Inception

[Leftwich]

did they play The Town trailer before Inception for you guys? The one with Aflleck. It looked pretty good.

But they gave away a big part of the plot in the trailer... it was lame as fuck but the movie looks good.

 

[Buzzman]

Just saw it again, god I might see it a third time.

 

[mcstl25]

 

Just saw the movie for the first time. I agree, that the ending was great, and frustrating, and left everything open to interpretation. My take, at the end is that Cobb was still in a dream (he may have been in a dream the entire movie). A few reasons why I believe he remained in a dream state:

- His children were wearing the exact same clothes and appeared to be the same age as when he left. Not sure how long he was gone, but it's a pretty big coincidence that they were in the exact same position that he envisioned over and over again throughout the movie.
- For everyone else to get back to reality, a perfectly timed series of "falls" was required to move from level to level back to the real world. Since Cobb missed the initial chain reaction, how did he get back to reality?
- What was Cobb's dad doing at the airport? If I recall correctly, his dad lived in Europe. Cobb's flight was only 10 hours, and not only did they never show him calling his dad to inform him that he was flying home, but would his dad have enough time to catch a flight back to the US to be waiting for him at the airport?
- When Cobb was walking through the airport, it seemed like everyone was staring at him.
- When Cobb was sitting across from the Saito near the end of the movie, why was Cobb still young, but the Saito so old?
- Overall, the ending seemed way too perfect and "dream-like".

Brilliant ending, if the top would have either continued to spin perfectly or fallen, I wouldn't be thinking as much about it now.

 

[Buzzman]

I thought I had this figured out then I read this and now I have no idea if its true but it sounds so true.

 

The idea of 'Inception' is to be a story crafted in the architecture of the mind - Cobb's mind. What people perceive to be real isn't necessarily so, because the mind can make things appear to be as real as ever. An important thing to remember is the start of the film. Dom Cobb wakes up in a place that we later find out to be limbo more importantly, Saito's limbo.

What happens next is something that is meaningless the first time a viewer watches the film. Saito is seen handling Cobb's totem (which was a top that he took from Mal while in limbo). At first, this is meaningless. Upon a second viewing, the viewer should realize that everything that happens after this scene (the jump cut to Cobb's attempt at extracting information from Saito, and so on) is something much deeper.

Saito promises to give Cobb the one thing that he wants, and that's to find the way back home. How does he convince Cobb to do this? He tells him to "take a leap of faith." This is another line that goes unnoticed at first. On a second viewing, the viewer should remember that line as something that Mal told Cobb when she jumped off of the building. Is the picture becoming clearer yet?

Cobb seems to appear wherever he needs to go, whether it is Paris, or Mombasa, just like it were a dream. While in Mombasa, Cobb gets chased by anonymous agents (which he perceives to be Cobol agents) through a fantastic action sequence where Cobb escapes the dream-like narrow tunnel and is rescued by none other than Saito. A bit later, Cobb and Saito visit Yusef who brings them into a basement with various figures connected to the dream machine. The idea was for Cobb to experiment with the deep sedative. He does, and when he "wakes up" he tries to use his totem only to be interrupted by Saito. Cobb never does find out if he is in the real world or not. In fact, he hasnt been yet. Hes been in limbo ever since he got there with Mal. Ever since then, he's been going deeper and deeper to the point where he created Saito as a projection to help him "get back home" - Did you really think Saito can just pick up the phone and make murder charges disappear? No. But, Cobb believes it and thus Saito is used to thrust Cobb further and further into a state of limbo where at the end of the journey, Cobb truly believes he is with his children after confronting and getting over his projection of Mal.

While in the limbo, Cobb, using Mal's totem, put the idea in her head that she was in the dream world. She was, she just hadnt realized it yet. What the viewer forgets is that all knowledge of limbo comes from Cobb's character. To think that Cobb is 100% accurate about it is absolutely wrong. He wouldn't know dream from reality not in the limbo that he describes to people and definitely not if inception were performed on him to believe that limbo truly was the real world.

Mal and Cobb never really left limbo at least, not that layer of it. When Mal jumped off the building, she gave herself the very same "kick" that Ariadne improvised later on in the movie. Mal was right about still being in the dream world. Cobb was still engulfed in limbo and didn't realize it. When Cobb and Mal had killed themselves with the train, they simply moved one layer deeper just like Saito did when he was killed, Fischer did when he was killed, and so on (this happens again at the end of the film when Saito picks up the gun in front of Cobb).

