9/10

This is my idea of a perfect summer blockbuster. It was extremely entertaining. The cast is top notch and while there were really no stand out performances all of the cast brought their A game and did not disappoint. The big surprise in terms of casting was Tom Berenger who I pegged as more of a joke than a legitimate actor. Tom Hardy also brought his A game, but since he was not on my radar he was a pleasant surprise. He is now on my radar.

Going into this movie the cast was more of a draw than the fact that this is Christopher Nolan film. I have enjoyed everything he has done and he is a very skilled film maker, but this cast is has in my mind some of the best working actors out there. I will say that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is currently my favorite actor and the more I see him the better I like him. He was not remarkable in this, but he, like always, did a good job. There is not a lot to say other than there is when a skilled film maker like Nolan gets to pick anyone he wants for a big budget movie then he will pick the best.

I must say that the pacing of this was amazing. It managed to be almost constant wonder and awe in the beginning and then it turned in an action movie filled with wonder and awe, without ever getting away from the emotional core of the movie. Cillian Murphy with very little screen time provided a huge chunk of this, but what kept us invested in Dicaprio's emotional arc was that it was parceled out to the audience in chunks. We were kept in the dark through the whole movie about the true nature of his relationship with his wife and with the ending we are never actually sure of the true nature of it. The other aspect of the pacing was that I never felt disconnected from any of the characters for very long with the exception of the chemist. Even with difference time frames and a lot of stuff going I never lost interest in any story lines or any of the characters. That was truly impressive to me.

I have to say a word about the music by Zimmer and that word is: DAMN!. That guy is good. It was a very minimalistic soundtrack and the first time I watched it I barely noticed it, but the second time I was blown away by how good it was. That is one of the main reasons Nolan was able to keep the pacing, but at the same time manage different themes at once.

So the only reason I gave this movie a 9/10 was the writing. At the end of the first viewing something did not settle with me. I finally figured out that I did not like how every character was able to get the kick at the same time with different time frames. There are lots of ways of explaining this, but none of them sit well with me or do not feel consistent with the film. Other than that the writing was clever, but nothing special. The good writing with a special effects budget, and a top notch cast though makes for a great summer movie.