Inception

[molestargazer]

Just seen this. Not entirely sure it lived up to the Mega hype it's received, but it was a very good film. If a little confusing.

[xRECKONERx]

2) Cobb and Saito have to wake up from the dream eventually. Even if they both lived a "eternity" in the limbo state, they have to wake up after some finite amount of time because their actual bodies are on the plane from Sydney to LA. The problem with going to limbo is that they risk becoming insane not knowing what reality is when they wake up. However, this is negated when they meet each other in the opening scene. They both remember their "arrangement" and that they are not in reality at the moment. At that point, they would simply have to wait out limbo or find away to kick themselves up through the levels. This may take awhile, but they have the time.

That's kinda the idea - that Cobb never really escaped limbo and what we see is his insane little vision of what's happening because he can't separate fact from fiction anymore.

[Rhinox]

Spoiler: Thinking about this...

After getting run over by the train, why didn't Mal ever spin the top totem? It was her's afterall, and she locked it away because she wanted to forget that Limbo was a dream. It was the top that reminded her eventually that she was dreaming. All she had to do was spin the damn top - either it falls, and she knows she's in reality, or it stays up and she say's, "Look leo, we're dreaming, lets jump off this fucking building". -or- Leo spins the top for her to prove it's reality. Guess that would have killed the whole premise behind the movie though, but... thats the point of the totems, right? To know when you're dreaming and when you're not? Kinda pointless to make a big deal about them, and then not use them the one time it would have made the biggest difference.

[PokerFace]

Spoiler:

problem rhino was that leo knew about her totem obviously since he now has it. so she could be in his head and dreaming now stuck in limbo

[VP Baltar]

2) Cobb and Saito have to wake up from the dream eventually. Even if they both lived a "eternity" in the limbo state, they have to wake up after some finite amount of time because their actual bodies are on the plane from Sydney to LA. The problem with going to limbo is that they risk becoming insane not knowing what reality is when they wake up. However, this is negated when they meet each other in the opening scene. They both remember their "arrangement" and that they are not in reality at the moment. At that point, they would simply have to wait out limbo or find away to kick themselves up through the levels. This may take awhile, but they have the time.

That's kinda the idea - that Cobb never really escaped limbo and what we see is his insane little vision of what's happening because he can't separate fact from fiction anymore.

No. Sooner or later, limbo ends because they wake up in reality 10 hours later. It is not infinite, even if it takes eons to end.

[BloodCovenent]

For all you lovers out there!

Here is a spoiler link: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1939332

[BloodCovenent]

2) Cobb and Saito have to wake up from the dream eventually. Even if they both lived a "eternity" in the limbo state, they have to wake up after some finite amount of time because their actual bodies are on the plane from Sydney to LA. The problem with going to limbo is that they risk becoming insane not knowing what reality is when they wake up. However, this is negated when they meet each other in the opening scene. They both remember their "arrangement" and that they are not in reality at the moment. At that point, they would simply have to wait out limbo or find away to kick themselves up through the levels. This may take awhile, but they have the time.

That's kinda the idea - that Cobb never really escaped limbo and what we see is his insane little vision of what's happening because he can't separate fact from fiction anymore.

No. Sooner or later, limbo ends because they wake up in reality 10 hours later. It is not infinite, even if it takes eons to end.

Wouldn't they wake up when they die of old age?

[Internet Stranger]

The idea is that they would, but their brains would be "scrambled eggs" by the time they got out.

[xRECKONERx]

That's my point - sure you can be stuck in limbo, but your brain is so fried when you get out, you lose the ability to determine what's real and what's not. No matter which theory you support, AT LEAST one of Dom/Mal had this happen to them.

[VP Baltar]

No, they wouldn't wake up with "scrambled egg" brains because they both realized at the end of the movie that they were in limbo and it wasn't real. The whole reason Mal was like that was because she had the idea placed in her head that reality wasn't real. Cobb and Saito essentially did the opposite by placing the idea in their head that Limbo wasn't real and that they needed to get out of their. That's the whole point of them sitting at the table and saying "this place isn't real. we'll be young men together again".

[Anon]

i dont get why leonard dicaprio was young and the chinese one was not

plese help me.

[xRECKONERx]

Because the Chinese guy died in the dreamworld above and wandered the limbo realm for a long time, whereas Cobb just went deeper into another layer of dreaming so he wasn't "lost" in limbo.

[Anon]

thx reck

this movie was awesome prob my fav this year

but if the guy died why didnt he wake up in the plane?

[xRECKONERx]

They were too heavily sedated/too many layers deep in the dreams.

[Oman]

2) Cobb and Saito have to wake up from the dream eventually. Even if they both lived a "eternity" in the limbo state, they have to wake up after some finite amount of time because their actual bodies are on the plane from Sydney to LA. The problem with going to limbo is that they risk becoming insane not knowing what reality is when they wake up. However, this is negated when they meet each other in the opening scene. They both remember their "arrangement" and that they are not in reality at the moment. At that point, they would simply have to wait out limbo or find away to kick themselves up through the levels. This may take awhile, but they have the time.

That's kinda the idea - that Cobb never really escaped limbo and what we see is his insane little vision of what's happening because he can't separate fact from fiction anymore.

No. Sooner or later, limbo ends because they wake up in reality 10 hours later. It is not infinite, even if it takes eons to end.

Wouldn't they wake up when they die of old age?

