Overrated

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2011)

First of all I want to qualify my score. I don't think this was an awful film but, I wanted to balance out the 10/10 scores which I think are crazy! Also, I want to say I like Nolan - I thought Memento was outstanding and I like his handling of the Batman franchise.
For me Inception is an entirely watchable mainstream blockbuster. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I didn't watch this film until recently as the previews made it look like another Matrix - which I didn't dislike, just didn't think it was meant to be taken too seriously. When I finally saw it, my impressions of the previews were confirmed. It's the Matrix of it's year.
Suggestions that this film is a masterpiece don't stack up for me. It's a ripping sc-fi yarn but, too much dialog is devoted to techno/psycho-babble. Too many scenes are prefixed with with explanations to allow the viewer to digest it. This seems clumsy or lazy on Nolan's part - maybe he was forced by the studio to continually explain what's going on to the less able-minded? Neither, is it as original, nor, high-brow, as some reviewers would give it credit. After all, Bobby Ewing emerging from a shower (invalidating the entire preceding season of a global soap opera) was not seen as a screen writing masterclass! Nolan seems to be entirely comfortable shooting for box office success rather than critical adulation. Nothing wrong with that but, the likes of Kubrick, with whom he's been favourably compared by many, would never compromise their art for extra bums on seats. I would sooner have Nolan at the helm of a blockbuster than many of the current alternatives but I'd like to see the masterpiece label attached a lot more sparingly in future.