Cobb, deep in limbo, unknowingly uses the projections of his team to keep going deeper and deeper until the idea of inception is performed on his mind, and he truly believes he was able to find a way back home. Saito's promise to Cobb was kept - in the form of Saito (a projection from Cobb) making sure that Cobb ended up in limbo, so that he could live his "life" with his kids (who are in the same position as they were all throughout the film).

The team were projections in Cobb's mind the entire time. It's how he was able to go to Miles in Paris and find an architect named Ariadne (a name which comes from a Greek mythology story about a labyrinth) who improvised the "kick" at the end of the movie the same way that Cobb had seen (but not accepted as a dream) Mal do previously when she jumped off the building. It's how Eames happened to know of Yusef, and so on and so forth. Everything Cobb needed to make this inception work happened to work out for him. It's even how Cobb's lawyer knew so quickly that Mal had gone to 3 different shrinks to be declared "sane" and how he happened to have two tickets for Cobb to be able to get out of the country before the police would have arrested him.

The movie ends with Cobb appearing from place to place, going from limbo with Saito, to the plane where Saito magically makes one phone call to free Cobb from his problems, to walking through the airport, to meeting Miles who is with Cobb's children. Cobb spins his totem and it spins just like it was a dream. He fixes his eyes on his children and the totem begins to lose speed this is because inception has worked Cobb truly believes he is in the real world. His totem will not spin like it did in the dream, not as long as he has his kids. The title of the film is now shown to us, making complete sense because the title was really Cobb's journey through his own mind: INCEPTION

 

[Rush]

TRYING SO HARD NOT TO READ SPOILERS BEFORE I SEE THIS TOMORROW RRRRFFFFUUUUUU :rage:

 

[James2Stapleton]

im going mega high for this

 

[Leftwich]

im going mega high for this

Good luck understanding the movie... or having a high that lasts 2 and a half hours.

 

[Palooza]

I saw this two days ago and my mind is still blown. Fucking loved it. Going to go see it again ASAP.

 

[RainboUnicorn]

I thought I had this figured out then I read this and now I have no idea if its true but it sounds so true.

 

The idea of 'Inception' is to be a story crafted in the architecture of the mind - Cobb's mind. What people perceive to be real isn't necessarily so, because the mind can make things appear to be as real as ever. An important thing to remember is the start of the film. Dom Cobb wakes up in a place that we later find out to be limbo more importantly, Saito's limbo.

What happens next is something that is meaningless the first time a viewer watches the film. Saito is seen handling Cobb's totem (which was a top that he took from Mal while in limbo). At first, this is meaningless. Upon a second viewing, the viewer should realize that everything that happens after this scene (the jump cut to Cobb's attempt at extracting information from Saito, and so on) is something much deeper.

Saito promises to give Cobb the one thing that he wants, and that's to find the way back home. How does he convince Cobb to do this? He tells him to "take a leap of faith." This is another line that goes unnoticed at first. On a second viewing, the viewer should remember that line as something that Mal told Cobb when she jumped off of the building. Is the picture becoming clearer yet?

Cobb seems to appear wherever he needs to go, whether it is Paris, or Mombasa, just like it were a dream. While in Mombasa, Cobb gets chased by anonymous agents (which he perceives to be Cobol agents) through a fantastic action sequence where Cobb escapes the dream-like narrow tunnel and is rescued by none other than Saito. A bit later, Cobb and Saito visit Yusef who brings them into a basement with various figures connected to the dream machine. The idea was for Cobb to experiment with the deep sedative. He does, and when he "wakes up" he tries to use his totem only to be interrupted by Saito. Cobb never does find out if he is in the real world or not. In fact, he hasnt been yet. Hes been in limbo ever since he got there with Mal. Ever since then, he's been going deeper and deeper to the point where he created Saito as a projection to help him "get back home" - Did you really think Saito can just pick up the phone and make murder charges disappear? No. But, Cobb believes it and thus Saito is used to thrust Cobb further and further into a state of limbo where at the end of the journey, Cobb truly believes he is with his children after confronting and getting over his projection of Mal.

While in the limbo, Cobb, using Mal's totem, put the idea in her head that she was in the dream world. She was, she just hadnt realized it yet. What the viewer forgets is that all knowledge of limbo comes from Cobb's character. To think that Cobb is 100% accurate about it is absolutely wrong. He wouldn't know dream from reality not in the limbo that he describes to people and definitely not if inception were performed on him to believe that limbo truly was the real world.

