Inception Movie Review
A Dream within a dream. Within a Dream.
Short Version: Inception not only offers all the amazing visuals and intense action of a summer blockbuster, but a very well-crated and intellectually stimulating storyline. This is the kinda sophisticated action film we need to see coming from Hollywood more often. Several days later its impression on me lingers. It’s premise of dream exploration and collective subconscious dares the audience to think deeper. Great Job Nolan!
Movie Review
Movie Discussion w/Spoilers!
What you’ll Like:
• A smart and unique Concept in a sea of unoriginal hollywood cash-grabs.
• Engaging,nearly hypnotic.
• Beautiful visuals and masterful FX shots.
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a Bad Ass.
• Best Moment: The simultaneous action between three levels of dreamworlds in the climax!
The dream begins to fall apart.
What you’ll Hate:
• It may be “too” complex for younger audiences to enjoy.
• Not much backstory to the technology and world beyond the characters personal stories.
• WTF?!: Where do they get the weapons in the dream worlds? If they can manifest them, why dont they manifest full body armor and rocket launchers?
Final Verdict:
9/10
EXCELLENT
Angry Joes Dream Totem
In the begining Siato is touching Leo’s Totum. The movie makes it clear no one can touch your totem. I think he was dreaming the whole movie and when he seen his kids turn around he didn’t give a shit.
Report this comment
I am THOROUGHLY enjoying your video reviews. Just PLEASE stop saying “eX-specially”.
Report this comment
Uhh…..Joe. You forgot to mention the director’s name “Christopher Nolan”!
Report this comment
The beggining is what Saito remembered the building being like. He made that building from his memories of when Leo and JGL tried to steal his thoughts. At the begginging he’s an old man because he’s been in limbo for so long (what what he feels is so long, limbo is when you’re in a coma)
Report this comment
Most of what you claim happens to be supprisingly appropriate and that makes me ponder the reason why I had not looked at this in this light previously. Your piece truly did turn the light on for me as far as this subject matter goes. But at this time there is actually 1 position I am not too cozy with so whilst I make an effort to reconcile that with the actual core theme of your point, permit me see what the rest of the readers have to point out.Very well done.
Report this comment
In this great pattern of things you get a B- for effort and hard work. Where exactly you actually misplaced me personally was in your particulars. As people say, details make or break the argument.. And it could not be more correct in this article. Having said that, allow me tell you exactly what did work. Your writing is actually extremely powerful which is probably the reason why I am making the effort in order to comment. I do not make it a regular habit of doing that. 2nd, even though I can easily notice the leaps in reason you make, I am not certain of just how you appear to unite your details which in turn help to make your conclusion. For right now I shall subscribe to your issue however wish in the foreseeable future you link the facts much better.
Report this comment
I don’t remember their names well, but here’s my interpretation of the movie. Now, the whole movie is like a self-solving puzzle, where they give you the pieces at first, and then they show you how to solve the puzzle. The beginning is actually the scene that “should” be right before the ending. It’s where Cobb decides to stay in the kimbo and save Saito (if that was his name). The old man is Saito, which has spent his dream-life in the limbo, but he thinks that it’s the real world. And about the limbo. The reason why it’s so hard to leave it, is because it seems real. You spend years in it, and there’s everything you ever wanted. So basically, the only way to leave it, is to either figure out that you’re dreaming, or to decide to end your life.
Now, about the very ending. It’s all up to how you want it to end. Because, think about this in real life. You can’t know whether you are in the real world, because you can’t just go and see what happens when you die. That means you can never know whether you’re alive. The same applies to the movie. The only thing that makes me feel like he was in the limbo, is his children. They’re exactly the same as how Cobb remembers them.
Report this comment
I like to think that the dead-french-wife was right all along, that Leo has spent the entire movie still in Limbo, and that by killing herself she woke up -without him.
It would be SO sad for every one of her creepy manifestations to, in fact, be attempts to convince him to wake up and return to his family, while he refused all along because the guilt over her death chained him to the idea that it was all his fault, and thus, reality.
By the end of the movie he breaks down and finally loses himself in the dream of returning to his children, ironically shutting her, and any possibility that he might actually do so, completely out.
…Otherwise, I also love the obvious “happy ending”.
You know the feeling of waking up from a nightmare, and realizing in extreme relief that you’re back in a reliable and comparatively safe world?
