Inception at Ten

Sometime later this summer, perhaps, we will get to see Christoper Nolan's latest movie, Tenet. It was originally scheduled for release on July 17, but the date keeps getting pushed back because movie theatres are not openning during the pandemic. 

In the meantime, we still have Inception, which is now ten years old. I liked it when it came out and a decade later, I like it even more. Rolling Stone agrees. 

But whether you think this film is a peak or a barren valley, Nolan’s accomplishment demands acknowledgement. Given post-Batman carte blanche, he proved that “intellectual blockbuster” was not a contradiction in terms. And to re-view the movie after a decade that felt increasingly dumbed-down in terms of big-tent multiplex fare and this-intellectual-property-is-condemned misfires, you can easily find yourself hungrily gorging on the food for thought here. It’s a work that brands Nolan as a sleight-of-head artist, yet the film is built as much for endless rewatchings as it is late-night dorm-room conversations. He’s given folks something crafted to be pored over as much as argued over, which is more than you can say about 98 percent of Marvel movies. It’s a sleek, clean-surfaced gauntlet of sorts, thrown down to the lowest common denominators of the kiss-kiss-bang-bang crowd.