Metacritic Movie Ratings
Inception Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 100

  out of 100

  VarietyJustin Chang

  If Inception is a metaphysical puzzle, it's also a metaphorical one: It's hard not to draw connections between Cobb's dream-weaving and Nolan's filmmaking -- an activity devoted to constructing a simulacrum of reality, intended to seduce us, mess with our heads and leave a lasting impression. Mission accomplished.

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• 100

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  A tremendously exciting science-fiction thriller that's as disturbing as it sounds. This is a popular entertainment with a knockout punch so intense and unnerving it'll have you worrying if it's safe to close your eyes at night.

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• 100

  out of 100

  Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert

  Inception does a difficult thing. It is wholly original, cut from new cloth, and yet structured with action movie basics so it feels like it makes more sense than (quite possibly) it does.

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• 90

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  In a summer of remakes, reboots and sequels comes Inception, easily the most original movie idea in ages.

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• 88

  out of 100

  USA TodayClaudia Puig

  The film is easier to admire than to fully grasp or be moved by it. Still, it's worth surrendering to the dream.

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• 83

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum

  As engrossing and logic-resistant as the state of dreaming it seeks to replicate, Christopher Nolan's audacious new creation demands further study to fully absorb the multiple, simultaneous stories Nolan finagles into one narrative experience.

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• 60

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  Though there is a lot to see in Inception, there is nothing that counts as genuine vision. Mr. Nolan's idea of the mind is too literal, too logical, too rule-bound to allow the full measure of madness -- the risk of real confusion, of delirium, of ineffable ambiguity -- that this subject requires.

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• 50

  out of 100

  Wall Street JournalJohn Anderson

  By convoluting the various planes of experience, by overlapping and obscuring ostensible realities and ostensible dreams, Mr. Nolan deprives us the opportunity of investing emotionally in any of it.

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