Inception ** SPOILER THREAD **

There, now we can discuss that ending.

Here's my take:
He's in a dream. But it's a dream of his own creation.
I think he gave up on any hope of returning home to see his kids at some point. Whether
from guilt, the law, or a combination of the two.  Since he couldn't take it anymore, he
escaped into the dream world, far down where he knew that his real-life body would be
dead before he ever had to deal with waking up.

However, having already lived in the dream world with his wife and discovering that knowing
it's a dream ruins any chance of taking it seriously, he needed to create an Idea so strong
it could enthrall even him. So the elaborate plan goes as such:

The one thing he wants more than anything else is to live with his children again. Chasing
that idea alone couldn't fool him. So the Maze is set to where he's given a rare opportunity,
by someone powerful enough to accomplish the feat, to clear his name and return home.
To take advantage of this, he must perform an almost impossible mission; a mission so
dangerous that he won't have time to wonder at the difference between the real world
and that world. A danger so terrifying (getting killed and ending up spending an eternity in
limbo) that he can only focus on the task at hand.

And when he completes the mission, and earns his prize, he's so relieved he doesn't
pause for a moment. He accepts his reward whole-heartily. He doesn't even look back
to watch the spinner.
_______________________________________

Now, here's how I pieced that together.
1. He's brilliant. He knows all the tricks and he understands the human psyche; especially his own.
2. His subconscious continues to try and warn him during the film. Doing this could be
viewed as a Leap Of Faith on his part- trusting in his own ability to fool even himself and
escape the pain. At least twice during the film, important Projections told him just that:
Take a Leap of Faith.
3. He calls in "specialists" of their fields... yet he's always the one with the answers. This
further points at everyone being his Projections.
4. The difficulties he faces in the film are over-the-top. Running into an alley that continues
to narrow until he only just squeeze through; a target that's been trained against his
skill-set with armed guards suddenly appearing to increase the difficulty at just the right
moment; and lastly, when all else fails, throw in a crazed, vengeful wife to interfere.
5. When he finally gets back to his kids... they look EXACTLY like he remembered them. Kids
noticebly age very quickly. He wouldn't have stepped into the exact same scene had it
been the real world. But as seen above, by that time he was so grateful at being alive
and making it back, he didn't stop to question.

The old man? You mean Saito (Ken Watanabe)?
When he died, he dropped down to what I can only assume is the deepest level of sleep.
Therefore, by the time Cobb (Dicaprio) finds and gets to him many, many decades have
past for Saito. That's why he's old as hell. To Cobb, it may have taken him a month of his
time to get to Saito's plane of existence, and in the month Saito continued to age about
50 years, for example. Once on Saito's plane, it could have taken Cobb only a day to reach the now 90-year old Saito.

As for Cobb's totem... I don't know. I wondered the same thing and came up with:
if he were going to create a reality for himself that he never planned to return from, he
wouldn't WANT a totem. Then, inside the dream world, he picks up a dream-totem. It could,
therefore, more completely tie him to that reality and keeping him from waking up.


Edited by McCordRm - Jul-22-10 at 5:22pm

Ah... it's one of those, "Let's get back to where we were" things. The movie begins at near the end of the
story, then flashes back to play catch-up.

OH! I forgot to write the freakin title of the movie.
It's called Inception, and more than once Cobb comments that he's done it before.
SO, the basis of my analysis was that the whole movie was about him performing
an elaborate Inception on himself.


Edited by McCordRm - Jul-23-10 at 4:22am

? He dropped it on the floor when Saito walked in... but then he picked it back up.
Still, it was his wife's Top. I never saw him use any other item.


Edited by McCordRm - Jul-23-10 at 5:39pm

I have to wonder how the totems work if it's your subconscious that's forming the dream.  After all, you know what the totem is supposed to be like.  Hence, so does your subconscious.  I think the totems would only work when you are in someone else's dream.

My take:  Mol (his wife) was right when she jumped.  They were still in a dream - his initial dream with his wife.  Hence, the top is useless to him as a totem - it will do whatever his subconscious needs it to do, spin or fall.  He couldn't deal with her absence and created the rest as outlined by McCordRm in the first post

Definately going back Monday for the IMAX but mainly cause I will be sitting there watching for all the little things I missed. I am with you Ebon, love the P.O.Vs here. Oh yeah Hy, I assumed the totem was a deeper meaning sort of thing that would sort of act like the "falling" trigger. Something that you invest spirit in beyond what your brain would create for the dream. I think you interpretation fits best with what I am getting from it. LOL wait til I get back from it Monday = )

old people know the regrets of children better than most, and they keep the picture of thier children (no matter thier age) as them very young. 

I saw this over the weekend... I feel like Inception and the Matrix both took half of the Neuromancer dynamic. The Matrix is obvious (loner computer hacker, vast cyber network, all that BS). Inception had:

- a dead lover that haunts the protagonist throughout
- main character is being held hostage to redeem himself or make him whole
- it's all premised on shadowy/vague international corporate politics
- important shots on the beach with his wife
- a character in the team that specializes in deception


That's really my only observation. Real good flick

He spins the top and walks away not caring if it falls or not. After a second viewing I am pretty hot on the idea that he is still lost in the dream and that all of the prompting along the way is a number of attempts made by his own subconscious to tell him that he IS still dreaming. All of the people he has on his team are great representations of aspects of his own psyche.

Yeah.. pretty thin, but he made a BIG deal about not seeing the faces of his kids.  A point for escaping.. but then again his kids were in the same place, SAME CLOTHES.. uh.. point against escape.

Hmmmm you are right Master Hogai - you do see Arthur's die and I assume that it would come up something besides what a "loaded" die would if he were still in the dream but what action would the bishop have? Yeah he mentioned weight and feel but your own perception is what you are trying to verify.... hmmmm

To be perfectly honest, the name tickled the back of my mind during the movie and I had to look it up to see why.  Seemed maybe the fact that when they were talking about mazes at least a couple of times they mentioned Labyrinths.