That was exactly what I felt when Cob woke up on the plane. It gives a “cliche happy ending” ENORMOUS empathy.
Report this comment
I don’t know if someone else has already said this but from what I understood from the movie is the Leo says that he was going to get the asian dude back from limbo. So basically, the asian dude (sorry, the name skips my head right now) lived a whole life in limbo and ended up in the same scenario like in the beginning of the movie because it is now HIS perception and his dream. So what I think is that Leo technically traded minds and ended up in the asian dude’s dream. I can’t explain WHY he had the same dream since the beginning of the movie states that an architect made the building that he was in at an old age but he just did. I think they were just going for a full circle gimmick.
Now for if Leo is awake or not. I would like to say that he lives a fairy tale ending but a side of me says that if you look at the kids in the end of the movie, they’re wearing the same clothes like when he would dream about them. I want to say they’re the same size too.
Report this comment
@ Bleicher – you really dont get it. Tenshou is right, he is stuck in limbo so his kids did not changed their appearance because that is what leaonardo’ s character remembers. He is still dreaming and cant kill himself coz he dont know that he is dreaming. If you understand the movie, its hard to wake up from limbo coz its a dream where all your desires are there, like the desire to see his kids. That is why he have to do inception in his wife in the first place. In the movie, he also said that the first time he ended up in limbo with his wife, it took him 50 years (dream-limbo time) to have the will to go back to reality but his wife dont want to. for me the ending is that Saito and him were stuck in limbo but will return back to reality like what happenned to him and his wife. and it will be just days in the real world since the time in limbo is very fast compare to reality. Remember that he was already stayed there for 50 yrs with his wife but it was just days when they returned coz they are still young and in their house when they woke up instead of being in the hospital and in the state of comma. thanx
Report this comment
i don’t get the whole discussion – the movie doesn’t offer that much of interpretation room.
and it is in no way complex or very intelligent. yes – it is a VERY good movie compared to others. but the whole complex reality stuff?
come on – recursion is basically 101 of IT!
and there is really much stuff that doesnt follow its own rules. “editors room” pointed most of it out.
it wasn’t even fresh idea – anyone saw “13th floor”? it had 3 lvls as well.
as for the end? they didn’t mean to give one – i assume the screenplay writer himself (similar to LOST) had no idea how to get out of it cool, so he gave us open end.
Report this comment
This movie sucked. Shutter Island was an awesome mind bender with De Caprio but its almost like they tried to top that here with inception, and as a result went WAY overboard, wats the truth behind this movie? no one knows including whoever wrote it. there are SO many questions someone could ask about this movie. that means nothings for sure, and no ones theories are right, and therefore it fuckin sucks. to sum it up they tried way to hard . period.
Report this comment
Alright AngryJoe, in the beginning of Inception it showed Cobb and Saito (Saito being all old and everything because he was in limbo for such a long time already). When one is in limbo, that person(s) control every aspect of the dream, from ppl to environment. This is why Cobb is drag to Saito’s home in limbo. Now Cobb is there to get Saito out of limbo because with out Saito, Cobb would not be allowed to go free in the US (their destination on the plane) since he is a wanted man because it is believed he killed his wife but you know that isn’t true when Cobb explains to Ariadne the whole story of how him and Mal (his wife) where stuck in limbo before and he pulled an inception on her to finally get her come to terms to leave but when they had finally escaped from limbo, that concept was still in her mind so she came up with the elaborate plan to get him to commit suicide which of course he didn’t. Now back to Saito and Cobb in limbo, after seeing Cobb’s totem he say that he remembers a man who had the same one (which of course was Cobb but Saito is hard at remembering since mentally he’s so old already), afterwards it shows Cobb and Arthur in the dream wearing suits and a Saito who wasn’t as old as he was before. When it show the scene with Cobb, Arthur, and younger Saito; that is the start of the movie showing you all the events that occurred that eventually led you to the scene where Cobb and old Saito was in. So it is one of those movie’s that shows part of the end at the beginning. Cobb and Old Saito and Cobb, Arthur, and young Saito are two separates scenes.
