oliver9184

Inception (2010) 9/10
***Please note: this is nothing but very general and uncompromising praise, and what I would probably call ridiculous and embarrassing hyperbole if someone else had written it or if it wasn't all true. There are no plot details or spoilers at all. You should feel free to carry on reading it without fear of finding out the slightest tidbit re the film's narrative.***

I just came back from watching Inception and I feel stingy about giving it 9. It's a de facto 10 but a de jure 9 because I have a rule (that Inception has led me to consider scrapping) that says nothing can get 10 on a single viewing. I left the cinema shell-shocked, mindboggled and reeling and now, around two hours after getting home, have only just started to recover. It's similar to my reaction to Avatar but unlike Avatar Inception will still be watched, talked about and revered twenty or thirty years from now. Never have I known a big-budget studio film be as audacious and original as this one (Beowulf probably comes closest). It almost felt like the late sixties and seventies (which, yes I know, I never experienced first hand) when for a short time the studios funded, and took the leash off of, some wildly talented young filmmakers who went on to produce and direct some of the most hallowed and best-loved examples of narrative cinema. If enough people go to see Inception (I think they will), and the gamble pays off, and if we cross our fingers and wait with baited breath - we just might see the worm turn over the coming few years. That rich Hollywood worm with the massive chequebook might come to his senses and turn away from the Michael Bays and towards the Chris Nolans. In other words he might remember that yes, there are smart people who want to watch Inception as well as stupid ones who want to watch Transformers or Twilight. So be smart: go and see Inception as soon as possible to see for yourself what all the goddamn fuss is about.