Mal and Cobb never really left limbo at least, not that layer of it. When Mal jumped off the building, she gave herself the very same "kick" that Ariadne improvised later on in the movie. Mal was right about still being in the dream world. Cobb was still engulfed in limbo and didn't realize it. When Cobb and Mal had killed themselves with the train, they simply moved one layer deeper just like Saito did when he was killed, Fischer did when he was killed, and so on (this happens again at the end of the film when Saito picks up the gun in front of Cobb).

Cobb, deep in limbo, unknowingly uses the projections of his team to keep going deeper and deeper until the idea of inception is performed on his mind, and he truly believes he was able to find a way back home. Saito's promise to Cobb was kept - in the form of Saito (a projection from Cobb) making sure that Cobb ended up in limbo, so that he could live his "life" with his kids (who are in the same position as they were all throughout the film).

The team were projections in Cobb's mind the entire time. It's how he was able to go to Miles in Paris and find an architect named Ariadne (a name which comes from a Greek mythology story about a labyrinth) who improvised the "kick" at the end of the movie the same way that Cobb had seen (but not accepted as a dream) Mal do previously when she jumped off the building. It's how Eames happened to know of Yusef, and so on and so forth. Everything Cobb needed to make this inception work happened to work out for him. It's even how Cobb's lawyer knew so quickly that Mal had gone to 3 different shrinks to be declared "sane" and how he happened to have two tickets for Cobb to be able to get out of the country before the police would have arrested him.

The movie ends with Cobb appearing from place to place, going from limbo with Saito, to the plane where Saito magically makes one phone call to free Cobb from his problems, to walking through the airport, to meeting Miles who is with Cobb's children. Cobb spins his totem and it spins just like it was a dream. He fixes his eyes on his children and the totem begins to lose speed this is because inception has worked Cobb truly believes he is in the real world. His totem will not spin like it did in the dream, not as long as he has his kids. The title of the film is now shown to us, making complete sense because the title was really Cobb's journey through his own mind: INCEPTION

Wow. This has me thinking. I need to see it again.

 

[Buzzman]

exactly, I thought my theory was good, but I read that and im so damn confused its going to take like 5 viewings to finally make a decision.

This will be the 1st time I see the same movie in theaters 3 days in a row.

 

[wingsfan77]

Just got back, VERY good movie. Definitely gives it more longevity with the way it ended, people will be talking about it for years

 

[Palooza]

Going to see it again in about 20 minutes. I hope my mind is blown again.

 

[MVP1991]

Gonna see this soon.

High or sober?

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/can-someone-please-explain-inception-me

Writer-director Nolan is an elegant Hollywood hack from London whose movies are a colossal waste of time, money and I.Q. points. "Elegant" because his work always has a crisp use of color, shading and shadows, and "hack" because he always takes an expensive germ of an idea, reduces it to a series of cheap gimmicks and shreds it through a Cuisinart until it looks and sounds like every other incoherent empty B-movie made by people who haven't got a clue about plot, character development or narrative trajectory. Like other Christopher Nolan head scratchers-the brainless Memento, the perilously inert Insomnia, the contrived illusionist thriller The Prestige, the idiotic Batman Begins and the mechanical, maniacally baffling and laughably overrated The Dark Knight-this latest deadly exercise in smart-aleck filmmaking without purpose from Mr. Nolan's scrambled eggs for brains makes no sense whatsoever. Is it clear that I have consistently hated his movies without exception, and I have yet to see one of them that makes one lick of sense.

 

[wingsfan77]

that's funny because I really enjoyed all of the movies he listed haha

 

[St. Francisco]

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/can-someone-please-explain-inception-me

Someone get that man a coloring book...maybe he can understand that.

 

[Champ]

Great fucking movie.

 

[Goober]

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/can-someone-please-explain-inception-me

LOL at New York Critics. They've hated Nolan ever since he decided not to film his Batman movies in New York.

 

[St. Francisco]

I thought I had this figured out then I read this and now I have no idea if its true but it sounds so true.

 

The idea of 'Inception' is to be a story crafted in the architecture of the mind - Cobb's mind. What people perceive to be real isn't necessarily so, because the mind can make things appear to be as real as ever. An important thing to remember is the start of the film. Dom Cobb wakes up in a place that we later find out to be limbo more importantly, Saito's limbo.

