Well I saw Inception on Tuesday and first let me say (since I imagine I will spend more time discussing its flaws) that I did enjoy it immensely. It kept me entertained for the full time, I didn't feel it was insulting my intelligence like some blockbuster movies. It was slick, entertaining, looked pretty good and gave me something to think about. And the music was excellent, possibly the best bit about the whole film.
I have skimmed through this thread and seen that a few people have quetioned why there isn't more imagination in the dream scenarios and I'm with them. I get that the idea, sometimes, seems to be to have the subject not know they are dreaming, but as they say in the film, when you're in the dream you don't know it's a dream, you accept things that are slightly surreal, so where was that surreal dream logic, aside from the train that suddenly attacks them and the one paradox staircase? Why just giant cities full of skyscrapers and not waterfalls that go up or crystal caves or well, anything? Maybe Nolan should have spent less time watching The Matrix and more time thinking of the visual possibilities. Because it could have been spectaular.
There was all the usual the bad guys can't shoot straight and the good guys never die (or when they do, they're ok because it's just a dream). That and the nagging suspicion right from the start that you can't really trust any of what you're seeing because it may all turn out to be a dream stopped me from connecting emotionally with the characters and the story, although Cobb's desire to get home to his kids was fairly convincing, and the awfulness of the situation with Mol. [spoilers=Inception ending] That there would be a question mark at the end over whether it was all a dream was inevitable, although I think it more ambiguous than some people have given it credit for, the point is less that it all might not be real and more that Cobb thinks it might. Although I also like the theory that he is stuck in some kind of dream loop.[/spoilers]
I enjoyed the brief snippets of humour, mainly the interactions between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy's characters, and the bit where Arthur gets Ariadne to kiss him, but I couldn't help the feeling that there needed to be a few more moments like this, a bit more quotable dialogue or 'woah cool' moments if this film is going to be the sort of cult film that people rewatch with affection.
A few questions which may be plot issues or may be me not fully 'getting it'... when they are attacked by Fischer's subconcious in the first level, why can't they change things, make their van bulletproof, for example? It's explained earlier on that changing things causes the subconcious to attack, but if it's attacking anyway, where's the harm? Or is it only the architcet who can change things and not when it's not her dream?
Why is Cobb's subconcious the only one that turns up and attacks them? Do the others not have subconscious secrets? Is it to do with him having been down to the bottom limbo level?
Is the bit right at the start a flashforward, to what happens later, or is everything in between a flashback to explain how they got there, or is it actually happening all over again and that's why Leo looks so confused during that scene, like he's said all those words before?
Why the only two times we see them infiltrating dreams do they end up telling the people whose dream they're in what they're doing?
If the spinnning top means it's reality, what is it doing in that scene between Cobb and the elderly Saito?
A lot of fun to discuss, anyway...
