Director Christopher Nolan has served up some of the most compelling mainstream movies of our time, from the brilliant and unique "Memento," to the under-appreciated "Insomnia," to the acclaimed "Dark Knight," easily the best Batman movie ever made. Now he's helmed "Inception," the most talked-about film of this summer, billed as a sort of "James Bond meets Matrix" thriller which, at first blush, seems a complex "dream within a dream" narrative worthy of Nolan's time and talent.

There is much that should impress in Nolan's film. A huge cast, including Leo  DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, and Cillian Murphy. Epic sets  and a global backdrop - Asia, Europe, the Americas. A complex idea -  the theft of dreams, and the implications of the same. Creation. Perception. Dream architecture, for the purpose of...well, that would give away the story, wouldn't it?

Here's a quick overview. "Inception" refers to the ability to plant an idea and grow a dream inside someone's head. Tom Cobb (DiCaprio) is a practicing  "extractor," a professional dream remover, who has dabbled with inception but has begged off diving deeper for a mysterious mix of reasons. He is hired by a corporate energy trader (Watanabe) to engage in espionage, of the most nefarious dreaming sort. Cobb assembles his "dream team" to help design the appropriate subconscious emotional strategy to influence their subject, the son and heir of a global energy company vying for dominance with Watanabe's own. An initial kidnapping attempt goes awry (in dream space), and our team finds themselves up against a rival team of thieves, and "limbo," so-called  "unreconstructed dream space" where dreamers might be trapped for eternity.

If all of this sounds a bit complicated, it is. Even more strange, "Inception" is oddly un-engaging for a 2 and 1/2 hour story. The movie begs the viewer to give it sustained attention and a certain amount of patience and suspension of disbelief both. I found myself intrigued by the premise, but a bit exhausted trying to follow the twists and turns of the story.

By the time we arrived at the climactic (and very confusing) fifteen minute action scene, a multi-layered extended dream sequence that unfolded in strange juxtaposed herky jerky, I simply felt a bit bored. Nolan never gives us much time to get to know any of his story's characters, so we feel little sympathy or support for any of them. Combine this with the detached nature of the action scenes in "dream time" - visually spectacular but emotionally empty - and a story that produces more head-scratching than anything else, and "Inception" felt like little more than a showcase for some nifty FX by film's end.

Which is too bad, given Nolan's skills as a storyteller, and the raw potential of "Inception's" subject matter. Rather than a compelling story, we get little more than "yawnsville." Wait for "Inception" on dvd, unless you are looking for some nap time.