Outstanding but flawed

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 2010)

I really looked forward to this movie, knowing that Nolan does wonders with high concepts. I wasn't disappointed in that regard. I found Inception to be highly engaging, fiercely intelligent, meticulously designed and superbly executed. I knock it one star because the emotional content is overwhelmed by the conceptual content. Leo and Marion certainly try hard to give the movie heart, but ultimately their relationship just doesn't feel real. That said, I think Hans Zimmer's score does an outstanding job at providing an emotional undercurrent to the action. In some ways, he's the most valuable player here after the writer/director himself. I'm deeply impressed with this movie, but I wish Nolan would've established the central relationship in a more concrete way before thrusting the viewer down the rabbit hole. I'm not sure there was an easy way to do that, but it might have helped.