In the IMDb top 100, Christopher Nolan is easily one of the most prominent directors you'd find there. When looking at my scratch-off poster, 6 out of the 100 movies are directed by him - more than any other director there, actually. Quite insane. As those who are following me for a while already know, Mr. Nolan and I have a... complicated relationship, let's call it. He directed one of my favorite films, Memento, and some of his films - including the one that I'm reviewing here today - have provided my earlier experiences with more mature cinema. On the other hand, as I got into reviewing stuff here, I've been finding more and more recurring issues with his filmography. So, here I am, coming back to this film after like four years.

Inception, considered by many to be Nolan's magnum opus, follows Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a guy who specializes in something called "extraction" - getting into someone's dreams in order to get information they're trying to keep secret. But this time, though, Cobb gets an unusual job proposal - Inception, getting into someone's dreams in order to plant an idea in their mind. With Cobb's tragic past and haunted present, and an offer by a powerful figure to make things right for him if he succeeds in his mission, he knows that he has to do it. One last job.

If you've already read my review of The Prestige, you know that, in my opinion, Nolan has the same core issues with many of his films, and in each film it shows in different amounts of intensity. Here, I'd say, it's not the worst it's ever been, but still noticeable, substantial. Essentially, I feel like Nolan is addicted to this "wow" effect, trying to outsmart the viewer with complicated concepts and clever twists, but while focusing on the form and developing his concepts, he ignores the core of the film - characters, emotion, even a solid plot that feels like a good story and not just a way to communicate a concept, sometimes. That's the gist of it.

So yeah, the whole getting-into-dreams thing is a really cool concept, and you can see it right away, from the opening scene. The way that throughout the film, action scenes are influenced a lot by this dream physics thing, and just generally the way that this concept carries the plot, is at least somewhat entertaining, yes. The problem is, as usual, that Nolan gets lost inside it, only trying to outsmart the viewers. Sorry, but with this much exposition, when most of it is spoon-fed to the audience, things get exhausting and mechanical. There are better ways to go about concepts of this kind, buddy.

Dreams and their meanings have always been fascinating to me. Look at some of my favorite films: Requiem for a Dream, Eyes Wide Shut, Mulholland Drive. The reason that all of them work so well is because of the fact that they realize how much dreams represent our deepest, most buried emotions and impulses. Nolan tries to address that, but he's doing it so mechanically, mainly because his characters here are flat, without any real psychological depth to explore. Yes, even Cobb is not a very good character in my opinion, when it comes to the depth that could be explored in dreams. The so called "depth" that we discover feels alright on the story part, as we try to put the pieces together, but it is quite lacking emotionally, I'd say.

With all that being said, I can still call this film entertaining. The main cast is pretty solid (DiCaprio, Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levit, mainly, and Cillian Murphy is doing a good job as well), so they manage to carry the simple characters with enough charisma to make it work. The plot has me interested, even if not completely immersed, and I do think that it manages to be just enough to make this film...pretty okay. With some huge, glaring problems, but not that bad to watch, most of the time.

One more point I have to devote a paragraph to, because it's just so goddamn annoying: Mal. She's horribly written, both in dialogue and when it comes to the emotional aspect of it, and almost every scene that involves her feels forced, mechanical, overdramatic. I mean, sure, Nolan, you could go for a Femme Fatale character if you really wanted to, but there are better ways to do it than...whatever this is.

Inception suffers from a severe lack of emotion, and yeah, it's too mechanical, rigid, stiff to have me immersed. As he often does, Nolan gets lost in exposition, spoon-feeding us his oh-so-clever concept. However, I'd say that with enough charismatic main actors, a plot that's entertaining enough and a concept that's developed in ways that are pretty okay, plot-wise, this movie is not a bad watching experience. Lacking, but not horrid. Feeling a 6.2/10 on this one.