Interesting, but ultimately bad. Way overrated

Rating: 1/10 (4 April 2004)

The praise that I usually hear about this movie is that it "makes you think" or "is really confusing, and that's cool". What's frustrating to me about it's continued popularity is that while it does have a cool idea, it ends up more like a parlor game than a good film. Sure, it is cool trying to piece together the story, trying to remember what happened in the last scene, and trying to figure out who the
killer is. But the movie is ultimately unsatisfying. The characters are flat, emotionless, and none of them sympathetic. The editing is great, it is in fact the saving grace of the movie, but the directing is stale, boring and cold. Nolan doesn't get anything near good performances out of his actors. They seem to
understand what works about this movie, but never perform in a way that moves you (with the exception of Joe Pantoliano, who is convincingly evil, but not
great) The movie is sterile. It has no power over the audience. The story is ultimately uninteresting. Just because a movie engages you mentally doesn't mean it is a good film. Sure it makes you think. It makes you think alot. But so does a calculus test.