WAAAAY Overrated

Rating: 5/10 (13 December 2010)

I'll try to make this as short and painless as possible.
Lately there have been a run of films exploring the nature of reality. But compared to THE MATRIX series, or say DARK CITY, this film can't hold a mental candle. Maybe it's because of the Christopher Nolan-DiCaprio combo, maybe because of a few very cool visual effects (like a city turned sideways or upside-down), but for the life of me I can' understand why this film is rated a 9 on IMDb. I guess this is what happens when everyone gets to rate, and "everyone" means...well, average film knowledge...and prejudice. Where is the OBJECTIVITY, people?
The problems, you ask, as if you don't want to take my word for it? Well it put my son to sleep and darned near got me, for one. It's too long and moves too slowly, then suddenly heaps plot setups and twists on you in desperate attempt to try and make the convoluted thing make sense. Where I come from we call this bad timing. And in a film LIKE this, well, that's not a good thing.
The script is terrible. Even Leonardo's acting is not up to his usual par, the little girl cast as the architect was too wrong, and on the whole this film is just not believable. That some actually say this is Leonardo's best work is troubling to me on so many levels.
Just because you make a bus fall off a bridge in slow motion shouldn't give you Oscar mentionings, you would think.
Terrible waste of millions, I gotta say, I being an admirer of both the genre and Leonardo. But, again, don't take my word for it; watch it for free somehow (don't spend hard-earned money on this dog, for sure), then let me know where I have gone wrong. I give it a 5 only because of the effects I mentioned (not unique in film, but well-done) and the A-1 supporting performance by Joe Levitt. HE did what he could, after all.