'Inception' Mega Thread *SPOILERS FROM POST 292 ONWARDS*

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trustno1

I am going to see it again in a few hours and after keeping an eye on this thread I will be watching it a lot more closely and seeing if some of the theories posted play out.

+1 on the score - it was amazing.

stevenmu

Memnoch wrote: »

I think the film is BOTH it is BOTH dream AND reality.

I'm thinking on those lines as well. Everything can be interpreted in more than one way. There's multiple different possibilities about what is real and what is dream within the film, and the best part of all is that each possibility seems to remain consistent within a different interpretation of the film as a whole. I think it's deliberate that there are multiple interpretations, and deliberate that there is no one correct answer, each interpretation is correct and backed up. This mirrors really well the difficulty of the characters to determine real from dream.


Although my favourite is that Cobb never woke up from the original limbo with his wife. When she 'killed herself' they were actually still dreaming and she actually did wake up. Her projections were then actually her trying to convince him to wake up as well.

Memnoch

stevenmu wrote: »

I'm thinking on those lines as well. Everything can be interpreted in more than one way. There's multiple different possibilities about what is real and what is dream within the film, and the best part of all is that each possibility seems to remain consistent within a different interpretation of the film as a whole. I think it's deliberate that there are multiple interpretations, and deliberate that there is no one correct answer, each interpretation is correct and backed up. This mirrors really well the difficulty of the characters to determine real from dream.


Although my favourite is that Cobb never woke up from the original limbo with his wife. When she 'killed herself' they were actually still dreaming and she actually did wake up. Her projections were then actually her trying to convince him to wake up as well.

Originally I had thought this as well. That it was Cobb who was in the dream and that Mol was trying to insert the inception to wake him up from it. And the only way she could do this would be to make him think that HE had given her the inception and that that had ended up killing her. I.e. at the lowest level she was trying to plant this idea in his mind that his world wasn't real. And that in the end she fails because she doesn't offer him reconciliation so the inception doesn't take hold.

However, I feel that is the weaker of the theories.

The problem with that is it doesn't explain why the children's voice was older on the phone.

It makes more sense to me that the inception actually succeeded. The children's voices sounding older are very important because that shows that in the REAL world they DID grow up. So even though the events we are watching are an inception by Saito to fulfill his promise to Cobb, Cobb's memory of talking to his children remains. But his children always look the same because he never actually saw them grow up.

This suggests to me that the part of the story that Mol died and that he was forced to flee from the states is true.

The story is also much more symmetrical, beautiful and ironic this way (imo).

Basq

Agreed.. Zimmer's score was just immense!

Renn

Thought the score was good too while I was watching it but it doesn't really hold up too well when listening to it on its own. One or two good tracks but then again, it feels like I've heard these tunes before. Don't know if I've heard them from a Bourne movie or if Max Richter's score for Waltz With Bashir is clouding my judgement.

MrStuffins

I cant remember the last time i saw a movie which stayed with me so long afterwards like Inception did (perhaps The Matrix).

I've now gotten the OST which i have never ever done before (i've gotten Soundtracks trhat were a collection of already popular songs before, but never an OST like a Zimmer OST).

Snake Plisken

basquille wrote: »

Agreed.. Zimmer's score was just immense!

Zimmer worked with Johnny Marr on the soundtrack (which is fantastic) interview with Zimmer here http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2012398891_inceptionmusic20.html?prmid=head_more

and here they are preforming at the Premier, it sends a shiver up my spine it's so brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4XxaWXsO78

seraphimvc

in case anyone looking for the music in the trailer,there is another genius composer involved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t8t4dGt7do

i prefer Zack Hemsey's one song than zimmer probably because of me watching too many times the trailer lol

*got the Inception OST on the second day after i watched it,brilliant stuff

sprinkles

A couple of things hit me about this film. Firstly, as a pure movie-going experience it was second to none. I truly enjoyed every minute of it. The pace of the film was spot on. The editing was excellent, and was critical to really heightening the tension towards the end, as was the score, which was absolutely brilliant. Everything came together to create one of the most memorable films in recent history. I think in years to come this will be looked back upon as one of the best films of our generation. This is film making 101.

Now my 2c on what actually happens in the film...

