Crafty, Intelligent, Deep and Emotive; It's Among Nolan's Best

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2012)

Christopher Nolan's winding, twisting dream epic is just as revelatory today as it was in the theater a few years ago. Nolan clearly took his time with this script, a full eight years in the making, and it bears gorgeous fruit in the form of a rich, bright analysis of lucid dreams, shared consciousness and the very roots of influence in an individual psyche. Those are some pretty heavy concepts to just toss around in a Hollywood blockbuster, but through careful elaboration and a few very stylish test cases, it manages to efficiently explain the ground rules and get on to telling the story without bucking the casuals or alienating the intellectuals. With all sorts of hidden truths, cleverly-masked winks and subtle hints at all sorts of deeper meanings, there's also much more here than can be absorbed in a single viewing. Although the run time falls well north of two hours, the groundwork is so enveloping - and the plot so fast-paced - that the minutes just rip by without any regard for the clock on your wall. It's a fantastic effort, and a great indication that large-scale, big-budget American filmmaking is still capable of bringing the goods from time to time.