Inception - discuss theories here
 

was the ending reality or still a dream? :xyxwave:

Do I have to discuss it? You see I don't really want to.

A dream i think, the spinny thing kept spinning :S

also at the end one of his kids says

"we're building a house on a cliff" :shocked:

that's something I don't like about this film - it masquerades as this hugely complex and intriguing theme when it's really just "woz this real or woz it not?"

I think I'm just put off by how crazy everyone goes over it, though. I loved it - but third best film of all time (according to IMDB) it is not.

it is very overrated and not 3rd best film of all time, but it is a solid 8/9 on 10

the ending is Nolan performing Inception on the viewers making them think "is he still dreaming, is it all a dream, whats goin ooooon" :joker:

I didnt think much of it to be honest.

Though i probably missed loads of stuff, I'll watch it again before passing real judgement ;)

I think it was real :P

I think the ending was not reality, it was a dream.

My theory is that the entire film was a dream from when Cobb was put to sleep in Mombasa. First of all, the chemist told them that only a very strong kick could awake someone from that deep of a sedation, yet Cobb woke up very easily, naturally almost. Also it was the only time during the entire movie that we didn't see Cobb's totum fall over, meaning there is no confirmation he ever actually woke from that dream.

if he is still dreaming at the end I think he has been dreaming the whole movie

the theory i like best is he is still dreaming after he and mal were experimenting

when she jumped to "wake up" i think she did and Leo has been trapped in his limbo ever since

his name is Cobb and the corporation is Cobol

why would someone be hunted all over the world for being a suspect in one murder

why when he returns home at the end are his kids in exactly the same position he has imagined "dreamed" them being throughout the film

well that's my entire point.

He wasn't dreaming the whole movie - Nolan wouldn't use a cliche like that.

Regarding the ending, it was reality - the totem spins perfectly in dreams but wobbled at the end.
Another easy way to distinguish what was real and what was a dream was that he wears his wedding ring in dreams, but doesn't in reality.

Either way, I don't think it mattered whether it was real or a dream - he had finally gotten over his guilt and could finally be with his children. He didn't care if the totem kept spinning or stopped, which is why he just turned his back on it. He was finally home and finally with his kids.

:joker:

I'd assume that would put his kids at risk. He's kind of a wanted man... internationally.

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3rd best movie? I might be willing to give it that.

A lot of you people seem to be forgetting that films and their worthiness as high ranking films go beyond the complexity of their stories. Inception is not supposed to be super complex. People assume this to be the case when you talk about a dream within a dream within a dream, with another unplanned dream inside of that. The genius of this film is that it takes a complex notion and makes it very streamlined. It would have been a failure of storytelling if it was incredibly complex.

However, there's more to what makes a film an incredible film. Acting, directing, cinematography, editing, sound, etc. This film masterfully handles every one of those categories. The acting? Excellent. The cinematography? Gorgeous. The editing? Near perfect(I'm a professional editor, I would know). Sound? Fantastic. The directing? Considering the excellence of all these other categories, we know the director is a professional who can lead a team and bring out the best in them to achieve a unique vision.

For this, Inception is a brilliant film.

I think it was a dream because

A: as someone else mentioned his kids were exactly the same as every time he remembered them in his dream, wearing the same clothes, in the same position and hadn't grown at all

B: The conversation he had with the Japanese guy when he was an old man was exactly the same conversation he had at the start of the film

Real, the totem started to wobble a bit, and they said earlier in the film that in a dream it will spin perfectly

How come his kids were wearing the exact same clothes, were in the exact same position and hadn't aged a day, just like his memory of them?

This was a good read if anyones interested :

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/07/19...ve-plot-holes/

oh after reading this guys theory, I think this makes most sense :

the ultimate architect was saito.

I think that Cobb pulled the mission off for Saito way before we see the mission take place in the movie. Saito isn't powerful enough to REALLY make the charges against Cobb drop, but he CAN hook Cobb up to a machine and create the world of Cobb's dream and make sure that Cobb goes through a bunch of things and eventually end up in limbo - thus living his "life" with his kids. It gives more reason to why Saito wanted to be there - because he was the mastermind and true architect behind it all.

how could we miss this....the end was just a recreation from his memory because his kids were wearing the same clothes and in the exact same position/doing same thing that they were always shown doing from his memory during the movie.

FACT:

1)The movie started off in Saito's limbo, then moved to Saito's dream.

2)Saito happened to magically be there to rescue Cobb from his dreamlike chase in Africa (the anonymous agents chasing him, the narrow hallway - come on people).

3)Saito was seen handling Cobb's totem (his top).

4)Saito walked in on Cobb as he was spinning his totem prior to their mission. We never saw if the top would have kept spinning or not. This is HUGE! I don't know why more people aren't talking about this.
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