So I went and saw Inception tonight. wtf.
the ending was kinda lame, but it was a good movie. did you see it? were you able to keep track of wtf was going on? I was able to keep track, but they kinda lost me in the last 5 seconds of the film…
(spoilers in comments!)
Ok, so they’re all about “what’s reality and what’s in your mind” so why did they leave it ambiguous if he was in reality or not? I mean, it’s obvious that the spinning top was about to topple, but why cut out right before it fell over?
why leave it at that point? are they hoping for sequels? could the director not commit to one final solution?
Its not ambiguous, if a top wobbles, it will fall.
unless you’re in a dreamstate, then anything is possible, right?
No in the dream state t does not wobble, they showed that it didn’t multiple times.
I loved this movie, and yes it seemed like the top was about to topple, but I’m guessing Nolan wanted to at least plant the doubt that Cobb really got his kids back in our minds. I kept saying under my breath during that last scene, “C’mon, just fall over.” When it cut away before it actually happened I laughed. I’m glad it at least made it seem like it was going to topple, but I’ve talked to people who don’t think it fell over at all.
Other people have pointed out the top is not Cobb’s totem, but his wife’s so does it really work for him? I don’t know.
He is the only living person who knows it, meaning it does work.
That’s a good point.
He told Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe knew about it, and his subconscious representation of his wife who kept fucking things up for him also knew about it. I’m also going to assume Joseph Gordon-Levitt knew about it too because this is the worst kept secret ever.
Remember, it didn’t matter if you talked about it or showed it to other people, you didn’t let them hold it or inspect it thoroughly. That way no one would truly know the weight, know about the small ding on the side etc. etc.
there were a few points at which I was somewhat incredulous about the totems that they were using and the logic behind them, but I guess they would work if that’s something that’s ingrained in your mind, right?
Well the totems would work as far as knowing if you’re in another person’s dream since nobody else knows their exact weight and balance, but except for Cobb’s, which keeps spinning in a dream, it seems like they wouldn’t be able to tell you if you’re in your own dream. Maybe the other ones have little tricks to them as well, but weren’t elaborated on because it was irrelevant to the plot.
That was the point yes, something that was familiar that would behave a certain way in the real world, and in the real world only.
I saw it last night, and was in awe that they are still able to make such original and awesome movies. Usually every movie plot is a copy of a copy of a copy.
or a dream of a dream of a dream?
The end of the film was the way it was to create discussion and to fuck with your brain more. SUCCESS!!!! Best film of the year thus far. Finely an intelligent and original film that makes the audience think.
The top wobbled.
I was more impressed by the execution than the premise.
With the years that go into planning something like this a logic flaw isn’t likely.
There’s a neat trick to the music. Two different tracks used are the same song. One is just sped up and louder but its the exact same song.
I guess he’d make a better movie if there was somebody like Darabont working with him on the script. That might give his characters the depth and personality he can’t seem to write well.
Did anybody else notice that the “kick” music cue was “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” meaning “No, I don’t regret anything,” a recurring theme throughout the movie? Incidentally, Marion Cotillard (Mal) played the woman who originally sang it (Edith Piaf) in La Vie En Rose.
I thought that was clever. What does everyone think of Dom’s totem being his wedding band? He only wears it during certain scenes…
The ring is only on his finger while he’s dreaming. Because, like he says “In my dream we’re still together.”
Ye good movie, top should have fell over to not fall into the spooky handy waving endings we constantly see now, yea we get it – endings used to be true conclusions and now, your amazing ability to write a script/direct is BETTER THAN THAT! *spooky hands* *sigh* – but not too hung up on it, enjoyed it a lot.
this.
I say it doesn’t matter whether the top fell or not, as – at least in the dream – it’s as much a projection as anything else. If you really, deeply, subconsciously believe you’re in reality, then it will respond as such, even if it’s still a dream.
The trick is, then, to fool someone into believing the dream wholeheartedly, and I think that’s what the movie was really all about — Cobb’s team performing inception on Cobb, and it happened right in front of our eyes.
