Nolan’s work here is a sci-fi sledgehammer—a mind-numbing head-scratcher on the first viewing, but the confoundment subsides when you do a ‘temporal pincer movement’ on yourself with each subsequent viewing, which is really how you should experience his latest ambitious if at times overbearing cinematic Sudoku puzzle.

Bold and visionary science-fiction, Nolan explores the soul of humanity in his darkest, most ambitious film yet.