Great cerebral plotting, could use more heart and soul.

Rating: 8/10 (28 August 2010)

The writer is a master craftsman, no doubt, when it comes to the details in constructing a reality that works as suspension of disbelief -- because any major gaff, as the plot itself explains with the complexity of creating a dream within a dream within a dream -- would unravel the delicate tapestry. The "heart" is attempted with the obsessive love and guilt for the wife who died ... and for his children. But for me at least, it served only as the filmmakers' acknowledgment that the film, in order to work, needed heart or, as any screenwriter would know, a powerful desire line for the lead character -- the old "what he wants isn't necessarily what he needs and that is what he self-discovers, via the plot, in the climax." Parallels to The Matrix are obvious and Inception certainly expands the universe of the new, futurist sci-fi genre. The thought did occur (and probably to the writer) that a mind-popping ending could have revealed the entire film as a dream and that his wife was telling the truth. Ooooohhh! Maybe they tried that and an alternate ending will be revealed in the DVD. One big plot question remains, and that is the incredulous notion that America has immigration security so tight that it is impossible to get into the country without proper documentation. With current headlines re: this topic, perhaps more exposition could be given to how much that has changed from today. I'll never forget the story my dad told me when he attended the original premiere of "War of the Worlds" and in the lobby, the director asked him what he thought. Dad replied: "Fantastic special effects, but every kid knows when you go into space you have to wear a space suit."