It all boils down to "The Dream Shall Never Die"

Rating: 7/10 (6 August 2010)

Everyone and his schnauzer is commenting on "Inception". I'll chip in my two-cent criticism as well.
I viewed this movie with my friends Mark and Ron at the AMC Theater in Framingham on Flutie Pass (yes, named after Doug). All of us came out stunned. Ron thought it was the stupidest movie he had seen and Mark opined that it was some really "f**ked up weird sh*t". I tried to be more thoughtfully diplomatic by describing what I thought the movie was trying to do. Basically, I thought "Inception" tried to take the ancient themes of "What is reality, what is dream?" and "Is it all a dream" into convoluted, tiered, and entertaining directions.
I disagree with Mr. Ebert's assessment in his review that "Inception" is "wholly original". "Inception" will remind you of many other movies; for example, it obviously evoked "Dreamscape" and "The Matrix". But did I "like" it? Well, in past blogs I alluded to the concept of "cinematic dissonance" (which I believe should be included in Mr. Ebert's movie glossary, by the way), a simultaneous experience where your intellect regards a film as garbage while your emotions regard the film as great fun. With "Inception" I somewhat experienced the converse; my intellect appreciated the straight/convoluted logic of the plot while my emotions simultaneously and eventually surrendered to impatience and boredom, in spite of the phantasmagoric special effects and intense action. Well, it was late, and I am more of a morning person.
Like other movies in the "dreams/reality" genre, "Inception" sucks you into deciding which exciting, involved scenario is a dream or not, even when we are apparently "told" which one. This "trees at the expense of the forest" view is, I think, meant to be beside the point. Like all good movies in this genre, "Inception" is saying that the basic idea to retain is "It's really all a dream" and "Reality is a subjectively chosen point on a circular continuum". Three scenes illustrate this: 1) Ariadne shows Cobb the old "infinite mirror" phenomenon in the Paris construct, 2) Cobb points out Ariadne's circular maze is the proper architectural dream construct, and 3) the entire film's circular, "this is where I came in" structure.
"Inception" cleverly distracts us from this unsettling overall view with its noisy plot spinnings, the deceptive "3-dimensional chess" structure (recall Ariadnee's choice of a bronze pawn as her "reality marker") of the putative idea-planting plot, and the more emotionally involving dilemmas of Fischer's and Cobb's family issues. Nolan also realizes that these distractions also make the potentially alienating and disquieting notion that nothing is truly real more entertainingly palatable. In other words, we arbitrarily choose Cobb's and Fischer's situations as the reality to which we want to cling. Michael Caine's character underscores that with his exhortation to Cobb, "Come back to reality", making him, and not Cobb's top, the actual arbitrary "reality marker".
In other words, Inception asks, "At what point does the circle begin?" Even though the movie gives you an "answer", the real answer is "Any point you choose." Some would say "Inception" demands repeated concentration. If you want to go on a metaphorical and symbological scavenger hunt (and there's nothing wrong with that), go right ahead. I don't think it's strictly necessary. One viewing is enough to tell you that life is but a dream.
P.S.: I think Nolan wants you to be lulled into happy closure with Cobb's "apparent reunion" with his children. The muted, static way that reunion scene is shot suggests otherwise. "The Dream Shall Never Die", which I think would be a good title for the inevitable sequel.