I love this movie from three different perspectives : as a female, a sci-fi fan, and a screenwriter... GO SEE THIS MOVIE! Seeing the low numbers for Inception on opening weekend, I immediately knew this film was not marketed properly. But I was at least confident that word of mouth would do the work instead of ad dollars. I am not surprised that it is already topping the box office.

As a female - I can't say that every woman will love this movie, because if you're just in the mood for a chick flick, this is not it. But I can say that you will at least be mesmerized by the ideas in the film. And Christopher Nolan (writer/director) doesn't leave out the emotional side of life either. In a film of this magnitude, it would be far too easy to focus on action, special effects, and all the things guys love in a movie. But this movie has a heart for family and relationships, a side that every woman will appreciate.

As a sci-fi fan - I hate to compare it to The Matrix, but that WAS the last movie I've seen with this level of story and execution quality. It may even top it. But with regard to that feeling you had when you left the theaters after seeing The Matrix, it's exactly the same. There is a sense of awe that comes with watching something you've truly never seen on screen before. And the best part about it is that it begins in the middle of the sequel! Anyone remember the movie Jumper? It was a novel concept about time and space travel, but it began at the beginning. The entire movie was spent defining the rules of the gimmick, so there wasn't really anywhere to go from there. Inception takes you through the entire first "movie" and into the next. It establishes the world and its parameters rather quickly (extraction), assumes we are an astute audience, and moves us forward into the next level of complexity (inception). The backstory alone could have been the first in a trilogy. I'm glad they didn't make the Matrix mistake.

As a screenwriter - I've been writing and editing screenplays for a long time, so when one comes along that is absolutely brilliant and nearly perfect, it's pretty obvious! This film is Mozart's Requiem Mass. Or maybe it isn't. Christopher Nolan may bring us many, many more amazing films as time marches on. I remember watching The Dark Knight and though I wasn't a huge fan, the one thing I remembered was that it was an amazing, exceptionally well-done screenplay. When I looked up Nolan's bio on IMDb, I saw that he also did Memento and The Prestige, two more amazing pieces of literature from a screenplay perspective. The thing most audiences miss is that films are written with rigid, unyielding rules in place. Certain things have to happen on certain pages, characters have to go through specific changes in specific places in the story, and it all has to fit neatly into the 120 page format. Like trying to write a poem in iambic pentameter, it takes talent to cram a good story into the time-tested structure of a screenplay.

But even that is not enough. There are fine-tuning techniques that make films successful: things like memorable moments, impossible decisions, dialogue that makes you think, scene tension, reveals, strong antagonists, lovable characters, high concepts, and so on, which the screenwriter can put into a script like placing tiny icing flowers all over a wedding cake. Most films that make it to the public at least hit the basics, with a few of these bonus features. But Inception has them all. When I think of any cinematic trick or rule I've studied about making a great story, I can find it in this film. That's saying a lot.

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