I liked this, but not in the way I thought I would.

Rating: 7/10 (17 January 2011)

I enjoy films like Waking Life, Vanilla Sky, The Matrix, etc., because of their examination of the personal experience of "real". I expected this movie to involve my brain more, but I actually found it to be more satisfying to the senses. From the start, the pacing is stimulating. Visually, it's very impressive, at times. I usually don't like a film's score to be as intrusive as this film's could seem to be, but the use of score and slow-mo and sound fx made for some pretty taut moments; it was very well crafted, in that regard. Leo is "tortured Leo", and that is to say, he was okay. I like Ellen Page, I really do, but excepting after we first meet her, she didn't bring a whole lot that someone else couldn't have brought (I actually suspected that she got the job so that Leo had a female lead to tower over, but I see that he's almost 6', so I guess that's not it). I keep hearing favorable critical appraisal for the things that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has done since 3rd Rock (a show I hate like poison), and I see now that it's deserved - I think he did the best job of the lot. Tom Hardy impresses too, in a smaller role.
I wanted this movie to compel me to think more. I can't complain for the experience, though. It makes you think some, your senses are satisfied, and it quickens the pulse. Not bad.