Inception has been praised for pretty much every aspect of its making: direction, screenplay, visual effects, action sequences, cast, musical score, themes, and more. It became one of the highest-grossing films of 2010 and has since been considered one of the best films of its decade as well as one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever.
There are not that many films that are as mind-blowing as Inception but, there are some movies that come close or at least attempt to achieve what Inception has accomplished.
Updated on February 9th, 2021 by Mark Birrell: Though certainly one of the best, Inception was neither the first nor the last movie to use dreams, imagination, narrative structure, and technology as both subject matter and tools in their story. Fans of the movie's inventive take on the tropes of the thriller genre and opportunities of science-fiction have a rich history to explore and, thus, we couldn't limit our list to only 10 entries. We've added an extra 5 great examples of similar blockbusters and hidden gems that fans of the movie's style and concepts are sure to love.
Tenet (2020)
Christopher Nolan has toyed around with the structure of storytelling in movies several times beyond Inception and the most recent example is the director's 2020 movie, Tenet.
Incorporating the director's love for all things time-distorted, the movie is a pulse-pounding spy thriller revolving around a technology that causes objects or people to travel backward through time. Its slick production design and carefully plotted narrative are very reminiscent of Inception and it clearly stems from many of the same creative influences, chiefly Nolan's famous affinity for Bond movies.
Existenz (1999)
Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh lead this mind-bending thriller from body horror maestro David Cronenberg about players within an advanced virtual reality video game.
Never sure of what is real and what is not, or where the characters are, where they're going, and what they're trying to accomplish, Existenz dissects philosophical ideas in a similarly fun way to Inception and it shares its pervading sense of humor.
Strange Days (1995)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and both co-written and co-produced by James Cameron, Strange Days was far from a hit when it was first released but has developed into a cult classic of the sci-fi genre since then.
Ralph Fiennes stars in the movie as a man who sells custom memories in a future where patrons can visually experience life through the eyes of others. Though much more a noir mystery movie that focuses on voyeurism and corruption, Strange Days shares Inception's central conceit about the relationship between reality and technology.
Transcendence (2014)
Christopher Nolan's longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister, who shot Inception, broke into directing himself with this ambitious and handsomely-cast sci-fi thriller about a group of scientists who seek to save their terminally-ill mentor by transplanting his consciousness into a digital state as a superadvanced AI.
Familiar Nolan movie faces Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy star in the movie alongside stars Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, and Paul Bettany in the lead roles and the movie presents a unique take on technophobia and consciousness.
Dark City (1998)
One of the biggest cult favorites of the 90s, Dark City is a hugely imaginative and innovative science-fiction mystery movie about a man who awakens with amnesia in a bizarre and stylized city of perpetual darkness, with his journey to discover who he is and where he is only becoming stranger and stranger at every turn.
Dark City most resembles one of Inception's biggest influences, The Matrix, which was released the following year. All of the movies share a fixation on free will and imagination, using similar visual ideas to explore fantasies about how they can be used to shape the world around us.
The Fountain (2006)
The Fountain is often ed for the development challenges that its director, Darren Aronofsky, had when making the film. Starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, it was a commercial failure and divided critics, but went on to gain cult status.
The film is often considered an epic romantic drama, but it actually combines elements of fantasy, history, sci-fi, and spirituality, to tell the story in three storylines that involve immortality, lost love, and a man's pursuit to avoid a terrible fate.
Sunshine (2007)
An often overlooked sci-fi psychological thriller, written by Alex Garland and directed by Danny Boyle, Sunshine stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michelle Yeoh, and Benedict Wong.
Set in 2057, the film tells the story of a group of astronauts who are on a mission to reignite the Sun. It explores themes of physics, science, and religion.
Predestination (2014)
Predestination stars Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor, and others. It is based on the short story "—All You Zombies—" by Robert A. Heinlein, and is considered to be one of the most consistent time travel stories to explore the paradoxes created by it.
The movie follows a time travel agent who, as his final assignment, must confront the one criminal that keeps getting away from him throughout time.
Minority Report (2002)
Minority Report might not be the first film that comes to mind when movie fans think about Steven Spielberg, but it's definitely a great sci-fi thriller, with Tom Cruise starring in the lead role.
The movie is set in a technologically-advanced future, where a special police division uses the so-called "precogs" to get predictions about crimes that are about to occur - and then prevent them. Chief of this division, John Anderton, gets a prediction saying that he will soon kill a man he doesn't even know.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Surprisingly, The Butterfly Effect has somewhat of a bad reputation, despite the fact that it's still a well-ed and much-discussed movie with many fans.
The whole story centers around the concept of the butterfly effect, which is a theory that one small event can lead to big changes and consequences. The main character discovers that he is able to travel back in time and decides to change his past, but every minor change he makes leads to a completely new version of his life.