What happens next is something that is meaningless the first time a viewer watches the film. Saito is seen handling Cobb's totem (which was a top that he took from Mal while in limbo). At first, this is meaningless. Upon a second viewing, the viewer should realize that everything that happens after this scene (the jump cut to Cobb's attempt at extracting information from Saito, and so on) is something much deeper.

Saito promises to give Cobb the one thing that he wants, and that's to find the way back home. How does he convince Cobb to do this? He tells him to "take a leap of faith." This is another line that goes unnoticed at first. On a second viewing, the viewer should remember that line as something that Mal told Cobb when she jumped off of the building. Is the picture becoming clearer yet?

Cobb seems to appear wherever he needs to go, whether it is Paris, or Mombasa, just like it were a dream. While in Mombasa, Cobb gets chased by anonymous agents (which he perceives to be Cobol agents) through a fantastic action sequence where Cobb escapes the dream-like narrow tunnel and is rescued by none other than Saito. A bit later, Cobb and Saito visit Yusef who brings them into a basement with various figures connected to the dream machine. The idea was for Cobb to experiment with the deep sedative. He does, and when he "wakes up" he tries to use his totem only to be interrupted by Saito. Cobb never does find out if he is in the real world or not. In fact, he hasnt been yet. Hes been in limbo ever since he got there with Mal. Ever since then, he's been going deeper and deeper to the point where he created Saito as a projection to help him "get back home" - Did you really think Saito can just pick up the phone and make murder charges disappear? No. But, Cobb believes it and thus Saito is used to thrust Cobb further and further into a state of limbo where at the end of the journey, Cobb truly believes he is with his children after confronting and getting over his projection of Mal.

While in the limbo, Cobb, using Mal's totem, put the idea in her head that she was in the dream world. She was, she just hadnt realized it yet. What the viewer forgets is that all knowledge of limbo comes from Cobb's character. To think that Cobb is 100% accurate about it is absolutely wrong. He wouldn't know dream from reality not in the limbo that he describes to people and definitely not if inception were performed on him to believe that limbo truly was the real world.

Mal and Cobb never really left limbo at least, not that layer of it. When Mal jumped off the building, she gave herself the very same "kick" that Ariadne improvised later on in the movie. Mal was right about still being in the dream world. Cobb was still engulfed in limbo and didn't realize it. When Cobb and Mal had killed themselves with the train, they simply moved one layer deeper just like Saito did when he was killed, Fischer did when he was killed, and so on (this happens again at the end of the film when Saito picks up the gun in front of Cobb).

Cobb, deep in limbo, unknowingly uses the projections of his team to keep going deeper and deeper until the idea of inception is performed on his mind, and he truly believes he was able to find a way back home. Saito's promise to Cobb was kept - in the form of Saito (a projection from Cobb) making sure that Cobb ended up in limbo, so that he could live his "life" with his kids (who are in the same position as they were all throughout the film).

The team were projections in Cobb's mind the entire time. It's how he was able to go to Miles in Paris and find an architect named Ariadne (a name which comes from a Greek mythology story about a labyrinth) who improvised the "kick" at the end of the movie the same way that Cobb had seen (but not accepted as a dream) Mal do previously when she jumped off the building. It's how Eames happened to know of Yusef, and so on and so forth. Everything Cobb needed to make this inception work happened to work out for him. It's even how Cobb's lawyer knew so quickly that Mal had gone to 3 different shrinks to be declared "sane" and how he happened to have two tickets for Cobb to be able to get out of the country before the police would have arrested him.

The movie ends with Cobb appearing from place to place, going from limbo with Saito, to the plane where Saito magically makes one phone call to free Cobb from his problems, to walking through the airport, to meeting Miles who is with Cobb's children. Cobb spins his totem and it spins just like it was a dream. He fixes his eyes on his children and the totem begins to lose speed this is because inception has worked Cobb truly believes he is in the real world. His totem will not spin like it did in the dream, not as long as he has his kids. The title of the film is now shown to us, making complete sense because the title was really Cobb's journey through his own mind: INCEPTION

That's a mind-blowing theory right there. Fuck.

 

[KillaK]

 

I read somewhere that in the dream sequences Cobb is wearing his wedding ring but in real life he isn't. In the final scene he isn't wearing it, I got to watch the movie again to check for that.