Cobb enters a dream with his wife Mal. They delve deeper and deeper in this dream until they hit Limbo. They get lost in there and live out their lives. Cobb then realises that they need to wake up and plants the seed in his wifes mind using her totem - Inception. They then kill themselves and wake up in what Cobb believes is reality - proven to him by the totem. Lets not forget that Cobb did not use this totem in the actual real world - he found it first in Limbo so for Cobb it bears no relationship to reality. It only works for Mal. The totem will work for Cobb as long as he believes he is in the “real” world.

Mal, continues to believe that they are in a dream and finally kills herself, giving her a kick. In doing so she wakes up to the next level (or possibly reality - we don't know how deep they went to get to Limbo). Remember that killing yourself while under sedation sends you deeper, killing yourself while dreaming normally wakes you up to the next level.

Right, now we're left with Cobb in his reality, on the run from the cops and contracting himself out to major corporations for industrial espionage, getting chased around the world by faceless goons wanting to kill him. There is just so much of what happens in this reality, in the chase scene through the streets for instance, that is far too coincidental and it's only in reflection that it seems like something was wrong - remember Cobb explaining that you only realise it was a dream when you wake up, otherwise you take everything for granted - Nolan is doing the same with his film here, it's only on reflection, when you think back about it that it seems like a dream. Very clever writing indeed.

So with Cobb still in the dream, he devises a plan to get back to his family. He creates the entire Inception heist idea and in the process a way to return to his kids. He uses projections of his team to go deeper into his subconscious and essentially plant the idea that he can get home in his own mind. Home however is not the real world, it’s the level he begun at. There are plenty of things that are out of place in this world. Firstly his kids, when on the phone sounded a lot older. When he finally sees them they are the same age, even wearing the same clothes as he last remembers them. He’s using memories to fill in the blanks. He almost twigs something when he walks into the kitchen to see them and notices something, not sure what it was but I’ll be keeping a keen eye out for it when I watch it again.

And that’s the thing with this film. You need to watch it again. More importantly you want to watch it again. And again. It’s far too fresh in my mind at the minute to warrant such a bold statement but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear this film held up as a true masterpiece in the months and years to come. More of this please Hollywood!

seraphimvc

Quazzie wrote: »

If death in Limbo wakes you up why does it take so long?

i think in movie they told us:

limbo is a state of the mind that takes the dream as the reality(which makes sense if you have gone into too many layers of dream), the only way to get out from limbo is to realise you are in a dream, which happened after Cobb and Saito talking about their promise and deal - they shot themselves and wake up.

The Black Oil

Saw it this morning, 5 or 6 people in the cinema with no annoyances, thankfully. I enjoyed it for the most part. I've a couple of quibbles, see spoilers below.

Ellen Page and Arctic warfare? Sorry, not buying it. I forgot her character's name shortly after we were introduced to her. The security guys chasing the white van seemed rather inept - is that hard to shoot/take out a van? Maybe the time element made it seem longer than it was, though. Cobb's grief - I'm fairly wary of this stuff when it's thrown at us because it can meander or seem a bit cack-handed, seemed OK here. Perhaps my wincing at this was down to a likenesses to Shutter Island territory, I'm not sure. Matching the visuals and the like, I think they did a pretty decent job with this, showing scenes from the hotel and Arctic simultaneously. It's hard to keep stuff like that in sync at times. The heist aspect, a lot of films do an OK job of the set up or building the anticipation and then descend into nonsense, this held the whole thing together fairly well, I think.

It was good to see a blockbuster with a bit of a brain and I'm glad I knew next to nothing about the plot before hand. Probably worth another look. I understand some people have reservations re Nolan and action pieces, something a little amiss, perhaps.

BlitzKrieg

seraphimvc wrote: »

i think in movie they told us:

limbo is a state of the mind that takes the dream as the reality(which makes sense if you have gone into too many layers of dream), the only way to get out from limbo is to realise you are in a dream, which happened after Cobb and Saito talking about their promise and deal - they shot themselves and wake up.

I assumed its taken as reality because of how long it is, in limbo a second can be a decade and so on. The sense of reality is not forced on you by some unseen essence in limbo its simply time and the human minds naturally ability to adjust to it and reflect it accordingly (ageing). This is shown by the fact everyone grows physically old in limbo as a sign of acceptance. Dicaprio does not grow old because he does not ever accept it as reality this time.

