15 Insane Movies That Shouldn't Have Worked

6. Inception (2010)

Christopher Nolan's masterful sci-fi thriller may not have exploding breast implants, killer tires or talking cars, but it is the sort of fiendishly clever, mind-bending blockbuster that so rarely arrives at the $150+ million price point.

It would've been so easy for Inception to be an ambitious failure for Nolan, a bold attempt to capture the spaced-out nature of dreams on film, but thanks to astonishing technicals, excellent performances and a fiercely original script, it's arguably one of the most ingenious and best-executed tentpoles of the last decade.

In the hands of, say, a Brett Ratner, Inception could've been a total mess, but after making Warner Bros. a billion dollars with The Dark Knight, Nolan earned the right to try something more ambitious, and the gamble paid off splendidly for everyone involved.