Despite what all the reviews and hype would lend you to believe, Christopher Nolan’s newest film, Inception, is not the end all, be all, film to end all films. It’s not perfect, it’s not going to change the way we watch movies and it’s not even the best movie of the year.

Still, it’s a highly recommended, must see film.

The reason one would even make those declarations is because Inception has had incredibly lofty expectations placed upon it. Based on the the strength of its amazing trailer (seen below), incredible cast, filmmaker and huge shroud of secrecy, the general public was expecting the film to almost change the world, or at least the summer movie season.

Well, it opens today (Friday July 16) and you can finally find out for yourself.

But try not to read anything about it, except this of course. Unlike basically every other movie released recently, the real reward in going to see Inception with no prior knowledge is the pleasure in discovering an original set of ideas and circumstances.

Inception isn’t a sequel, based on a book, or even a familiar arc. Instead, shock of shocks, it actually begins with its own, unique conceit and moves along from there. (Originally! At the movies!) It moves along for about two and a half hours and the one fault with the film is actually a result of that originality. Because the audience is totally unfamiliar with the situations presented, the film takes a good chunk of time to explain them and make the audience comfortable. It takes about half the movie. Then, the real fun begins.

So basically Inception feels like its own prequel and a sequel rolled into one. And while the prequel is interesting and entertaining, it’s also slightly jarring and awkward. You’ll be scratching your head more often than not. However, that whole section is wholly necessary. Without it, the “sequel” half wouldn’t be the edge of your seat, intense, action packed film that it is. The entire second half is basically just one, long awesome climax. It grabs you and takes you on a tour de force downward spiral of plot, editing, score, performance and production design. Nolan’s film gets to a point where a single shot, edited against another, can make an entire audience gasp. Finally, by the end, well, no spoilers remember?

Inception is an incredibly impressive piece of Hollywood filmmaking that many aspire to but few can achieve. It makes other movies – even good ones – feel phoned in. There are certainly issues with it, but even so, it’s well worth the price of admission and will occupy your thoughts for plenty of time after you leave the theater. A second viewing might even make it better. I can’t wait to find out.