My issue is this

I understand that cillian murphey and ellen paige got out of limbo because of the synchronised kick moved them up through all the dream levels. The issue I have is with the other escapes, If there is no synchronised kick the only way out is to wait for the drugs to wear off and to wake up naturally which the film points out you're mind would have gone to mush by the time you wake up. Performing a kick in limbo should not wake you up by the logic explained earlier in the film.

My thinking is a kick will work when the drug has worn off, hence why saito and cobb wake up later then everyone else, the problem is the drug was set up to last 10 hours and in limbo time that is over a 100 years, enough time to make anyone mad.

Now the other issue is the existence of projections in limbo, again Cobb's explanation and flashbacks very much gave the impression that you cannot have them in limbo, though both Cobb and Saito had projections (mal and the gaurds)

So lots of questions that a second viewing should hopefully resolve.

seraphimvc

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

I assumed its taken as reality because of how long it is, in limbo a second can be a decade and so on. The sense of reality is not forced on you by some unseen essence in limbo its simply time and the human minds naturally ability to adjust to it and reflect it accordingly (ageing). This is shown by the fact everyone grows physically old in limbo as a sign of acceptance. Dicaprio does not grow old because he does not ever accept it as reality this time.

My issue is this

I understand that cillian murphey and ellen paige got out of limbo because of the synchronised kick moved them up through all the dream levels. The issue I have is with the other escapes, If there is no synchronised kick the only way out is to wait for the drugs to wear off and to wake up naturally which the film points out you're mind would have gone to mush by the time you wake up. Performing a kick in limbo should not wake you up by the logic explained earlier in the film.

My thinking is a kick will work when the drug has worn off, hence why saito and cobb wake up later then everyone else, the problem is the drug was set up to last 10 hours and in limbo time that is over a 100 years, enough time to make anyone mad.

Now the other issue is the existence of projections in limbo, again Cobb's explanation and flashbacks very much gave the impression that you cannot have them in limbo, though both Cobb and Saito had projections (mal and the gaurds)

So lots of questions that a second viewing should hopefully resolve.

Cobb did grow old,is just that he is not as old as Saito - due to Saito entered limbo earlier than him few minutes, another interesting debating point:D but Cobb did grow old in limbo,caused' they did say something about 'lets get outa here before we get too old'.

i thought you will still remain in the limbo even when the drug worn off??which is what gets me really afraid of they will never wake up once the drug worn off.

for the guards/Mal in limbo,my theory is:

Our understanding is that limbo only contains things you’ve built in it(said in film), which could explain why Cobb’s limbo has so few projections(people) in his world with Mal.

and limbo is 'an shared consiousness', 'an infinite dreamscape, filled only with what you or someone you're sharing a dream with has created there previously'

so the guards/Mal presence was there due to they were previously built in there.altho Nolan made Mal appearance a little bit 'artistic'.

A V A

i really wana go see this , i thought it would be a bit of a head wrecker like shutter island but people are saying its great will defo go see this

BlitzKrieg

seraphimvc wrote: »

Cobb did grow old,is just that he is not as old as Saito - due to Saito entered limbo earlier than him few minutes, another interesting debating point:D but Cobb did grow old in limbo,caused' they did say something about 'lets get outa here before we get too old'.

i thought you will still remain in the limbo even when the drug worn off??which is what gets me really afraid of they will never wake up once the drug worn off.

In the scene where limbo is first brought up the chemist says after ellen paige asks how long will they be trapped down there *We cant even consider leaving until the sedation wears off*

So you can leave limbo by bullet other means but you need to wait until the dryg wears off which is the main problem. I didnt think Cobb looked older, he looked quite beaten up, but he didnt seem older but that might just be me.

for the guards/Mal in limbo,my theory is:

Our understanding is that limbo only contains things you’ve built in it(said in film), which could explain why Cobb’s limbo has so few projections(people) in his world with Mal.

and limbo is 'an shared consiousness', 'an infinite dreamscape, filled only with what you or someone you're sharing a dream with has created there previously'

Its shared with someone who has been there before, hence why they pointed at dicaprio and said *with him* in a rather nasty tone. Which could explain Mal and the decaying world initially. The world of Saito would needed to have been created by him in the time he first arrived until dicaprio showed up.