Now about the ending with the totem spinning, that represents whether he is still in a dream or not. Now how he got there i have no idea where you got your ideas. What happened was when they were infiltrating Robert Fischer mind to plant the idea, they used heavy sedations (to be put to sleep), the reason for a *heavy* sedation was to support all the layers of dreams they were going into. But with the heavy sedation there was one flaw, if they die in the dream they wouldn’t wake up like usual and instead end up in limbo. When in the first dream Saito was shot so he was slowly dieing in the dream. So later when Mr. Charlie (Cobb’s alias) tricked Fischer to help them break into Fischer’s own mind he was shot and killed ( in the dream) therefore for going to limbo. Just when all hope seemed lost, Ariadne came up with the idea of following Fischer to limbo with that maching thing. So in limbo Cobb stayed after releasing Fischer and forcing Ariadne to leave, Cobb stayed behind. The reason Cobb stayed was because he realized that by that time Saito had already died( in the dream) so he is somewhere in limbo so Cobb is going to try and find him since Saito is his key back to the U.S.. Now this is what i was talking about earlier, when in limbo the person(s) have absolute control of everything in the dream so what had happen was that Cobb was so focused and determined to find Saito, awake from all the dream with Saito, arrive at the US victorious with having successfully planted the idea in Fischer mind, Saito honoring his part of the agreement, not being pursued in the U.S., and eventually arriving home to his children. He was so bent on accomplishing all this that subconsciously that he did do all that but in *limbo!!!!* . since he has full control of everything, duplicating such events is a breeze. Meaning that he and Saito are actually stuck in limbo.
Report this comment
I totally agree with u. But there is 1 thing i don’t understand: if Cobb and Saito are stuck in limbo, why they didn’t just kill themselves, so they can come back to reality like Cobb and his wife did?? I guess that because they couldn’t recognize if they’re in real world or not. what do u think??
Report this comment
actually, after Cob says come back with me
You see Saitoh putting a gun to his own head
and then cut to them on the plane
so I think they did kill themselves and woke up
and aren’t stuck in limbo
Report this comment
Inception is probably the most creative films Hollywood has produced in a long time. Shutter Island was another brilliant film with De Caprio!
Report this comment
Does anybody know if there is a different version of the movie? I recently got the blueray version, but I cannot find the part where Mal drowns their kids. The first time I watched “Inception” was at the movie theater, and I perfectly remember that there was this aforementioned part, and then I got the blueray which misses it.
Report this comment
You are thinking about a completely different movie known as Shutter island, moron.
Report this comment
It may be “too” complex for younger audiences to enjoy.
• Not much backstory to the technology and world beyond the characters personal stories.
• WTF?!: Where do they get the weapons in the dream worlds? If they can manifest them, why dont they manifest full body armor and rocket launchers?
–Too complex for an idiotic action junky.
–Films aren’t supposed to have the back story in the script. It makes for an over obvious exposition.
–that’s true. the third thing.
Beyond that you don’t know wtf you’re talking about.
Report this comment
Oh, and about the things I said about the brain get stressed with a lot of incoming data, and make up stupid ideas…
I just want to say that who wrote the movie probably got that in mind…. because people got intrigated about things they don’t understand.
But if he does something impossible to understand no one will like it!
So he did something easy to understand, but delivered to your minds in a way so people mess it up on their heads. Not so strong that people might hate it. Not so soft that people wil get it right away.
A lot of stories do that. Most of them has achieved a lot of success.
Anyone who stopped to think in concepts similar to what is presented on the movie was not surprised with the idea… all the information presented there is a bit logical… and these people will understand the movie right away without need to think of it.
The only thing that surprised me on the movie was the story, that he made an inception on his wife saying “this world isn’t real”(not actually saying, but I mean his inception idea says that).
Just think about Matrix, ideas of Einsteins paradox in time travelling, and the ideas in the game Assassins Creed about memories inside memories… all of them can be useful to get how the “dream-sharing” works. And it can be very simple.
If you get that, you can focus on the story. And there is nothing left to explain too.
As I said before… the story is good. The effects are good. The ideas are good.
The movie is very good. (not outstanding)
But it sure is NOT complex.
Report this comment
Gabriel you are overcomplicating the ending and it’s purpose. Ironic isn’t it?
The whole point in the ending happens at Cobbs house with his kids. He spins his totem, but doesn’t look at it. Because he doesn’t care anymore, what mattered to him at that point was the kids and the emotions of that situation.
Report this comment
Why people try to complicate?
It is a simple movie.
SAITO LIMBO:
The Saito room is his limbo. The limbo is your own dream… but you’re stuck on it… that’s why people go crazy.
