Inception, 1 inch deep and a mile wide

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2010)

Inception is right up my alley. I was expecting a thinking person's thriller with a bit of sci fi. C Nolan is well known - I loved the Dark Knight and Batman Begins. He's quality and tells a slow boiling story that pays off a concept. But whew, Inception... wow what a stinker.
There's no question that this production staff and the cast took this project and themselves very seriously. It oozes production values. Too bad it lost me in the first 10 minute when I had no idea what was happening. And not in a good way, like other thrillers. I had absolutely no desire to understand the clap-trap these unlikeable characters were spouting. The kid from Third Rock, wow he thinks he's quite the bad boy. Fail.
Anyway, instead of something that held my interest, this movie simply frustrated me. Inception is a ponderous, self-important, vacuous movie. It's empty, all presentation, no flavor. It makes no sense and I didn't even want to keep straining to figure it out. It doesn't unfold like "The Game" where you're dying to know how it comes out, clue by clue. I even stuck with Shutter Island and didn't really like that one, but it was way, way, way better than this movie. And it's not because I don't have patience for high-concept. It's not ambiguous or thought-provoking it just ends.
Still, I would recommend others see this film and judge for themselves. Others seem to find this movie very intense and deep. I just don't get it. Personal preference, but there are quite a few like me where metaphysical pseudo sci-fi speeches, and lots of rules about what you can and can't do are just frustrating and not a nice evening's entertainment. I think I'll go watch The Game or Matrix again. It's been a while and I need to get the sour taste of this movie out of my mouth.