Though I'm not sure if they ever said projections cant exist in limbo, its just that they never appear in the flashback (though I guess the train alone could be proof that they are possible?)

seraphimvc

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

In the scene where limbo is first brought up the chemist says after ellen paige asks how long will they be trapped down there *We cant even consider leaving until the sedation wears off*

So you can leave limbo by bullet other means but you need to wait until the dryg wears off which is the main problem.

ah!but if thats the case, limbo is nothing to be afraid of in the first place, right?when time's up,you just wake up then. or it could be the sedative is gonna stay in your system for a long long time after they are unhooked from the machine.:p

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

I didnt think Cobb looked older, he looked quite beaten up, but he didnt seem older but that might just be me.

i swear i saw he has some grey hairs from his sides,which they were not grey before the limbo scene.:o

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Its shared with someone who has been there before, hence why they pointed at dicaprio and said *with him* in a rather nasty tone. Which could explain Mal and the decaying world initially. The world of Saito would needed to have been created by him in the time he first arrived until dicaprio showed up.

now i remember they did say that and pointed at Cobb. If thats the case where is Saito before Cobb 'created' the limbo world:pac:

lets just say that (japanese-like) limbo world existed in Cobb's mind somewhere and saito entered there after he is dead(since it is a shared consciousness).would that make sense lol?

I am so gonna get the dvd/blu-ray when it released:pac:

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Though I'm not sure if they ever said projections cant exist in limbo, its just that they never appear in the flashback (though I guess the train alone could be proof that they are possible?)

i copy that line from somewhere else so i think it is what they said in the film.

which train are ya talking about?if it is the one come out on the street i think that layer of dream is not limbo world?

nachoman

Seen it - meh.

BlitzKrieg

seraphimvc wrote: »

ah!but if thats the case, limbo is nothing to be afraid of in the first place, right?when time's up,you just wake up then. or it could be the sedative is gonna stay in your system for a long long time after they are unhooked from the machine.:p

No the problem is time is multiplied as you go deeper into uncontrolled subconcious

so level 1 has some maths that 10 hours = 1 week (actual line from film when tom hardy opts to wait it out on level 1)

level 2 10 hours = 6 months

level 3 10 hours = 2 years

limbo 10 hours = 100 years

This is the danger, you spend a 100 years in limbo it becomes reality and you're brain turns to mush because you would have experianced a 100 years of life and would have forgotten everything of your life prior as if it was all dream.

The drug takes 10 hours (length of flight to LA) unless the subject is woken prior by using a kick involving the inner ear (hence falling) and it needs to be done on all levels to actually get out of the dreamstate.

Thats how Fischer and Paige got out, they had kicks from limbo (being thrown out the window) up to the level 3 (explosion) up to level 2 (the elevator) and finally back to level 1 where they all missed the last kick except for the chemist* and had to wait a week, while Cobb and Saito were waiting close to a 100 years

*the logic is any sort of kick should move you from limbo up to the next level, but from the dream to reality with the sedative applied you need to fall, they all missed the van falling so they couldnt jump back to reality except the chemist. So they needed to wait until the sedative to wear off and then jump to reality (or find a high ledge and jump off) Hence why 4 of them were still at level 1 and the chemist was gone.

i swear i saw he has some grey hairs from his sides,which they were not grey before the limbo scene.:o

He just looked really beat up to me, but you could be right.

now i remember they did say that and pointed at Cobb. If thats the case where is Saito before Cobb 'created' the limbo world:pac:

lets just say that (japanese-like) limbo world existed in Cobb's mind somewhere and saito entered there after he is dead(since it is a shared consciousness).would that make sense lol?

I'm not 100% on this, but limbo is vast untapped subconcious, if you've never been there its empty, just a shoreline with nothing on it, but because it does not have any rules applied to it you can create to your heats content in that world. But because Dicaprio had been to limbo before the remains of his last visit remain in limbo. Now I assumed Saito in another distant part of limbo started building his own dreamworld (which is like the dream they meet him earlier in the film.) and it took Cobb the god knows how many years to find him, hence Saito is ancient by the time he finds him. Cobb on the other hand is not taken in to limbo as reality because he is doggidly obbessed in getting back to his kids and knows its not reality, the 10 hour time limit would have lapsed in this time and simply kicking themselves once should bring them out.