The team realizes that Cobb (via Mal) is a threat to their work, and possibly their lives. He simply has to retire, but they know he won’t do it willingly; not until he can be with his kids again. That being realistically impossible(he can’t go to the states and, from the coldness of his mother-in-law on the phone, she still blames him for the death of her daughter, and isn’t letting the kids go to him, either), his team – including Cobb’s father-in-law(Caine), Saito, Ariadne and possibly Fischer – work up the whole Saito v. Fischer plot to retire Cobb into a dream by selling him what he really wants; to be with his kids.
One problem: They know Cobb will never believe ANY dream as long as Mal is still around(making Mal’s memory an inverse totem?), so the whole Saito/Fischer thing had to happen – including Saito being shot – to get Cobb to go to the one place he refused to go… Limbo. He had to confront the memory and guilt over his wife’s death, so the team intended to have Saito – Cobb’s only chance to get his kids back – go to Limbo so he’d have to follow. This puts Mal right between Cobb and what he wanted most, and they gambled that he’d make the right decision when he got there.
He chooses the kids over Mal, finds Saito and they kick back out to reality… or do they? Why are the kids the same age – and in the same clothes – at the end as they are in his dreams, especially when they’re older on the phone(the kids are played by two different actors each, according to IMDB)?
If we’re assuming that the team is doing all of this to con the master conman, then the clues are all over the place. First, Cobb realizes that Saito is hiding something else, even after breaking into his safe in his dream. We never find out what secret he was keeping, and I believe it’s about his true identity as an agent.
All of that was setup to get Cobb to believe Saito is the real deal, and to ensure that Cobb takes him seriously when Saito offers him the chance to go home. Right about then, their architect(Lucas Haas) is conveniently taken out of the picture — what was it Cobb said about keeping the architect out of the dream? Interesting timing.
Cobb can’t lose this mission, so he obviously plans to recruit his best men, which leads him to Mombasa, to find Eames. They have some witty banter, and Cobb is then chased right into the car of Saito(who just happens to be there, protecting his investments). Eames joins them, and just so happens to know a guy in town who uses experimental dream elixirs, and so they go to meet him.
Here’s where I think the retirement dream starts. Cobb is led to a room full of dreamers, and he’s told that they go there every day to dream(though, who’s to say that isn’t just a room full of permanently retired people, similar to Cobb?). Cobb tests it out for himself, and has a dream unlike any other in the movie, shown as flashes of his wife. He “wakes up” but is startled, still seeing flashes of his wife, even after waking up. Cut to Cobb splashing water on his face, and then he goes to spin the top, but it bounces onto the floor. Before he can pick it up, he’s distracted by Saito.
The top is never spun again until the end of the movie.
Reality was never verified after dreaming in Mombasa. As meticulous as Nolan is… I doubt this is a coincidence. His team corralled him to Mombasa(remember, just as with Fischer, he had to believe he was calling the shots all along). They had to get him to the dream farm, and then sell him the dream.
Fischer isn’t introduced until after that point, so it’s very possible that Fischer was simply a decoy — maybe not even a real person. Funny that Fischer’s inception echoes Cobb’s; the child’s need for love from the father.
So… there you go. The end is a dream, but one he can finally believe. He moves past the guilt, and gets what he wants the most… as far as he knows.
I can’t buy the ending being real because it ignores too many inconsistencies for a guy like Nolan. I also can’t buy that the whole thing was a dream and that Cobb was in Limbo the whole time. If his wife was right in jumping off of the ledge and she isn’t dead, then why hasn’t she come back for him? That undermines the whole love story if she has the opportunity to bring him back and doesn’t do so.
This was the exact outcome my friend and I came to after seeing it.
This is an interesting take on it, thanks for taking the time to lay it all out.
gaaah, I remember thinking the same thing about the top not getting spun, but forgot about it due to keeping track of what dream state they were all in
That’s what I thought as well. (Just saw it – sorry if this thread is dead). I wasn’t sure I was right, up until I realized the kids never aged, which is something I picked up from Beautiful Mind.
Wow just read the last post I’ll have to watch it again but in end I hoped the top would fall but I believe he was dreaming anyway not sure if there was a reference to how long he has been away from his kids but I’m pretty sure it must have been couple of years and in the last scene his kids never aged they looked the same as in his memory.
This is pretty dumb, but I really enjoyed how Arthur got Ariadne to kiss him, as if that would convince Fischer’s subconscious that they were not intruders.