An Highly Original and Entertaining Film

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2010)

Inception is a highly original, thoughtful, and incredibly entertaining sci-fi/thriller romp and comes with a hearty recommendation.
The direction, acting, script, action and special effects are all super-tight. There are a few points where the script falls down very slightly, but in the bigger picture of the movie as a whole these are relatively inconsequential, and similarly there are a couple of lines that maybe aren't as well-delivered as they could've been, but again, overall the cast does a superb job.
The pacing in the film is fantastic - there's a perfect balance of exposition mixed with action and although Inception is a long movie, it doesn't feel that way when you're watching it, and despite quite a lot of time spent of exposition, the film never stagnates, and keeps popping along at a fairly furious pace. Evening the opening act during which the plot and characters are established is dealt with in perfect time, and I never felt a desire for them to 'just get on with it.' The core of the film is a philosophical and existential dilemma regarding the nature of reality. Thematically, it parallels The Matrix extremely closely, but the actual plot of the film, as well as the details of its setting, are extremely original. The only reason I might NOT recommend this film is if you're tired of movies on this kind of topic. It is a very good take on the issue, but if you're tired of that whole area altogether it might be best to give this a miss.
The entire movie was very tasteful in terms of maintaining a feeling of mystery and ambiguity. I sometimes feel that movies of this type have a tendency to over-explain, instead of leaving more up to audience interpretation. I felt that Inception struck a perfect balance between explaining enough not to be frustrating, but keeping enough ambiguous to hold interest after the credits roll.
This is a movie that I'd really like to see expanded upon with a sequel. There's a lot of potential here that wasn't tapped in the film to show on-screen some really incredible dream-like or nightmarish imagery. The special effects in the movie were fantastic, but they could've done more in terms of showing surreal circumstance, architecture, and characters. There was no time for it in this film, and it wouldn't have quite fit, but it'd be an excellent area to expand on.
Inception is an excellent film, and one that I think will become a staple science fiction movie.