Great Story Done to Death

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2010)

I gave this movie a low rating after my first viewing. This was mainly because 60% through it, I became bored with it, and by the end of it, I was in no mood to care what happened to any of the characters. And anyway, Eames (Tom Hardy) was the only character with any personality. Cobb (DiCaprio) was a basket-case -- one blank stare away being carted off and committed. The rest were like cardboard cutouts. Now in fairness, this lack of personality was central to the plot, but it still didn't engender any feeling (neither compassion nor contempt) toward the characters.
One hour and five minutes into the film, the dream-sharing mechanism had been explained in agonizing detail, almost to the point of excess. The plans for the inception were all laid, and Cobb's daemon(s) had already been exposed. Then for the next hour, we were "treated" to another dose of the multi-leveled dream-sharing experience. To me, Nolan took a good idea and did it to death. I mean, enough already. We get it. We got it an hour ago. It reminded me of my kids when they were about 2 years old. They would learn something new, and they are so excited with themselves that they kept coming back to show me. Over and over and over again. Fine. But they were only two years old! Well, not all was lost with this movie. The story comes back to life 5 minutes before all of the team, except Cobb and Saito, end up back in the van (the first dream-level) as it smashes into the water. From that point, the whys and wherefores are all being tied together. With that, Nolan did an excellent job.
In reading the reviews here, I have seen many parallels drawn to "The Matrix", "Memento", "Vanilla Sky" (which should have been "Abre los ojos"), and all of these are pertinent. But 2 films that I have not seen mentioned come to mind for me. Firstly, "Dreamscape", from 1984, is uncannily similar. "Inception" is more modern and refined, but "Dreamscape" did encapsulate the same ideas about the mechanism of dream manipulation. The other was David Lynch's "Mulholland Dr.". In both "Inception" and "Mulholland Dr.", the central theme is the view into the troubled, guilt-ridden and tortured minds of the protagonists, and how these minds interact with and reconcile their reality with the world's reality. Both directors had entertaining ways of telling their story, if only Nolan hadn't beaten his to a pulp.
After seeing how well the film was receive by many, I assumed that I must be missing something, and gave it another viewing. Of course, the second time around is always easier. You see more detail, and can delve more into the nuances of the film. On this level, the film is pretty good. The sound and cinematography are engaging. The attention to detail is refreshing. But still, much of the cinematography was for the sake of cinematography and not for the sake of the story. And that's fine, if that is what you went to the movie to see. To some, the action sequences, sound and CGI are all that matter.
So I am revising my rating. I now rate this movie a 7. It could have been a lot better. Nolan has done better. This movie in not in the same class as "Memento" or "The Dark Knight". Both of those were 9'ers with little fluff. "Inception" postures too much.