johnlink ranks INCEPTION (2010)
This pre-jump passage doesn’t need to be here. I recommend this movie. SPOILERS abound. Just watch it before reading any further!
I watched INCEPTION (2010) in theaters on 7.16.10. It was my first viewing of the film. TRAILER HERE
Finally! A movie in the 2010 summer which finally lives up to its expectations! This one certainly is more than advertised, and rewards the viewer with a true filmic experience.
Christopher Nolan’s script is one of the best science fiction works in recent memory. It is a truly original piece which is relentless in its pace. I should have a ranking for how dumb a particular film thinks its viewer is. This is one flick which doesn’t hold your hand.
Leonardo DiCaprio stole some of his own thunder by playing a similar paranoia in the also-great SHUTTER ISLAND. In a way, this role would have been possibly more rewarding with another actor. That is not to say Mr. Titanic does poorly here, he’s just done it recently. But the rest of the acting is very solid. Having not seen JUNO, I was particularly impressed with Ellen Page.
I loved the energy this film had. The story needs to be driven, and the experience of INCEPTION does not disappoint. This is, in turns, action at its best and thinking-viewer’s sci-fi at the top of its game.
That is not to say the film is without flaws. As I write this it sits at #3 on the all-time IMDB movie list. For one, I think the last shot is a bit of a cop-out. While it does not ruin the film, it does leave an unnecessary ambiguity. Sure the point is that it doesn’t matter if the top falls or not, but we could still have had the satisfaction of seeing it drop. The film breaks its own rules (on purpose) at other points, so the top dropping wouldn’t necessarily mean anything either. Over at Aintitcool.com, one reviewer really didn’t like the final shot. It’s worth reading for its analysis.
Really though, it is almost impossible to talk about this film after one viewing. Some films demand you see them again, and this is one of them.
SCORES
FILM: 9; MOVIE: 8; ACTING: 8; WRITING: 10: BONUS: 1 (What is this?)
The bonus here is for the editing, which is unbelievably perfect in a tough script to get correct. Great work!
9+8+8+10+1=36
FINAL SCORE: 9
johnlinkmovies 
Couldn’t disagree more on the last shot. I thought it was pitch-perfect.
I was absolutely amazed at the gravity-shifting hallway fight scene. It’s like watching a great magic trick – when it was over I asked myself “How the hell did they shoot that?”
Fair enough, I just thought it was a copout. A sort of non-ending. Like I said, I think the point is about what the character’s mindset is.
My thought, currently, is that if you wanted to keep the ambiguity, I would have preferred Michael Caine snag it off the table. Then the director isn’t winking at the audience, putting himself in the dreamer role and ending the vision when he chooses. Instead, a character within the created world is creating the question.