1st Review: Inception Will Be Awesome, Confusing

Can Christopher Nolan’s Inception redeem this summer of awfulness? Maybe! Remember two summers ago when Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers sent anticipation into high gear with the world’s first review of The Dark Knight? His friends at Warner Bros. have shown him Inception early, too, and star-wise, at least, he liked it just as much (both movies got three and a half stars). But, as we’ve wondered before, will anyone understand the damn thing?

Says Travers (via Lou Lumenick):

The mind-blowing movie event of the summer arrives just in time to hold back the flow of Hollywood sputum that’s been sliming the multiplex. Inception … will be called many things, starting with James Bond Meets The Matrix. You can feel the vibe of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner in it, and Nolan’s own Memento and The Dark Knight. But Inception glows with a blue-flame intensity all its own. Nolan creates a dream world that he wants us to fill with our own secrets. I can’t think of a better goal for any filmmaker. Of course, trusting the intelligence of the audience can cost Nolan at the box office. We’re so used to being treated like idiots. How to cope with a grand-scale epic, shot in six countries at a reported cost of $160 million, that turns your head around six ways from Sunday? Dive in and drive yourself crazy, that’s how.

For what it’s worth, MTV’s Josh Horowitz saw the film last night and also seemed a little baffled, letting loose this embargo-flouting tweet (via Anne Thompson):

So Inception sounds like something you’ll need to see twice to completely appreciate. Should be no problem given all the money we’ve saved by skipping this summer’s other tentpoles.