One of my favourite films ever

Rating: Null/10 (11 December 2010)

Normal when I see a film, I'm sure like many people, I usually have 1 of 3 different reactions. They usually range from "wow, that was brilliant" to "meh, it was OK" to "my god, that was s***!" - or words to that effect. But it's very rare I will see a film and thing "This film is brilliant. I HAVE to tell people about this." Inception is one of those films. Seriously, I have bored people to death with how much I love this movie - but that can only be a good thing surely? Knowing that this was directed by Chris Nolan, who has directed such great films like Memento and (of course) Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, I knew this was going to be a good film. But I had no idea how good it was going to be. This film really got me thinking into the idea of dreams and its a fascinating in depth look at the distinction to reality and the dream world and how we as humans perceive it.
I could go into great detail about all the good things about this movie, but I'd most likely echo what has been already said a thousand times, so I'll just go over a couple of the major points that others have raise (at least from the reviews I've heard or the comments I've heard others say).
Firstly, a common note is that the story is complicated. But actually it's not, the story is very simple - but it's the way it's executed that makes it hard to follow. Especially when it starts getting into the 3 different layers of dreams and the way they have to time it correctly to leave each dream (As the time difference is so different between each of them). So while the film does require you to pay attention, once you take it in, it flows very nicely and is very well thought out, with few to no plot holes.
Another comment is that people say the actors are a little emotionally distant in their performances. I disagree. There is a lot of emotional depth to the characters, but it's usually all played inwardly and they don't overblown it like so many Hollywood films do. DiCaprio in particular it fantastic as his character is so emotionally tortured, but he keeps all inside and refuses to let anyone else in. This makes him a really interested character and you really do want him to confront his demons. Cillian Murphy is the other character whose performance I would note. While he doesn't seem like much at the beginning, there is one scene at the end that has a lot of passion and sadness that makes you feel sorry for him. As far as the other characters go, some argue that they are just there to move the story forward. But I think each of them plays a valuable part and the film probably wouldn't move as well as it did without them.
It's also worth mentioning the special effects, which are breathtaking. There's not a huge amount of CGI effects compared to other films and a lot of it is practical - but they actually add to the films magic, rather than detracting from it. The effects they do use are beautiful to watch and many of them will leave you breathless.
Now, normally to make an even review, I like to balance a review with the good and bad points, but, honestly. I cannot think of ANYTHING bad about this movie. But that's just my own point of view and it's utterly subjective. Others may find fault with this and that's just fine, but for me, I personally cannot think of anything bad to say about this movie.
Chris Nolan is definitely a direction that treats his audience like intelligent human beings and not cash-whores like a lot of Hollywood directors do. Inception is a film that, if I were to list my top ten movies of all time, it would probably come in at number 4 or 3. And considering that list would also include films like Blade Runner, 2001 and Akira, that's no small compliment. I'll admit that this film may not be to everyone's taste as it does require your full attention. But if you can give it a chance, then I highly recommend it. It's a real treat and further proof that it is possible to make classic movies in this day and age.