A Hollywood rarity - an intelligent action film

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2016)

Christopher Nolan is a director to be applauded. His films may be sometimes flawed – as in the case of this one – and often overrated, but at least he's a guy working in Hollywood who strives for originality. INCEPTION might well be his most original film yet, a cerebral thriller that requires audiences to use their brains for once, rather than going over the same old ground. It's not quite the masterpiece that some say it is, but it is an engaging, well-made, and exciting movie that pretty much demands repeat viewings.
The first two thirds of the movie had me spellbound. The set-up is intense, throwing out wonderful ideas at the audience and not hanging around to see whether they're accepted. It's definitely a film where you have to pay attention to every second, although saying that I had no trouble following what was going on. As our characters enter dream state after dream state, I was drawn into this world with them. Nolan is at the top of his game and even his super-fast-edited action sequences don't disappoint, with riveting gun battles and a fine car chase thrown in, too. Star Leonardo DiCaprio's back story adds an emotional core to the movie that it would have otherwise been missing and I loved being caught up in the various outlandish shenanigans.
Which is why the ending is a little bit disappointing – not a lot, but a little bit nonetheless. The whole setup with the snowbound fortress smacks of Bond, and has a seen-it-all before quality the film sidestepped for the most part. It's as if Nolan pushed himself to the edge with the concepts he introduced in his movie, and then stepped back, afraid. We needed more scenes like the bit with the train and the revolving corridor, and less conventional action. There's plenty of scope for truly mind-blowing stuff in the dream worlds he so painstakingly creates – like the awesome early scene with the folding city. But then he just delivers some sub-Bond antics and wastes what could have been a truly superb premise.
I also had a slight problem with the ending, which goes on and on, with multiple scenes dragged out in a manner reminiscent of RETURN OF THE KING (although never quite as bad as that). Still, these are minor flaws in an otherwise very well made and entertaining movie. The ensemble cast are great: DiCaprio has matured nicely as a thinking man's hero, and the normally irritating Ellen Page is okay as the character whom the viewer follows into the antics. Michael Caine delivers a nice cameo, and Ken Watanabe reminds us all of what a fine actor he is. There are also good turns for up-and-coming stars like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Marion Cotillard, and a very nice performance from one of my favourites, Cillian Murphy. So, while it may not be the masterpiece that I was hoping for, INCEPTION is definitely a step in the right direction of intelligent Hollywood filmmaking.