movie.