*its here a few theories on reality being a dream surface because we never see them kick up through all the levels they jump from limbo to reality, but I think with no sedative applied one is able to kick from any level to reality, while with sedative applied you need to go to level 1.

My issue with limbo is that in the flashbacks the only other active object we see aside from cobb and mal is a train for waking them up, so I was unsure if projections were possible that deep down in your sub concious as the links with reality become so strained your concious elements fade away hence why spending 50+ years there could easily make you believe it is reality. But I could easily be wrong and projections are easily possible, in fact the notion with Mal is that he has created this projection of her but has buried it as deep as possible in his subconcious that limbo could possible be where she is most prominant.

which train are ya talking about?if it is the one come out on the street i think that layer of dream is not limbo world?

I meant the train Cobb and Mal used to originally get out of limbo in the flashback, thats why the train is so prominant in Cobb's mind.

seraphimvc

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

No the problem is time is multiplied as you go deeper into uncontrolled subconcious

so level 1 has some maths that 10 hours = 1 week (actual line from film when tom hardy opts to wait it out on level 1)

level 2 10 hours = 6 months

level 3 10 hours = 2 years

limbo 10 hours = 100 years

This is the danger, you spend a 100 years in limbo it becomes reality and you're brain turns to mush because you would have experianced a 100 years of life and would have forgotten everything of your life prior as if it was all dream.

The drug takes 10 hours (length of flight to LA) unless the subject is woken prior by using a kick involving the inner ear (hence falling) and it needs to be done on all levels to actually get out of the dreamstate.

Thats how Fischer and Paige got out, they had kicks from limbo (being thrown out the window) up to the level 3 (explosion) up to level 2 (the elevator) and finally back to level 1 where they all missed the last kick except for the chemist* and had to wait a week, while Cobb and Saito were waiting close to a 100 years

*the logic is any sort of kick should move you from limbo up to the next level, but from the dream to reality with the sedative applied you need to fall, they all missed the van falling so they couldnt jump back to reality except the chemist. So they needed to wait until the sedative to wear off and then jump to reality (or find a high ledge and jump off) Hence why 4 of them were still at level 1 and the chemist was gone.

ah yes i keep forgetting your brain wouldnt survive that long when we are talking about 100 years now! but this too meant there is nothing to afraid of limbo unless the sedative stays in your system for awhile.(read my cobb/saito wake up part theory below)

and i think what you meant to say is:

10hours in reality = 7 days in level 1 dream (so the ratio is like 1:16.8),
1 hour in layer 1 dream = 16.8 hours in level 2 dream, and so on,

meaning that we are talking at minutes in reality can be many years time in deep levels dream(limbo). obviously by the time they arrive snow fortress it can only be few hours left(from the 10hours sedative) in reality,so they could experience 100 years in limbo is because the time in reality is only like minutes to them.

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

I'm not 100% on this, but limbo is vast untapped subconcious, if you've never been there its empty, just a shoreline with nothing on it, but because it does not have any rules applied to it you can create to your heats content in that world. But because Dicaprio had been to limbo before the remains of his last visit remain in limbo. Now I assumed Saito in another distant part of limbo started building his own dreamworld (which is like the dream they meet him earlier in the film.) and it took Cobb the god knows how many years to find him, hence Saito is ancient by the time he finds him. Cobb on the other hand is not taken in to limbo as reality because he is doggidly obbessed in getting back to his kids and knows its not reality, the 10 hour time limit would have lapsed in this time and simply kicking themselves once should bring them out.

i think they didnt really explain limbo in a detailed way.

Cobb only mentioned that he originally reached limbo with Mal by 'going deeper' and not wanting to stop. Cobb only mentions that he's 'done it before' without laying out any type of solutions as to how he got there (with Mal). the building up their world(buildings/houses) could be what they chose to do(a couple in love wanted their own world) instead of indicating limbo is a empty space.

