Not the masterpiece for me that everyone else seems to see, but it was still very good.

Rating: 8/10 (8 August 2010)

Christopher Nolan seems to be setting the world on fire with each of his releases. Generally critics like him, and it seems the movie going audience goes crazy for his films, and pushes his flicks up in the top 10 when they're released. Nolan is an imaginative fellow and it's quite obvious in all of his work, and he's a darn good director, but this film didn't stand out to me as being great. It was original, it was entertaining and action packed, and the premise was pretty cool, but the movie just didn't scream masterpiece, and for me, it's definitely not the third greatest movie of all time, as the IMDb ratings currently state.
Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio) has the technology to go inside people's dreams with a special machine, and he and his team are sent in to plant an idea in a rival businessman's mind, Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy). Things go wrong when it turns out the mind can fight back, and if you die in the dream, you could go into a comatose state in real life, and be stuck in a dream for "50 dream years". Cobb and the gang must escape with their lives, or they will be trapped. Meanwhile, Cobbs is haunted by the appearance of his wife in all of his dreams, and we learn about his past.
This movie has a really great plot. Movie that deal with going into the mind are usually pretty interesting, and there have been many takes on what going through the mind is like, like in "Being John Malkovich" or "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". This is an original take on what going into the mind is like, where you can actually build the dream world to be like the real world, and the subconscious attacks anything that seems abnormal. Interesting take, neat premise, and an original take on what happens in dreams.
The performances are all good. Leo Dicaprio is a good lead, and as usual, brings life to his character. The other actors aren't given a whole lot of range to act with, but they all give admirable performances, with Ellen Page acting confused and interested, and Joseph Gordon- Levitt looking like Keanu Reeves, but thank god, not acting like him.
The editing and music are what is off to me, and were off in Nolan's last film "The Dark Knight". Where scenes of dialogue should slow down to let us get to know the characters and gain some emotional resonance, the dialogue scenes in this film feel like transitions. Instead of stopping the music, or lessening it, and letting us just hear characters talk, we get the loud music, with way too quick cutting. Every scene that's only dialogue feels like a transition, and it almost ruins the scenes. I understand that what most of the audience wants action, but that doesn't mean we can't stop for a bit and just slow down.
In addition to the editing and music, Nolan films never properly gain any emotional resonance. I never felt true emotion for Cobb, or for his plight for his children. It goes back to the action and premise before everything else. And Dicaprio is a good actor, and he could properly pull off emotion, but Nolan tries to work the emotional aspect, and I cared about the characters, but not enough to truly care what happens to all of them.
Christopher Nolan is a good director and he may get his butt kissed by every fan in the world, but despite that he is good, he has some flaws (as we all do). Inception is a really good movie, but it tries playing emotion and nearly fails because of the editing and pacing. Still, an interesting premise with good acting, "Inception" is original and intriguing.
My rating: *** out of ****. 148 mins. PG-13 for action and violence.