Because it’s a dream that you create, and you never go out. It’s like being alone in the nothing. Your mind is supposed to create everything there, but at same time no mind can create anything without outside stimulation. So he created a world… then what? Nothing happens. He just lives in there as everything was normal. And get crazy because nothing happens. It is his own mind with nothing to do there.
PLANNED ROOM FOR SAITO:
Why it is the same of the beggining of the movie? It’s obvious: The architect has the duty to make places that will make the target confortable and make him populate it with the desirable data, so he might think he is a real world. The best place to do it is a place that he is used to. That is Saito’s house or something like that. Of course, at the same time, it is risky, because a simple detail might ruin it all, like the carpet on the upper-level dream, the hotel at the “civil-war” city(aka. his mistress booty-call place) .
The END:
The end is simple, Cobb got stuck in his own limbo, of course the previous things that happened made him believe he was actually going home… so it is the path his limbo taken.
Why he finally saw his kid’s faces if it was his own dream:
Someone said on comments that he couldn’t dream their faces… that’s bullshit… he didn’t want to see their faces on the dream because he knew it was a dream! He doesn’t remember their actual faces, and he doesn’t want to record that in his memory as their faces. He would know that his mind is faking it.
He even says it : “I don’t want to see because they wouldn’t be my children”, or something like that.
That’s it.
No secrets.
Everything is in the movie.
There is no subliminal messages.
It is exactly what is there to see. Don’t try to figure theories to something that is complete.
All the answers that aren’t there aren’t needed to knowledgement of the story.
And yeah, the movie is not THAT complex… It just unveils a lot of new concepts and ideas in short amount of time, so people mess them all inside their heads… and make a great effort connecting them back(or even try to connect things that shouldn’t have a connection), and then make up some “smart” ideas, and then think “omg, it is so complex! how could someone bring this up?”.
Yes, the brain do that. It happens when you have a great income of data… you try to connect them all, and create ideas for that… some of them are smart, but most of them are stupid… because your brain is still stressed and busy with all that income!
It’s a very nice movie though. Nothing outstanding. Nothing mind blowing….. yeah… but still nice.
Report this comment
i think your right just saw it today on blue ray your second ending idea was what i thought was riight on the money, and i dont think the top stops spinning and hes still dreaming, the linc to the ending from the beginning is leo went to go find the asian guy in limbo but the top spins in it and he goes slowly for the gun so somehow if they die in limbo must be the way out thats why they all woke up on the plane, but in my opinion still in a dream…thats what i think…good movie great effects…..and i still stick by the last airbender being ok but i like the series and there planning on making 4 movies when theres only 3 books just to let you know
Report this comment
My view on the end is that it was purposely left to be left open, especially the way that the final scene ends, in which it was simply symbolic. It’s a happily ever after moment for many reasons, including these:
Cobb couldn’t dream on his own, if it was a dream, he could be happy to be able to dream again.
Cobb’s guilt was represented in two ways in the film, his mental guilt for the first inception he performed killing his wife, and the US government calling him guilty for a crime he didn’t truly commit. The deal with Saito gave him the connections to be relieved of his charges in the US, and as well during the mission, he dealt with his obession over his wife’s death.
Those are two points, there are others though it’s been a while since I saw it and quite frankly those to were the biggest ones to begin with.
Also, with your question about Saito and Cobb at the start, it was foreshadowing in the same style of that book with Ponyboy (I’m thinking Outsiders or To Kill a Mockingbird). That was the limbo (unstructured dreamscape) of Saito, though because they were hooked up together, Cobb joined him in his limbo, which has no measurable time ratio to the real world let alone other dream levels. Saito then in his old age (comparative to what it felt like) said there is something I was supposed to do for you, though he couldn’t remember, and Cobb having joined limbo again had a hard time remembering what, so in essence, the whole movie is Cobb remembering the events while still hooked in the dream with Saito. Which comes down to this, you will awaken from limbo, though you could have lived 20 lifetimes in that span of time mentally. That is why people became screwy after awaking from limbo. Hope you enjoy my take on it joe.
Report this comment
During the movie Leo’s character tells the architect girl how he and his wife were experimenting with how deep you could go in the dreams. Unless i am mistaken he said that his wife was more reserved and wished to stop but that he pushed her to go deeper into the dreams with him all the way to the edge of their subconscious(ocean) . It is my belief that Leo’s character began to prefer his dream world to the real world and deluded himself into the false belief that it was his wife and not he that was deluded.
