Nolan at his best . . . go grab the Oscars !!

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2010)

I generally don't write reviews because My views are unstable, I might love a movie now and start hating it tomorrow and vice versa. But then there are movies I know I'll like forever no matter what happens. And "Inception" tops that list. I was never a fan of Christopher Nolan. I liked his "Following". I loved "The prestige" for a week and then started disliking it for some reasons. One is, the characters, I didn't like any of them. Then came The dark knight which was technically and philosophically brilliant. Still - barring the Joker - I didn't like the characters and thought there was no emotional depth, jut like zombiefang. At last I watched Batman Begins which IMO, is as good as TDK and similarly, lacks emotional depth. And then I watched this masterpiece, "Inception".
To say the least, this is Nolan's best work till now and I doubt if anything he'd make in future can surpass the irrevocable greatness of this movie. Everything here is perfect. This is his second sci-fi movie after The prestige where you don't know it's a Sci-fi movie until the very ending. And Inception is two times better than it. For me, it's the best sci-fi movie I've seen and will ever see. Talking about The matrix, i didn't like it at all. I don't say it wasn't a great movie but rather not great FOR ME because of some unwanted action sequences. And apparently enough, I will place Inception much above The Matrix.
The basic concept of Inception revolves around the architecture of mind and dreams. Here, everything is possible with a logic. Dom Cobb is an idea-stealer and like we all know, he needs to do the opposite (i.e. plant an idea) in order to achieve his goal - the goal of going back to USA and living with his children.
To start with the characters, Nolan proved me totally wrong here. These characters are much more than strong and the movie depends solely on emotional depth. It was like Nolan saying, "Hey kid, you want emotional depth, I'll give you some." Mal and Cobb clearly overshadowed the other but personally, I liked Ariadne principally because of the brilliant acting by Ellen page. She enters the character like Cobb enters dreams. Leo was really good here, better than shutter island and about the ridiculous similarities between Si and Inception, I'd say that they don't matter an inch. The base is same but then there would hundreds of movies where there's a man who kills his wife (don't ask me to name them, anyway.)
Now with the CGI, screenplay and the cinematography, its the best I've come across. The special affects make the action scenes come to life and are never overused. The cinematography is more than fantastic, it will take you breath away. And the screenplay is nothing short of a genius's work, like every Nolan movie. I particularly liked the idea of parallel dream sequences where you see much of layer III, then something of layer II and then a slow-motioned and breathtaking scene of layer I. The music was also top-notch, though not better than that of The Dark knight. Hans Zimmer really rocks.
As expected it is highly complicated. You get the whole story, you know what they are doing, but the question is "how?" and "why?" For that you need to glue your eyes to the screen (you won't need to because they will be automatically glued ) The Story is the main driving force of this flick and is outstandingly original and never seen before and I don't think there would be any other resemblance to Paprika than just the idea of entering the minds of others.
The first half, as some described, is bad and just lays out the explanation of the whole movie but think again, without those explanations no one would get the movie and I think it was highly essential and only ameliorates the outlook of this movie. The whole thing about incepting the idea and how they do that with the brilliant design by Ariadne is the most intelligent thing out there.
Nolan is hell of an intelligent director and challenges the viewers to the extremes. The ending is the biggest proof of that where Nolan incepts the idea that its still a dream in our minds and we are yet to figure if it was our own idea and whether it's true. Your eyes literally sticks to the screen when the top spins and when it slows down a little, the screen goes blank and you can only stare at it in aMAZEment. For me I think it was a dream. Cobb was dreaming in the plane, but it really doesn't matter when he's back to his children, you get the satisfaction of your life as the credits roll and are intimidated out of the best dream of your life. There's not even the slightest impediment now that I've almost got all my queries answered. Watch it again and again to get the whole thing.I wonder who incepted the idea of Inception in Nolan's mind
Never mind that, because that idea (As Avatar fans blurt out about Avatar) gave us the cinematic experience of our lives, hail Christopher Nolan. You rock \m/
10/10
P.S. - It takes the second place in my all time favorite movies just after Citizen Kane.