An average rating of 9+? Gimme a break!

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2010)

Alright, here's a review from an Average Joe to the Average Joes and Janes. INCEPTION, at its core, is a crime caper. It's a simple crime caper filled with made-up as you go along layers of complexity. If you look past the fantastic visual effects and the neat ideas about entering dreams, there's really not much too it. Or should I say, there's TOO MUCH too it. If you took away the dream masters element, you have a guy who hires a small team of criminals to try and convince an heir to a business empire to not follow in his father's footsteps. How do they do this? By going into his dreams and trying to brainwash him in a way that he won't know he was influenced by others and that the idea of him "doing his own thing" was his and his father's idea. In the meantime, you have an un-set up beginning meant to confuse the viewer and make him/her use their brains to figure out what's going on. Then when (or if) the viewer gets the gist of things, the plot throws around new sets of rules that pertain to dreams within dreams within dreams. Since there are characters inhabiting various levels or parallel worlds of dreams and reality, the camera is constantly jumping back and forth between the worlds. Can the dream tamperers succeed in their schemes? Well, you'll just have to sit for an excruciatingly long time while holding in your urine to find out. You'll see some really great visuals that look absolutely flawless (the film's best asset) and a few clever ideas and twists. You'll also see way too much jumping back and forth, gratuitous gunfire, and slow motion that reminded me of bad bomb timer scenes where the clock should have hit zero long ago had it not been for manipulated editing. You may also wonder when this movie is set and why this little band of "geniuses" can enter dreams with just a needle and a big button. If you're not that complicated, you'll probably just find yourself wondering what the heck's going on and never really be able to catch up or know what you just watched (that's what most of the people I know who actually saw the movie thought)! I really don't know how this movie (or any!) can get an above 9 star rating on here. It's really just a simple story at heart made way too confusing and complex for its own (and the audience's own) good. As I said earlier, it looks great, but feels really long, over-important, and not very well set-up at the start for most to really catch on and feel they have a hold on it. It also makes up its own rules as it goes along (falling chairs will make people wake up, but falling from other things won't; gunshots will wake you up on this level but not this one; you'll fry your mind on this level, but then some don't). Had this movie been set up quicker and shorn by about 45 minutes (get rid of all the slow mo in the final third!), you might have a nifty little Dreamscape successor. As it is, it's just a lot of hoopla over special effects and people thinking it's cool how there's dream stuff. Look at it closer, and it's just a small crime caper filled with visual effects and sci-fi fluff. Visually a 9 out of 10. Story-telling wise a 6-7 at best. So far, everyone I know personally who's seen it has absolutely hated it. I was the most generous of the bunch. See for yourself via a rental where you can pause, think, rewind, etc. Don't buy the hype of a 9+ IMDb rating.