TLDR: His wife was right and she and a few other characters are trying to pull him back out of his dream world. The wedding ring and other alternative theories and conjectures in my opinion are red herrings.
Report this comment
The “Ring-Thing” (muha^^) is a very good explanation, but has anybody noticed, that his children look the same as in his dreams? Children at their age might grow during the time he was gone. Don’t know if anybody wrote this before.
By the way nice review;-)
Report this comment
I can answer one of your grips about the movie. I completely agree the tech used should have some information about how it works, why it was invented, how long they have been using it, etc. something, anything….nevermind. The reason they don’t just manifest random OP weapons is because everything has to adhere to the rules of the world. You are trying to convince a man that the world he is in is real or someone else’s dream, not his, or whatever you have to play that role. Rocket launchers and body armor don’t fit into that role, then you can do it.
Example 1: When Leo first introduces himself in level 1 he tells him he is a security agent, thus nice suit, odd demeanor, and clean haircut. He tells him that he is in danger, thus his slight agitation. If he had shown up in full body armor, dual welding RPG-7′s, the guy’s mind would have just went, “WTF??? This is BS and that guy is the enemy.”
Example 2: When they are in level 3, they are about to attempt a military extraction on a secured facility. Everyone in the group is thus outfitted with their preferred loadout had that world been real cause they still have to play by the rules as to not give away how much power they really have over this world. You get C4, Sniper Rifles, some MP5, USP, I think a colt .45 custom, hand grenades, etc. Once again no RPG’s because they were suppose to sneak in and take the stuff and leave before anyone noticed. And while that did not happen, you still can’t just pull an RPG out of your ass because the target knows how this all works from his training. He would have realized that only the people who control and construct that world should be able to do that which thanks to Level 2, he believes that is him and only him.
Example 3: Grenade Launcher scene. Simply put, the guy realized that no one else could see him do it, so no harm no foul. He pulls the GL out of Hammer Space, uses it, and then it kinda vanishes back into Hammer Space. Since the target can’t see this, he is none the wiser.
Report this comment
Pretty simple, when he has a ring = Dreaming, when he doesn’t = realitiy… Ending was real.
Report this comment
people saying that the beginning is the same as the end are wrong. i saw it again last night and paid extra attention to the conversation. the conversation is the same but at the end leo says things that saito said in the beginning. so each characters dialogue within that same conversation is different. he finishes sentences originally spoken by saito because he already knows what hes going to say.
this is the only thing about the film that confused me. if the conversation was exactly the same then it would make sense to say it was starting at the end, and then building back up to that same point again. but this most definitely is not the case!
Report this comment
love this movie so much
Joesph GRORDON LEVITT IS A BAD ASS 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report this comment
i know exactly how u felt joe lol. when i drove home me and my girl were freaking out lol
Report this comment
It is a complicated movie, but I understood it and I’m only thirteen. I total agree tha Joesph Gordon-Levitt is a badass. And get this, THEY WANT HIM TO PLAY THE RIDDLER IN BATMAN 3!!! That tears it, I have to see batman 3. Riddler is my favorite batman villain and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is going to play him? Nice! Oh and they explain why they can’t just imagine weapons. If you change too many things, the subjects mind will realize your their and attack you. Ad in an operation of that importence, you really don’t want that to happen. Love the review Joe!
Report this comment
“too complex” you say? i dont think soo. maybe for 10 or less year’s old kids but i understand it almost perfectly, also you are right in the other 2 “bad point’s”.
Report this comment
As I see it, first interpretation right after coming from seeing it:
Cobb lost his wife and CAN NOT go back to his kids but he desperately WANTS TO. When he goes dreaming his desire to see his kids again his subconciously creates him the means to do so. Because seeing his kids again means so much to him the way to accomplish that must be very difficult or he would know that it was just a dream ( I got somethign for nothing, something is wrong) – thus the whole inception plot leading to the reward, the call from the plane that allows him finally to return home to his kids. After getting home he does not care to find out if he is still dreaming but goes to have a few happy moments with his kids even if it’s just a dream.
Report this comment
There was always something that bothered me. I understand in the first dream layer they couldn’t leave the dream by being killed because of the sedative, but how come it wouldn’t work in lower layers? Are they using the powerful sedative when being put to sleep INSIDE the dream (in which they proceed to the 3rd layer).
Also, when the guy that provided the sedative drove off the bridge, why didn’t the fall act as a “kick”?
If you can provide a better explanation, PLEASE do.
