Christopher Nolan did it. He took a concept that’s been rolling around in his head for a decade, convinced a studio to give him $160 million to film it, and created the most original and spectacular blockbuster in, well, a decade. It really happened.

Think about the BIGGEST movies of the past 10 years. They are comic book adaptations, or television cartoon adaptations, or novel adaptations, or sequels to comic book adaptations, or rebooted franchises — you get the picture. The one obvious exception would be Avatar — the highest grossing movie ever. Unfortunately, while “original”, it was also one of the most derivative, predictable, and hollow movies you’ll ever see. But it sure was a 3D spectacle, I’ll give James Cameron that.

But I don’t want to even get into this argument. I really don’t. I just felt the need to address it before anyone challenges the claim in that first paragraph. Sorry, but Inception is THE most audacious blockbuster in years in ways other than just special effects and filming technology. But it’s not exactly a slouch with regards to the former, either.

I will keep this post as spoiler-free as possible, and probably make ANOTHER post about it later on, where I totally go off about everything within the film. And there’s certainly a lot to interpret here — including an ending that seems to have pissed off some and totally impressed others. I personally think it fits perfectly thematically.

The movie drops you right into the action, almost immediately disorientating you, slowly feeding you some explanations, but also leaving some questions unanswered until later on; you might not have even realized you had these questions, but the answers shed even more light on what you saw. You learn about “extraction” first, and then hear the word “inception”, which almost seems to be a dirty word. It’s apparently never been done before, but a powerful man named Saito (Ken Watanabe) wants it done. Dom Cobb, the character played brilliantly by Leonardo DiCaprio, insists it’s possible, and once Saito offers the only thing Cobb wants in the entire world, he has no choice but to accept.

And that’s where we’re off. Cobb needs to fill out his team with specialists, and in the process you learn what each of them have to do, and also what they need to figure out in order to accomplish the job. As a result, much of the next 45 minutes or so are filled with exposition, and it seems to be the part of the movie most detractors focus on, but I was enraptured the entire time. How could you not be interested in the intricacies of such a cool fucking concept? I just don’t get it. But this is coming from a guy who absolutely loves I, Robot — the book, not the Will Smith movie that killed Issac Asimov all over again — which is just a collection of logic puzzles based around three fictional laws of robotics. So yeah, I’m going to enjoy listening to people talk about entering people’s minds and the rules of time and world manipulation and subconscious projections and architectural paradoxes. How could you NOT love that stuff?

Even the discussion about how to implant the idea into the mind of the mark (played by Cillian Murphy) was fun to listen to, aided by the banter between Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Eames (Tom Hardy), who both fit their roles perfectly. Ellen Page plays her part as Ariadne wonderfully as well, playing the role of inquisitive, but aggressive, novice thrown into the world of dream manipulation. She quickly picks up on the problems Cobb’s subconscious — manifested in his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) — has created for his team, which forms the emotional core of the film. And it’s a heartbreaking core that reminds one of DiCaprio’s other film this year (also the only other movie I’ve seen in theaters this year), Shutter Island. One scene in particular features DiCaprio’s tremendous acting ability, where he manages to hit the perfect note of anguish and shock with only two words.

The only other relationship that truly matters in the film is the one between the mark, Robert Fischer, and his dying father. Admittedly, this relationship could have been fleshed out some more, but there was just no room, and I think Murphy sells its payoff as well as any actor could possibly have. Murphy’s work in the movie as a whole, even with the relatively small part he has, is phenomenal. Maybe I’m just letting out some built-up praise here, but the man is just a great actor.

But as I’ve already started to say, everyone does great work: Page, JGL, Cotillard, Watanabe (when you can understand him) — with Tom Hardy probably being the standout, if only because his shit-eating grin and accent just make for an awesome combination. My friend and I agree that Nolan will try his best to get him in the next Batman movie. At least I hope that’s the case.

Have I even touched on the action? And how this is not the same Nolan who filmed the action scenes in Batman Begins? You can actually tell what’s going on, and the entire last hour of the movie is just one big interlocked action set-piece, set up in the most goddamn brilliant way possible. There’s a car chase scene in the rain that includes a train and a motorcycle and a bridge. There’s a hallway fight scene — actually two — that will blow your fucking mind. And then there’s a snow fortress firefight that is straight out of a Bond movie. But it’s really all about the hallway and the choreography needed to come up with THAT fight. Shit, I clicked on Jimmy Fallon two nights ago as a clip of the fight started and my eyes were tethered to my television until it cut off halfway through and made me wish I could see the whole thing all over again.

And that’s what I did tonight. Yes, I am writing this after my second viewing in three days. Inception is everything I wanted and more. Christopher Nolan went balls-out with this movie. It is packed with an insane amount of ideas, combines a heist movie with a tragic story about love and obsession, questions how we perceive reality, and serves as an amazing showcase for sharp men’s clothing. I just don’t know where he goes from here. As an internet buddy said, “How the fuck does he go back to making a Batman movie after this?” I don’t know, but I’m anxious to see if he can continue to top himself.

EDIT: SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGdQURlmsjc

I guess it’s time for me to speak a bit more about Inception, since this is the week. There are some people even seeing advance screenings tonight. Perhaps surprisingly, I think my hype is at its low ebb right now. There are tons of gushing reviews and posts on Twitter and endless TV spots, but I’m just nonplussed. Perhaps that would be the wrong word — let’s just say they haven’t augmented my hype. I knew months ago that I would want to see the movie, and I knew that the movie would be awesome. Only a flood of scathing reviews could have affected my anticipation.

