Simply put, Nolan's masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 2010)

Walking out of The Dark Knight back in July 2008, my faith with cinema was renewed and I now knew that Christopher Nolan was in my top 5 directors working today. It took my breath away, and it really was the comic book masterpiece we were all waiting for. 2009 was for the most part dull, and without that 1 film that everyone could talk about being a masterpiece.
All hope seemed to be lost going into 2010. And it almost seemed that Nolan could never top The Dark Knight or, in some cases, Memento.
Then Inception was released, and my hope was once again restored.
From all the movies out this year (without SI, TS3, and Kick-Ass), this year has been a let down. Only Nolan and the genius mind that he possesses could have ever dreamed of a film like this. For one of the few times ever watching a film, I was totally breathless and my mind was just blown away from every angel. And for one of the first times in a film: it was original and pulled off flawlessly.
From the original and well written plot, to the totally believable visuals that take up the screen, and then to the Oscar worthy work of the cinematographer Wally Pfister, editor Lee Smith, and the legendary composer Hans Zimmer that just take Inception to new heights of film making.
And that's the thing: the movie is original. Something we rarely see nowadays. Its not the Matrix, its not Dreamscape. It's BETTER then that, all due to Nolan's script and just stunning direction that he gives the film.
Lets not even forget the performances: Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard give Oscar worthy performances as the couple Cobb and Mal. Ellen Page is also refreshing as Ariadne, who basically plays "the audience" of the film. She asks the questions that we want asked, and we get the answers we want answered. Tom Hardy as Eames supplies the majority of the action of the film. I haven't watched him in many films, but after the performance in this film, I will be definitely checking out more of his films. And of course, no Nolan film would be great without the master Sir Michael Caine.
But the scene stealer's of the film in my opinion were Cillian Murphy as Fischer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Author, Cobb's right hand man. Murphy provides emotion in the film to make you finally show that you can care for the characters. Sure, you love all of the characters, not just for the performances that give, but as the specific jobs they all have. But Murphy just steals the acting show and gives his best on-screen performance to date (surpassing what he did in 28 Days Later). Levitt, on the other hand, makes some of the most bad*** scenes truly unforgettable. One scene involving his character Author is going to be considered to be one of the best action scenes of all time. Truly moving on from "3rd Rock from the Sun", he is a promising action actor and just a great arrival into the mainstream acting.
The whole idea of dreams, dreams within dreams, and just the ideas that are presented in this film are brilliant. You can tell Nolan worked a lot on writing the script to where it would have little to no possible "plot holes". All the characters have a purpose, not one performance is wasted, and not one scene is never out of place. Everything has a meaning. And again, Nolan provides the brain power of thinking without feeding the story to us like most films do nowadays.
And just to clear up some points from the critics out their who have said this movie lacks character development and or, emotional development have no idea what they're talking about. I felt for the characters, and they really grew more attached as the movie went on. And as for the emotional development: did you watch the movie? That is really all that I can say.
I'm not a Nolan fan boy. I just love watching movies. Inception is just one of the movies that I feel like saying "This is why I love the art of film making. This is why I consider film art and why movies are a great thing to be involved in". I consider Nolan right now to be a master of his craft, and right now, the best film maker in the business. It's a achievement in film, and I will bet you 10-20 years from now, Inception will be considered not only to be a sci-fi classic, but a masterpiece of film making.
In just a few words: its perfect. And I'm ready for Oscar time when finally, Christopher Nolan finally gets the Oscar he deserves.