Not dreamy enough

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2010)

Inception was okay, it was well produced and directed and kept my attention throughout, so that's why I give it a 7 instead of a 6.
Having seen the trailer, I went into it expecting a mind bending movie with a dreamlike script, but instead it's basically a puzzle movie with lots of run-of-the-mill shoot-em-up action. You do leave the movie with a heightened sense of awareness, but not with a different viewpoint on the world.
I never cared that much for any of the characters, which is unusual for me - I often end up crying or otherwise being involved, so in that respect Inception seemed rather shallow. I kept trying to generate care, waiting for the arc of the script to take me over into the next level, but that point in the script never came.
Technically, the special effects are pretty good, though they're kind of a one trick pony, or maybe a two trick pony. I was expecting much more in this regard. Sure, when I'm in a dream it seems real to my mind, but there are usually some really strange aspects too, like people whose faces are unclear, or like trying to speak but not being able, or like changing geography, or really weird, crazy stuff. None of this kind of thing happens in Inception, except for the occasional alteration in gravity.
The basic idea, of never being sure what's real or what's constructed in your mind, has been done before. There's nothing wrong with that, since it's impossible to come up with new ideas about the human condition. But Rod Serling wrote some more compelling 30 minute TV scripts on the subject many years ago.
My review makes it sound like a bad movie, which it is not, it's good enough. I guess I'm just reacting to incredible hype of people who think it's the greatest movie ever made. It certainly does not deserve a 9.4 rating, which is what IMDb is giving it as of this writing.