3 stars out of 5
I had hoped to love Inception, but "like" is probably a better - albeit perhaps optimistic - word. I should have known better than to think that there were any cool visual effects that were not in the trailer. Yes, the scenes with zero gravity, imploding/folding Paris, crumbling cityscapes, etc., go on longer in the actual film, but there's not much that's different. Writer/director Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight, The Prestige) has produced a film that murkily explores memory, dreams, psychology, and possibly religion, with a fine cast and plenty of action, but which is surprisingly dull. Unlike with the clever puzzle at the heart of Memento, Inception baffles with cloudy references and incomplete connections. The very inscrutability of the terrain of psyches and multiple realities may be what fascinate some but, while modestly entertained, I was never captivated.
[Paul adds:
4 stars out of 5
Does profound automatically equate with incomprehensible? This is a question I had almost two and a half hours to contemplate recently as I sat in a crowded theater and was baffled by Leonardo diCaprio in this film. I think it was probably art. It could certainly stand up to multiple viewings. The writers deserve some sort of award just for making it to the final scene. And Christopher Nolan is either a genius or insane, one or the other.]