Report this comment
It did act as a kick. It just took longer due to the time spent in a dream state is increased as you go deeper into the levels. E.g. 1st layer hour is equal to 5 mins real time (As far as I remember). The time it took to fall off the bridge they had plenty of time in the 3rd layer to kick back up after the mission.
Don’t quote me on it, I don’t remember it all that well. I watched it about 3 weeks ago now.
As for the sedative, I’m not that sure. Perhaps it was the same sedative used in all three layers?
Report this comment
Since Cobb was using his wife’s totem most of the time it means that it doesn’t work and he isn’t able to tell if he is in a dream or not. However, in his so-called ‘dream’ he has a ring on his left hand which another comment said could be his actual totem. But why would he have his totem in his dreams instead of reality? This could mean that whenever Cobb wears his ring he is actually in reality and not his dreams. So like another comment said his wife is actually in reality and not him.
Report this comment
yeah i’m confused
Report this comment
Hi there,
We fully agree that inception is a must see movie of the year, one that doesn’t underestimate the audience of of its intelligence! The film is like an onion – you peel of layer by layer ;o) Question for you: how many times did you see it?
Picturenose
Report this comment
The beginning scene where Cobb wakes up on the beach is a foreshadowing of a future scene. This dream doesn’t occur twice in the beginning and the end, it occurs once at the end, which we are given a sneak peak of at the beginning. This is certain, because in the beginning scene when Saito’s an old man, and he sees Cobb’s totem, he knows what it is. He’s never seen it until later on in the movie. So to answer your question about the same dream sequence taking place in the beginning and the end, they are in fact the same dream, and it only took place at the end.
The big question about whether Cobb’s still dreaming at the end lies in a sequence of events that isn’t shown. At the end, where Cobb meets old man Saito, Cobb says he’s there to bring Saito back, and Saito picks up Cobb’s gun. Then they appear to wake up in the plane. The big unknown is what happened between when Saito picked up the gun and them waking up. Did they kill themselves in the dream and wake back up? If that’s the case, wouldn’t the same mechanic be in place where killing yourself under such a heavy sedative only sends you to limbo? We’re not sure, because Cobb woke himself and his wife up from limbo by letting a train hit them before. This might be an inconsistency, but there may be something that I missed.
So on the one hand, killing yourself in the world they put themselves in establishes that it’ll only send you further into limbo. On the other, Cobb and his wife were in that kind of world before, but were able to wake up by killing themselves. How and why are those two scenarios different? Perhaps the reason why is hidden in the time between Saito picking up Cobb’s gun, and them waking up in the plane.
Report this comment
The beginning scene with Saito was a test to ensure Cobb’s team was capable enough to attempt to perform inception and is not an epilogue of sorts placed at the start of the film. The story even makes it a priority to inform the viewer that it is a test of sorts. I personally believe the reason for such an extremely similar scene at the end of the film is to imply that Saito himself has succumb to a form of inception, where an idea was placed in his head at a subconscious level that slightly differs from what Cobb was trying to attempt. As you know people tend to have recurring dreams and maybe those dreams are based off a fantasy, a fear, or something different altogether. I came to the conclusion that Saito was afraid of being old and near death and even more so after his experience in the beginning of the film and that idea to an extent was haunting him and is why it happened so at the end.
Report this comment
i agree with Ronin. its not the same scene. maybe leos character planted the idea in saitos mind of getting him back into the country ? maybe saito was never actually planning on using inception to change fischers mind in the first place, but that was the angle leo went with in order to get him involved in his own plan to get home.
Report this comment
The totem doesn’t tell you if your dreaming or not. It tells you if you are in someone else’s dream.
The idea of totems as explained in the film is to have something that only you know the details about. That’s why Arthur wouldn’t let Ariadne touch his dice. She knows what it looks like but only Arthur knows how it is loaded and how much it weighs. That means that if Arthur was in someone else’s dream the totem wouldn’t feel right, so he’d know someone was trying to trick him. But in his own dream it will feel right because he knows the details.
Dom gets the top to spin to demonstrate that him and Mol are dreaming. That makes sense because the spinning top is impossible in the real world. But there’s nothing to say the top can’t stop in dream if you want it to. So the top only proves you are A) in your own dream or B) in a dream. It can’t prove you are not in a dream.
Ultimately, does it matter?
