OK story with a sense of mystery, but I can's spot the intelligent parts

Rating: 6/10 (2 August 2010)

I went to see Inception ready to see another Memento. Other reviews made me believe that Inception is thought-provoking, intelligent, and that viewing it requires constant attention. What I ended up viewing was a movie with a decent and interesting plot-line, but with nothing to stir my mind.
I think the main reason people think Inception is intelligent are lots of rules about dreaming that are at times a bit difficult to keep up with. The difficulty in keeping up with the rules lies in their great number - not in their complexity or innovation. All those rules are completely arbitrary, they don't stem from anything, cannot be reached through reasoning and they form no grand picture. You can dream within a dream. Time passes more slowly the deeper you go in a dream. Changing your appearance is apparently a special skill in a dream... It's logistics are a mess. If Nolan decided to go with different rules, they would still make the same amount of sense. Most of the rules feel very contrived, their only purpose to push the plot forward or to add to the sense of action. E.g. Security gets tighter as you go deeper into a dream. Of course - you need to have more action as the apex of the movie nears.
Dreams as presented in this movie have nothing to do with real dreams. Even aside from the contrived rules, they are way too orderly and sensible. So I don't get how anyone can feel thought-provoked by what is obviously fiction. Sure, one can be amazed with the idea that we're living in The Matrix, because for all we know, it might be true. One can also be amazed at the aspects of a work of fiction that pertain to reality. But how one can find a presentation of dreams that we already know is incorrect mindblowing is beyond me.
Perhaps people are fascinated with the idea that what we see may not be reality. But seriously, have you never questioned your sense of reality before seeing this movie?
When people say they're thought-provoked, I think they're confusing their thoughts with their feelings. The movie has an air of mystery, and viewers will get a sense of discovery as they became acquainted with the option of entering other people's dreams. Yet those are feelings. What exactly is there to ponder about? Hordes of reviewers say that they were left thinking, but few of them share with us specific thoughts they had.
Inception is actually a good movie. I liked a lot of scenes, and everyone played their parts well. It's just that it's not what it aims to be: revolutionary and thought-provoking.