"Age" in limbo/dreams seems to be variable. It seems to be more a presentation than a reality, which works for me. It looks like age is more metaphorical, and how a person looks isn't related to either their real body's age, or their time in limbo. I could be wrong, but that is how I saw it.

Also answers anon's question.

[Nightson]

I saw Inception. As you likely know already, it was amazing.

[Ythan]

My sister just saw it. She doesn't seem to have followed along very well.

[Drench]

Oh so relevant.

[Oman]

I'm going to see this again, with a new bunch of friends. One is kind of hot, so I'm going to steal all of your ideas so that I look super smart.

Also, I'm going to try to go in with a new perspective, try to see something new in it. Maybe I'll consider if it all is really a dream and Adriane is actually just a cathartic influence or something.

[shaft.ed]

Oh so relevant.

was there ever a punchline?

[VP Baltar]

I'm going to see this again, with a new bunch of friends. One is kind of hot, so I'm going to steal all of your ideas so that I look super smart.

Also, I'm going to try to go in with a new perspective, try to see something new in it. Maybe I'll consider if it all is really a dream and Adriane is actually just a cathartic influence or something.

If you really want to get trippy, you can ask if he actually ever woke up from when he tested Yusef's stuff for the first time. He has to splash his face with water and drops his totem without ever spinning it. Mal also flashes on screen for a brief second then.

[Drench]

MAYBE YOU'LL LIKE THIS BETTER

[Oman]

I'm going to see this again, with a new bunch of friends. One is kind of hot, so I'm going to steal all of your ideas so that I look super smart.

Also, I'm going to try to go in with a new perspective, try to see something new in it. Maybe I'll consider if it all is really a dream and Adriane is actually just a cathartic influence or something.

If you really want to get trippy, you can ask if he actually ever woke up from when he tested Yusef's stuff for the first time. He has to splash his face with water and drops his totem without ever spinning it. Mal also flashes on screen for a brief second then.

Did so. I actually had this thought while watching the movie: that everything post that first attempt was not real. But it still doesn't work for me. For one thing, I don't believe that Nolan intended for the film and the story to deceive like that. To go in with that opinion robs me of the reality behind the characters, the catharsis. It also removes all of the drama and tension of the story. I also think the "flash" of Mal there is very different. It's not a projection, it's an image. When I look at the others he sees something that triggers her, when that one occurs it's just a flash. Also, isn't that a really powerful scene early where he spins the top with the gun against his face and when it falls he exhales and puts it down. That is so strong, but too early for a first timer to understand it.

Also something that came to light the second time was how incredibly subtle the film can be with some things. The best example is a speech Mal makes about Limbo being the real world and Dom is constantly telling her it can't be true, that the woman he was talking with wasn't his wife, but a projection. That is essentially a roles reversed look at the conversations they had when she was alive. Someone convinced of a false reality, and the other trying to tell them otherwise ("Don't you think I know my own children"). The film doesn't dwell on this, and instead it brushes right past it, but it's still given enough of its own time to work.

Something that really (REALLY) pissed me off is the amount of repeated phrases through-out. "Waiting for a train" "Old man, filled with regret" and all those. They get really tedious towards the end, especially the second time, because there is so little variation on them. They are almost (but not quite) rote each time, and different characters finish them off at will. It's not good writing. I appreciate call-backs as an element of storytelling, and they suggest a circular (or at least repeated) nature, but one at the start, calling back at the end, or somewhere in between would have worked well. There was just such an overwhelming amount of these.

I didn't realise the first time how awesome the score was. Though I must watch that Youtube video.

From a story/technology perspective, can someone confirm my understanding of this: Limbo exists as an empty version of a shared consciousness right? It's a deep unconstructed dream, essentially. It's like if they had any level without an actual "dreamer". So the issue with Limbo is that it's so deep that there is the threat of losing a grip on what reality is. But it's not hard to get out of. In fact, you can get out just like any other level, kick or death. The issue was that because of the sedative set for 10 hrs, Limbo would have been a really fucking long time for them all, so death was a threat because that long increases the chance of losing said touch on reality. So if a group went under again, same sedative, but set for like...30 seconds, and all shot themselves within the first 20 seconds, they would have a few hours in limbo without danger of the "scrambled egg" thing? Like the brain turning to mush is more a factor of inability to conceive reality (which is a factor of time) rather than just a factor of the physical world of Limbo itself?

New Questions! How do Cobb and Ariadne get to Limbo that time? They just go down another level. That seems pretty weird that the next physical level is Limbo. It doesn't make sense that they don't just go into another level of either Ariadne's or Cobb's mind.

Does it shit anyone else that they mess up the terms "subject" and "dreamer" at one stage. They say they're going into Fischer's dream "He thinks we're going into Browning's but we're actually going into his" "He's going to help us break into his own subconscious?" Well, yes, but they never were in Fischer's dream. He populated it, but it was still Eames' dream. The very next line of dialogue is "Eames, this is your dream, you draw security." Nolan, this movie is confusing enough without your characters fucking up your own basic terms.

Why do they plan to set up a kick on the ice-fort hospital level? Firstly they never planned to go any lower, and secondly, the two were going to Limbo, where the kick wasn't necessary because once the time ran out on the sedative, they could die. But mostly it's the "when did they deem it necessary?"

[xRECKONERx]

The kick thing confused me too. Why did they need a kick in Eames's snow dream when Arthur was already going to kick them up in the hotel?

[Nelloz]

The kick thing confused me too. Why did they need a kick in Eames's snow dream when Arthur was already going to kick them up in the hotel?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... fBlowingUp ?