We apply value to the waking world because we think it is the real world. But using the logic of Inception, we could all be in a dream now, and what we think are dreams, is just a dream within a dream.
Either way a brilliant film with lots of action, and it gets you thinking.
Report this comment
Well first of all, I really can’t beat Steve’s observations, and I’ll be sure to watch the movie again to see if that theory holds true. Angry Joe, whilst I loved your review, I personally left the cinema with a 10/10 view of the film – it did all the complexity and detail of the matrix I better than the matrix I, and although I found the storyline regarding Cobb and his wife very similar to shutter island at times, I felt Inception did everything better and more.
My own explanation revolved around Cobb’s wife’s totem. I noticed that about the 5th scene into the film involves Cobb in a hotel room successfully using the totem to ascertain that he’s not in a dream state. In other words, the dream (if it is a dream) doesn’t begin there.
However, later on in Africa, when he’s given a sedative, he’s put into a dream state for just a few seconds, and then wakes up abruptly; rushing into the bathroom to wash himself up, he attempts to use the totem, but is interrupted by Saito, so it’s feasible he’s still in a stage of a dream state from then on. I don’t notice Cobb spinning the totem again until the final scene, so the deception could have begun from there (but the possible motives completely baffle me).
Nevertheless, it’s odd that he wouldn’t find time to spin the totem later on, and it may all hang on what scenes he’s wearing the ring in or not. A possible alternative is that it happened in limbo with Saito, suggesting that both are in a dream state, and thus ruling Saito out of the deception, but I’m personally not sure about that one.
What Boosty said about the jump in flight times may hold water in proving it’s a dream, but it may be a simple oversight on the part of the writer. On that note, I thought I saw a few plot holes in the film, however, but I may just be being ignorant:
> When the CEO bloke (the scarecrow guy) wakes up in the plane, surely he’d be completely baffled at the sight of Cobb, e.t.c. from his prevous dream? Or are we left to assume that he forgets the minor details and faces, and only wakes up with the bare essentails of what he has to do?
> How the hell did they manage to get Cobb back into the US – he’s been accused of murdering his wife!!! Even if they did get him through, what stupid official thought the wife murderer would be OK to take care of his children??? I mean I know he’s innocent and all, but it looks completely unworkable on paper. Clearly Saito’s a far more influential figure than I give him credit for.
> In the beginning of the film, when Saito wakes up from the collapsing Chinese dream into the second fake dream state in his house, I think he pulls a gun out of his pocket and points it at one of the team members. Who the hell let him sleep with a gun in his pocket?!?!?!?!
> When they’re performing inception across three dream states, why are the effects between each dream stage only limited to the stage following it, and even then apparently only selectively. For example, when the van’s falling into the water in stage 1, this messes up gravity on stage 2, but has no effect on stage 3. However, when the lift is being used to create a falling sensation in stage 2, I see no gravitational effect in stage 3. Perhaps it’s because they’re in different people’s dreams each time – explain movie, explain!!!!!
Nevetheless, I think you’ve got to ignore such trivial (and probably incorrect) observations – the film was really, really good. So there.
P.S. so chuffed that as soon as I knew what the totem did, I guessed the exact ending!! It was pure luck, I know, but still – SKILL!!
Report this comment
Doesn’t the beginning tie in with the ending because Cobb goes to get Sato back and brings out his totem to show that he’s dreaming and that his world isn’t real (after inception) and then the movie cuts to the first part before the inception where they fail at extracting Sato’s information?
Report this comment
Hey Joe!
Don’t worry about not understanding everything going on in this film. I had to see it twice in order to start understanding everything that was going on.
Ok so let’s start with the totem. First of all, it’s not his totem. It’s his wife’s totem. It was something that was special and unique to her. This might seem like a small and irrelevant detail, but trust me it makes sense later. So if it’s not his totem, how can he really tell if he’s dreaming or not? Well, he believes himself that the spinning top works for him just like it did his wife, however, if you look closely at his left hand, you’ll notice that when he’s dreaming, he’s wearing a ring. When he’s awake however, it is gone. This leads one to believe that the ring is somehow his totem. A dream totem if you will. He’s dreaming, it’s there; he’s awake, it’s gone.
This holds true in every single scene where you can see his left hand. The directors knew this, because in the last scene, Leo’s character purposefully turns that hand away from the screen so we can’t tell if he has a ring on in that scene, thereby giving away if he’s actually asleep or awake. It’s incredibly devious on the part of the writers and directors to have this one small detail that pervades the entire film and gives the film yet one more layer of interest.
