The literary sci-fi masters would be proud

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 2011)

It's a shame that not even a movie this brilliant can escape obligatory negative IMDb reviews. I do agree (as illustrated below) that there are a few things that aren't explain/don't seem to make sense, but overall it's all there. Some people say the movie is too simple and some say it's beneath their intellectual level so I don't really understand where the majority falls here.
I wouldn't say this idea is completely original but that doesn't mean it's stale either. A plot like this isn't unfamiliar to big fans of science fiction but the great thing is that Inception is still completely fresh and new. At the most basic level the concept isn't something completely foreign but it's still extremely unique and is written very, very well.
I'm sure there are some cinema snobs out there that say everything was explained too bluntly, but if you can write well enough there's nothing wrong with laying it all out there and Inception does that perfectly. There's a lot going on including fitting in the main character's back story but I thought it was pulled off nicely.
I admit I became a little confused when they characters reached the 3rd dream level. Supposedly you're in someone else's dream so they have a safe which locks away their secrets. Okay that makes sense but at the same time if you're in someone else's dream how is an architect building all of it? Also, if you're building it why build a snowy fortress in the middle of the mountains? I suppose since they didn't know that Fischer's mind had been trained to prevent mind theft the whole "the architect builds the dream" thing sort of goes out the window. Then again the female architect mentions how she designed the place. I couldn't quite figure out where Fischer's dream ended and her design began.
The other question I had by the end of the movie was: Why was everyone so worried they would be stuck in limbo? It happened to Cobb and Saito and they didn't seem to have much problem getting out. What was the big worry in the first place? I assume it was difficult for Cobb to find Saito in his own dream world so maybe it was a case of everyone being lost and having to find each other had it happened. On that same subject though, how does Cobb even begin to know how to find Saito? You're in your own dream world and someone else you know is in their's. How in the world would you ever figure out how to get to there? Where do you start logically? Long after the movie ended I almost thought Cobb's quest to find Saito could have been a whole separate movie had they chosen to draw it out into two films. Maybe I just missed something though.......but again even if I did: what was the big deal about being trapped??
I see IMDb has some supposed answers to questions like these so I'll check them out. Everything else is well thought out so I won't be surprised if my suspicions of plot holes are dispelled. At the same time I don't think the movie was perfect in that regard. Overall it ties everything together pretty well for how complex this story is though.
All in all this is probably the best movie I've seen in 5-10 years. How often these days does a movie come along that offers vast originality and stunning execution? Pretty much never. Sure in the last decade there have been a lot of good movies and even a few great ones, but none of them felt as fresh and liberating as Inception. This isn't one of those overdone Oscar nominees that you watch and then wonder what all the fuss was about. It's the real deal. A superior example of story telling and translation to film.