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So last night I finally saw Inception, which for me is somewhat of a shock since this is easily my most anticipated film of 2010. I love movies, and am looking forward to doing more movie reviews for the Nightchurch blog, but unfortunately the 2 and 4 year old girls both prevent me from seeing as many movies and as promptly as I would like. I will try and write a quick review for this movie (which I am sure most everyone else has already seen) but will attempt to limit the spoilers (although I will discuss key plot elements, so be forewarned).

The film is by my favorite director, Christopher Nolan (Dark Night, Batman Begins, Prestige, Memento) and stars Leonardo DiCaprio who despite how much I don't like Titanic, is becoming one of my favorite actors.

The script is an original work by Christopher Nolan (which is a refreshing change from the endless number of remakes and sub-par movies made around much better source material) and I would classify it as a Sci-Fi thriller/action movie. It also fits exactly with your expectations of summer blockbuster, with plenty of action and special effects, which Nolan has pulled off successfully in his last 2 Batman movies.

I went in to Inception with probably unrealistically high expectations, with all of the raving reviews, the cast, and the director I was expecting a great film. What I got was a really really good film, but ultimately I felt a bit disappointed in that Inception did not quite live up to my expectations.

The movie is a good movie, but unlike Dark Knight or Batman Begins, where the action IS the story, the action in Inception felt at times to be a bit forced, and got in the way of a good story/original idea. In particular, the entire snow fort set/world seemed awkward and cobbled together, without any reference to how or why it was there. Also, much like some of Nolan's other works, the movie I believe does have a definitive ending, but uses misdirection at the end to make the viewer question what they know.

I do recommend Inception, but after paying $10 for a theatre ticket I would probably rate it closer to a good DVD rental. And if you enjoy Inception, come talk to me at church and I would be happy to lend you other works by Christopher Nolan, of particular I would recommend is Memento. And it is in light of Memento that I believe Inception fails to deliver. See Memento is a smaller budget film that is built around deep character development, a murder mystery that keeps you guessing, and a unique style of story telling that helps you empathize with the main protagonist. In contrast Inception has an interesting story, but you never become fully invested in any of the characters except perhaps Cobb, but at the critical moments where the Cobb character is being revealed we are interrupted by action/special effects that distract from the character development instead of enhance it.

While I do appreciate a new story in the world of retreads, and I do enjoy Christopher Nolan's success, part of me wonders if that his success has limited his story telling somewhat. Because he is now a "big name" director, it is expected that he produce large summer blockbuster films. But where Christopher Nolan the director shines is in character development, especially in films like the Prestige and Memento where the action is almost non-existant. Even in Batman Begins and Dark Knight, while relying heavily on action sequences, the parts of both movies that stand out is the development of characters like Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, and the Joker in Dark Knight. Inception had an interesting story with an interesting character in Dom Cobb, but unfortunately in my opinion the "action and special effects" actually got in the way of the story instead of contributing to it.

Overall I would probably give inception a B to a B+. It is still a good film, but as it is rated as the #4 movie of all time on IMDB right now, I believe the hype has gone a bit overboard on this film. I realize that I am probably in the minority of opinion on this, but this is my review so you get to hear my opinion :D

Hope everyone has a good Labor Day weekend, and if you would like to see more movie review posts, have specific requests for movies, or would like to see certain things appear in my movie reviews I would love to hear your comments. With Inception I was careful to try and not spoil the story, since I know that is a big part of watching the movie (and while it wasn't spoiled for me, the "big question" that was going to be posed at the end became readily apparent to me about 10 minutes in to the movie, but again I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan and that is how he does things), but in future reviews I hope to discuss the story a bit more and my take on certain things. But with Inception being a "reveal" movie I felt that if in my review I revealed the movie that would spoil others chances to enjoy the movie.

But if you would like to talk about Inception, your take on it, etc, feel free to chat with me at church or we can discuss it in the comments. If you haven't seen the movie, and don't want it spoiled, I suggest staying away from the comments. Because like I said, I do believe the movie had a definitive ending, and the director let us know, but also used misdirection at the end to pose doubt/questions in the viewers mind.

- Ryan