As for the opening scene, that’s just a flashforward of what happens later in the movie. You’re thrown into what takes place later with no reference so that later when seeing that scene again, everything clicks and makes sense. Leo’s character goes looking for Sato after Sato had gone to limbo, and the rest you already know. Sato is old due to the extreme time difference in limbo and Dom Cobb just kills him in limbo to wake him up(that part is implied only).
So that’s my take on the movie. As to the alternate endings, they are all possible. It seemed to me that the top was winding down, but either way, that wouldn’t be the absolute end to it. It all mattered if that ring was on his finger or not.
I really enjoy your videos man. Keep it up!
Take care,
Steve
Report this comment
i went to see this and the theater i went to had these seats called D-Box Seats which are apprently seats that shakes during very actiony scenes
Report this comment
in the final scean the totam was starting to woble like it was going to fall and it started to wobble more over time and then it ended i honstly dont know what happed part of me thinks he made it out but part of me thinks hes still in limbo
But i hope there isnt a sequel not that i dont want one but they should leave this movie alone
i give this movie 10 out of 10
the only thing that confused me was the end i got ebery thing else but i had to think the entire tim
Report this comment
Hey Joe nice review.
My theory on the beginning scene (sado’s house) showing up again in the ending is this…I think we were given a sneak peek of the ending and the rest of the movie is leading up to this. We see as an audience how Leo’s character got to this place. If you remember right, the beginning scene is followed by another scene in the same house but Sado is young, which indicates to me that those were two differant dreams all together!
SPOILERS!!!!!
I think Leo’s character stayed behind in Limbo to find Sado. In Limbo time is EXTREMELY slow so Sado has been waitng around for what seems a while (he says it himself that hes waiting on someone but can’t seem to remember who or why).
Anyways hope that makes sense. Thanks again for the awesome review!
Report this comment
Yo Joe!
Longtime watcher, first-time poster. Well done on your recent forays into film-reviewing. Don’t beat yourself up on your style man. Doug, Cinema Snob and the rest of that gang are great at what they do (am a regular watcher of ‘em too) but you give that feel of just another guy with pretty damn decent opinions at the bar with a beer discussing it. Am especially fond of your reviews of Red Dead and Dragon Age.
Now on Inception. Think you hit the nail on the head with your rating landing somewhere between 8-9 but with a water-cooler-chatworthy bonus. Some reviewers went a lil Jesus-second-coming with this one so I’m glad you formed your own opinion without being swept away by it and just enjoyed’what came. Do I personally think its BETTER than Dark Knight like some of the critics are claiming? Not sure till I see how the second and or third watchings go. I think it will probably just about match up. Whatever the case I think we can all see that Nolan is becoming the Spielberg of our generation. By that I mean Old-School Spielberg, fun, rollercoaster flicks with the brains switched on and character to boot.
So on that topic, keep ‘em coming.
On the “what actually happened?” topic, the sentemental side of me REALLY wants to think Cobb lived happily ever after whilst the mean side of me thinks that he’s still in limbo. That when Saito reached for the gun but didn’t actually fire we jumped into another fantasy of Cobbs. Much like his scene with Ariadne we arrive somewhere without knowing how. Maybe Saito got out by killing himself if Cobb disappeared at that moment, I don’t know but Cobb, yeah he might still be in limbo-town. Would explain why the flight suddenly jumped to its final 20 minutes even though they rushed through the job a milllion times faster than they were supposed to and why the kids were still identical to the memory. He was filling in the gaps.
Love the Michael Caine theory though. Maybe his motive isn’t to get Cobb back to his family, maybe its just to make his suffering cease by letting him go back to limbo. Maybe the kids have died or been put in foster care aaaages back. Hell, the only proof we have they’re around at all is a phone call Cobb makes (who isn’t THAT psychologically stable seeing as he hallucinated once or twice seeing Mal in the real world).
Anyway, this post has got way too long. Keep up with the good work Angry Joe. Looking forward to a Mafia 2 review in the future…
Cheers,
Boosty
P.S
I’m going with the masses on the guns and armour thing. Think decking everyone out Rambo-style may have made a lil too many shudders in the system, pissing off the projections. Though I questioned my girlfriend on why this would matter when you’re already taking on a giant fortress full of heavily armed guards already looking for you. Meh * shrug*
Report this comment