Immaculate inception?

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 2010)

"Inception" is an extremely clever movie and an extremely enjoyable one. It speeds along on seemingly limitless supplies of panache. It's simultaneously as much a great puzzle as a great thrill ride. It takes a great potential concept for a film and runs with it for miles and miles, creating a very real-seeming context where any number of permutations of contingencies could follow from the circumstances we have been led to buy into wholeheartedly. It has a brilliant ending which leaves everything that we have seen satisfyingly, infuriatingly, and mindbendingly ambiguous and makes it impossible not to be thinking about and/or discussing the movie for long after.
It's impossible almost to think of the film outside of the almost unanimous praise it has received. It may not be perfect, but it is pretty darn great. The non-linear way that the plot is developed is at once very appropriate to the subject matter and a big contributing factor to the thrills of the film. Work is constantly required to work out the plot and hold it in one's mind. But while there is effort needed, it wasn't difficult. The movie trades on the trick of discussing a plot point casually before explaining it (slightly confusing and perking up the audience), then dropping what it is in a scene of heavy exposition. It's not as subtle as it seems, but it works and it perhaps necessary in the reality-bending context.
I'm not usually a person who notices special effects in a film one way or another (I know they are fake, and so generally don't care how "realistic" they are since that doesn't really affect the story, writing, or acting), but here I was continually impressed by the rather awe-inspiring visuals the accompanied reality being bent one way and another by dream architects. That and a score that is very well-written and makes excellent use of contrast give the film an extraordinary feel.
Leonardo DiCaprio can be very good in the right part, and he is so here. We get a really good, layered, and time-delayed (to very good effect) exploration of his character. One quiet criticism I have heard of this movie is that it isn't really "about anything." I think its emotional heart lies with the peeling away of that mystery and the revelation of his character -- but that element could have been taken deeper at the expense of some of the action sequences, which do go into very long (if no less impressive) shots of similar material.
One of the most compelling and easily recommended films I can remember seeing, though -- extremely well made, thoughtful, thrilling, and difficult to forget.