So right now I’m kinda exhausted from looking forward to this movie for half a year. There has been nothing else for me to latch on to for any excitement. I thought about checking out Predators, but it’s still hard for me to imagine ADRIEN BRODY filling Arnold’s shoes, no matter how good of an actor he might be (although, I guess that’s part of the problem). But he did get pretty ripped for it, and from all reports, they went in a different direction since they knew no one could fill in the shoes of guys like Arnold, Jesse Ventura, and Carl Weathers. Nonetheless, I can’t be bothered to gather any friends for a trip to the theater to see it.

Oh, I could have checked out Toy Story 3, but there was no way I was doing that without female company. That actually almost happened, but when it fell apart, I wasn’t about to push it. It’s not like I was anxiously anticipating it, anyhow. At nine years old, I already felt too old for the original Toy Story when it was released. I was all about Mortal Kombat. So I am left with Inception. Left to make a half-dozen posts about it. Left to post retarded shit on Twitter about it. Left to ask my friends if they want to go a midnight showing.

Somehow I feel like I’ll keep my record of ZERO midnight showings intact. I guess that’s why I’m only somewhat nerdy. Oh wait, no, I’m only somewhat manly. Full nerd. Damn it.

Earlier today, an embargo on Inception reviews was lifted. What followed was a flood of gushing praise that caused gushing of another kind. With 10 days to go until the first midnight showings, it’s time for hype to hit critical mass.

I’m just going to pull the review quotes from Rotten Tomatoes:

A wildly entertaining and dazzling mind-trip not to be missed. Kubrick would have been proud.

Inception is an exhilarating cinematic experience that suggests there is still room, even in the blockbuster world, for big ideas and dangerous emotions, and that may be the single most thrilling thing about it.

A devilishly complicated, fiendishly enjoyable sci-fi voyage across a dreamscape that is thoroughly compelling.

a stunning achievement and the most completely entertaining film I’ve seen in years.

Inception is a masterpiece. Making a huge film with big ambitions, Christopher Nolan never missteps and manages to create a movie that, at times, feels like a miracle.

I’m getting the sense that this movie is going to be pretty good. And thus concludes one of the least substantial blog posts I’ve ever made.

Edit: /Film made a similar post, only with longer excerpts instead of short quotes pulled from RT. And they used the same header. Weird.

I didn’t think I would allow myself to get so excited over a movie nowadays, but I would suck dick to see the completed film after watching that. The music, the special effects, the suits…oh my fucking God. I already think it’s getting to be pretty much impossible for Nolan to live up to the hype, but I’m still hoping for my brain to be splattered on the person behind me by the end of Inception.

Even the official website is slick as hell, with awesome music to boot. You have no idea how hard it is for me not to totally lose it and spill all my thoughts out in caps right now, e.g., HOLY FUCKING SHIT I’M JUST LISTENING TO THE MUSIC ON THE WEBSITE IN THE BACKGROUND AND I WANT TO RAPE SOMEONE’S MIND.

No, but really, I can’t stop watching it. Holy FUCK. And it gave me a new poll idea.

I just thought you’d like a reminder, considering there is basically no other interesting movie coming out anytime soon. But who knows, maybe you’re excited for Iron Man 2, or Robin Hood, or The A-Team, or Sex and the City 2. I really enjoyed Iron Man solely due to Robert Downey Jr.’s performance, but I’m just not excited at all for its sequel. Robin Hood looks like Gladiator 2: The Middle Ages, which would have appealed to the teenaged me, but I can’t see it rising above mediocre now. I’m not even going to acknowledge the other two.

There’s also Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Karate Kid, and MacGruber – all destined to be instant classics, I’m sure. Ok, I concede that Toy Story 3 will undoubtedly be in line with the quality of Pixar’s previous work, but I’m not a rabid fan and I’m certainly not going to see that in theaters unless there is a female next to me.

So yeah, the three months leading up to Inception look pretty goddamn bleak. I just want my Christopher Nolan fix. I should probably get it by watching Following, huh?

Just so there’s something new in the post, hit the jump for a viral video for Inception.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEItJLwvsF0

The poster may be just cut from The Dark Knight Template, but it’s still boner-inducing — probably due to that very fact.

Every sign points to Inception being fuck-awesome. Christopher Nolan. Leonardo DiCaprio. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (a.k.a. Heath Ledger 2.0). Ken Watanabe. Sci-fi. $200 million budget. It’s the perfect storm.

Let’s run down Christopher Nolan’s directing history:

Following – An extremely low-budget film noir, which happens to be sitting on my hard drive right now begging to be watched. I’ll probably update this post once I watch it. Allegedly very good, as evidenced by the 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Memento – A fantastic mindfuck of a movie that’s on a metric shitton of Best of Decade lists — including mine.

Insomnia – A remake of a Norwegian thriller. I vaguely remember enjoying it, but not to any great extent. I’m sure Pacino is entertaining, though.

Batman Begins – Totally revitalized a sinking franchise and turned it into the most prized property of Warner Bros. after Harry Potter. Set a new bar for comic book film adaptations.

The Prestige – A solid, if not spectacular film about two dueling magicians, Batman and Wolverine. Also had David Bowie in it. The ending is pretty damn fucked up, which gives it bonus points.

The Dark Knight - Set a new bar AGAIN for comic book movies. Got an amazing performance out of Heath Ledger, flipped an 18-wheeler, and blew up a massive building. No CGI for Nolan.

I think what I’m trying to say here is that there’s basically zero chance of this movie sucking. At the very least, it’ll be solid. It all likelihood, it will tingle your balls.

Just watch this teaser trailer. The city fucking BENDS IN ON ITSELF. I don’t even know what the fuck is going on, but I like it.

HD resolutions here from Apple.