A poster named Pepito00 on the Cracked.com forums posted this:

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So, this was a movie about movies, right? The time dilation and multiple roles by the actors (and with them, the suspension of disbelief) are what normally goes on in movies in general. A movie that may span decades or centuries happens in 2 hours while the same actor you've seen in many movies before and in real life magically becomes a pirate or a single dad struggling to make it in a cruel world.

The team assembled represents multiple sides of moviemaking with Saito being the more commercial side of movies, DiCaprio being a platonic ideal and stand-in for Nolan (not interested in money, had to steal people's ideas and audition for saito before he was trusted to put something new and original in people's heads), and the rest the more technical aspects: Art (writing) who has to come up with new ideas on the fly and do research, who Eames, the shape shifting forger (special effects) calls uncreative, Ariadne's cinematography, which kinda explains the whole thing with the mirrors and why the last architect was fired (didn't expect the viewer to ever really get that close to the picture, i.e. 3D, high def and digital) and the chemist being editing, he only goes down one level and it's his actions that affect the timing of the rest.

on a side note, Ariadne, the character whose scenes have the most audience explanation in them, being named after the character in Greek mythology that helped Theseus escape the Minotaur's labyrinth, but in the movie was responsible for creating mazes was awesome.

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Read more: http://www.cracked.com/forums/index.php?topic=46832.msg1595789#msg1595789

According to IMDB, there are two actresses that play Cobb's daughter, one older (voice only on the telephone) and one younger (the recurring vision of Cobb's kids). Therefore, he was in a dream at the end, since the kids had not aged at all and the younger daughter was present.

I thought it seemed like the voice of the daughter was dramatically older than the girl we saw.

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i would have made his kids close to 10 years older at the end than that last time he saw them though.

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Was it ever mentioned exactly how long he's been away from them? I don't remember anything specifically. However, I also watched it at Studio Movie Grill. I was probably too busy trying to eat in the dark without dumping a buffalo chicken tender in my lap.

No they didn't.

Why did I remember 3 different kids on the phone, but only 2 in "Real life"?

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According to IMDB, there are two actresses that play Cobb's daughter, one older (voice only on the telephone) and one younger (the recurring vision of Cobb's kids). Therefore, he was in a dream at the end, since the kids had not aged at all and the younger daughter was present.

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But if the whole thing is a dream, Cobb was dreaming that his daughter's voice sounded older.

I think he woke up to reality. In the dream scenes, he had on his wedding ring. In the planning, plane, and end scenes, there was no ring.

I personally think he woke up into reality, because that is what I want to believe happened - which is the whole point. What you choose to believe is reality is what becomes reality to you.

*SPOILERS*





There's enough support that he's still dreaming - the top spinning at the end really has little bearing on telling us if he's dreaming or not, as if his subconscious wants the top to fall (telling him he's in reality, even he really isn't), it will fall.

The point of the last scene is what TCTTS pointed out -- he spins the top, but then walks away - he doesn't care anymore if it is reality or not, he's happy with whatever it is (at least for now).

It's a constant theme throughout that reality is only what you make it to be, and that often times a constant dream world is better than reality (or ultimately, ignorance is bliss).

***Spoiler***

















One quick question. If the jolt/falling feeling wakes you up, then why did no one get woken up as the van was rolling off the embankment? Although it provided a cool fight sequence, that was the only problem I had with the movie.

I thought it was "ok"

I felt like Leo was playing the same exact roll as in Shutter Island

i thought Inception was incredible. seeing it on IMAX was intense and probably the best way to see this movie. Leo killed as he always does. Page was very good. a little disappointed that JGL didn't get more of the script.

<spoilers>

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If the jolt/falling feeling wakes you up, then why did no one get woken up as the van was rolling off the embankment?

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I think because you have to wake up in the deeper levels first... that's why they had to coordinate the kicks throughout the levels.



</spoilers>

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I felt like Leo was playing the same exact roll as in Shutter Island

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I liked the movie, but I agree. Maybe it was because I just recently saw Shutter Island, but a lot of the themes/experiences (specifically with Leo's character) are pretty damn similar.

just got this in an email. Explains the different levels in an easy to follow visual:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/An-Illustrated-Guide-To-The-5-Levels-Of-Inception-19643.html

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I felt like Leo was playing the same exact roll as in Shutter Island

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my wife and i felt the same thing. i like the movie, but it felt too close a rehash of shutter island with the wife and psychological themes. it just didn't feel as new and fresh as it should have.

And I was kinda hoping Freddy Krueger would make a cameo.

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But if the whole thing is a dream, Cobb was dreaming that his daughter's voice sounded older.

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Well, my theory is that he went into a dream for the rest of the movie starting at the part where he got put into the dream in the chemists basement in Africa. That was the only time he woke up and didn't get to spin his top (it got interrupted by Saito).

dp

[This message has been edited by Wipey (edited 7/19/2010 12:48p).]

i'm glad i skipped shutter island

I read a theory earlier that said the Cobb's totem are his kids faces.

I like that theory.

What do yall think are the chances for a best picture nomination?

director, screenplay, and technical award noms are a given, IMO.

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 7/19/2010 2:07p).]

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I read a theory earlier that said the Cobb's totem are his kids faces.

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that would mean no one else could have ever seen his kids faces

That theory is debunked by the fact that he used the top as a totem more than once during the movie.

The top was his wife's totem, not his.

This probably only works if the whole movie is a dream until the end, when he does see their faces.

...and which person on Cobb's team would know what his' kid's faces look like in "real life"?

I'm not saying it's a flawless theory, just one that I've liked thinking about today.

[This message has been edited by boogieman (edited 7/19/2010 3:08p).]

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This probably only works if the whole movie is a dream.

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This potential concept confused me. I thought that "the dreamer" couldn't progress further if he's the host dreamer for that level.

Like the chemist is the host dreamer for level 1 (the van), which is why he stays in that level. Same for Arthur and the hotel, and the forger for the snow base.

If the whole movie is a dream, how does Leo continually host dreams?

Cobb never hosts a dream does he?

The problem I have with the kid's faces being the totem is that the whole design of the totem is to be able to tell if you are dreaming or not.

Throughout the entire movie Cobb's character actually turns away from their faces before seeing them - he wasn't using them to determine anything.

QUESTION:

So when Saito and Cobb were the only ones left in Limbo, where was Saito? He was in that palace, but how did he get there? And what was it? Was it a place that Mal and Cobb dreamed up?

And why is it that Saito was an old man and Cobb wasn't?

As far as I understand, he got there by being shot in a previous level, the van level if I recall correctly. Time slows down exponentially in each level, so in limbo he had been there for seemingly decades.

[This message has been edited by sharkenleo (edited 7/19/2010 3:43p).]

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

My understanding... Saito dies in the "Van" dream from the gunshot wound seconds before Cobb dies from drowning. That few seconds ends up being 30-40 years in Limbo. In those years, Saito constructed the world around him in a similar fashion to which Cobb and Mal constructed it previously.

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Cobb never hosts a dream does he?

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Throughout he hooks himself up to the machine solo, like the scene where Ellen Paige sneaks up and connects herself while he's already under.

That, and when he is showing Page for the first time, he says this is his dream so the people attach her for changing everything up