Is this a very entertaining movie? YES!! Is this a masterpiece? Nooooooo!

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2010)

First off, this is indeed a really good movie, probably the best I have seen this year. I can't wait to buy it on Bluray and watch it over and over. However, let's not kid ourselves, it falls very short of masterpiece/all time classic status.
When you think of this genre of movie, you can't help but think of The Matrix. That was a masterpiece in my opinion. And you can't help but draw comparison between these two films for many reasons, including the character of Arthur being made up to look like Neo and even having his wooden characteristics, not to mention that Arthur is in a scene obviously borrowed (cough, cough, stolen) from The Matrix's subway fight scene. What I love about The Matrix is how its universe is well explained and there's a solid logic behind everything. Notice I didn't say "perfect". You can go back and watch the movie and it all ties in together nicely. On the other hand, "Inception" explains the rules of its universe to the audience (quite a lot in the beginning) and I kept finding myself rolling my eyes and thinking, "that's convenient". Worst example is the "projections". Without these characters conveniently chasing people around, a lot of the story goes down the toilet, but the logic behind their actions is simply non existent. Another one is this whole thing about the "kick". Sure, gravity can wake you up from a dream. If you fall while asleep, your body will feel it and you will wake up. But please, to suggest that this concept would just magically work in a dream within a dream, within a dream is just ridiculous. There's the illusion of gravity in dreams, but no actual gravity, so wtf?
Then there are a lot of things not even explained. How does Cobb's dad spot someone who would be able to build multi level sets in a dream really well? Why does the chemist come along in the dream? You would think a strong action type guy would greatly advance the mission more so than a geek who doesn't add anything inside the dream. Why did Fischer go as far as to get training for fighting people who could invade his dreams, which means he fears his enemies, YET he has no problems getting on a ten hour plane ride BY HIMSELF!!!!!
I was also bothered by two other things that do not belong in a movie that wants to be labeled as a "classic": 1) Ken Watanabe is a good actor, but for the love of all things holy, can someone get this guy better English tutors? His English is worst than Jackie Chan's!!! You can tell he's saying something extremely crucial to the plot, but you can't understand any of it! 2) I know that a lot of action movies (yes, including The Matrix) take liberties with scenes featuring a shoot out. You always see the bad guys shooting away at the good guys at infinitum, yet not a single scratch on the good guys. We have now almost come to expect that in action movies, sadly. However, Inception abuses this concept beyond any reason. Bad guys empty machine guns within two feet of the good guy's vehicles, you see the bullet holes everywhere, YET, not a single scratch on anyone, except for one bullet. I don't mind suspension of disbelief for a good movie (which this is), but it got so bad that I was beginning to take it personal that a movie would try to insult my intelligence that much.
You will have a good time watching this movie, but like they said in South Park, just because there are a lot of twists, doesn't mean it's intelligent, and it's definitely not a masterpiece.