for the wake up part of saito/cobb in the end, my new theory now is:

the machine was set to 10hours limit,the machine stops working at 10hours time. and we can clearly see the machine is removed already in the last scene on plane when cobb/saito wakes up. however the sedative may remain in the system for awhile, lightly saying, like 30minutes in real world(i just realise i did a 4years course about drugs:pac:), saito must have grown old/cobb finds him in limbo during that time. it could be dangerous for them caused' 30minutes in reality can be a long long time in limbo (their brain will be mushy). other wise,Cobb/saito should be wake up already when the team took away the machine - again if this is the case i wont be afraid of the limbo,caused' i wont be experiecing that 100yrs in limbo anyway.

or,you could say the mission took less than 10hours to finish, but then again if i were Arthur i will just unhook cobb from the sedative when the second i come out the dream, cobb wont even have time to experience limbo lol

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

*its here a few theories on reality being a dream surface because we never see them kick up through all the levels they jump from limbo to reality, but I think with no sedative applied one is able to kick from any level to reality, while with sedative applied you need to go to level 1.

if like what i said above,the escape from limbo simply means that when you realise you are in a dream (in limbo), you can just leave limbo by killing yourself off.

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

My issue with limbo is that in the flashbacks the only other active object we see aside from cobb and mal is a train for waking them up, so I was unsure if projections were possible that deep down in your sub concious as the links with reality become so strained your concious elements fade away hence why spending 50+ years there could easily make you believe it is reality. But I could easily be wrong and projections are easily possible, in fact the notion with Mal is that he has created this projection of her but has buried it as deep as possible in his subconcious that limbo could possible be where she is most prominant.

I meant the train Cobb and Mal used to originally get out of limbo in the flashback, thats why the train is so prominant in Cobb's mind.

cant really recall the train flashback thingy:p could be just a escape route reminded by cobb himself? and i gave up on the thinking why the are projections(guards/Mal) in the limbo until someone gets the official details regarding the limbo.

its been 5 days now since i watched it, this film is just keep staying (to brainfcking) with me:pac:

trustno1

Went to see it again last night and after reading the theories the one that stood out for me was the one about the wedding ring, I have never seen such a well hidden hand in all my life!.. there are certain scenes when Nolan clearly does not want you to see if Cobb is wearing the ring. It appeared to me that when he was wearing the ring he was dreaming (apart from the flashback scenes - which to me were just that, flashbacks) and when he was awake he was not.. possibly his totem for the dream world?.. I couldn't make out in the end when he woke up on the plane as to whether or not he was wearing it, but I reckon he wasn't and that it was reality. Someone mentioned that in the dreams they all dressed really smartly which would indicate that he was still dreaming when he got home (in the suit) - but don't forget that they were all dressed smartly to look like they belonged in first class.

I also thought it was interesting that all of the totem's were game related Mal - Spinning top, Arthur - Dice, Ariadne - Chess piece, Eames - Poker Chip..

I really think that there is going to be a Directors cut which is going to tidy up a few loose ends.. my main gripe is why did Cobb look so beaten up at the start\finish?.. and if he was in Limbo (with Mal) and he stayed to find Saito - why did he end up on the beach again??..

BlitzKrieg

ah yes i keep forgetting your brain wouldnt survive that long when we are talking about 100 years now! but this too meant there is nothing to afraid of limbo unless the sedative stays in your system for awhile.(read my cobb/saito wake up part theory below)

and i think what you meant to say is:

10hours in reality = 7 days in level 1 dream (so the ratio is like 1:16.8),
1 hour in layer 1 dream = 16.8 hours in level 2 dream, and so on,

meaning that we are talking at minutes in reality can be many years time in deep levels dream(limbo). obviously by the time they arrive snow fortress it can only be few hours left(from the 10hours sedative) in reality,so they could experience 100 years in limbo is because the time in reality is only like minutes to them.

Ok we are saying the same thing here

years in limbo = minutes in reality. Hence the danger of limbo is simply time.

Its like robinson crueso or Castaway, you forget your previous life over time. Which is what happened to Saito. Which happened to Cobb and Marian the first time.

How much time has passed in the film is clearly not alot up until the kick as if level 1 has 1 week = 10 hours, less then a day has passed (from picking up fischer and getting chased around town) before they are kicked back up. 1 day = 2 hours. (going by 10 hours = 1 week (5 days) So at most 1 hour has passed. Leaving 7 hours of limbo to suffer through.

Cobb only mentioned that he originally reached limbo with Mal by 'going deeper' and not wanting to stop. Cobb only mentions that he's 'done it before' without laying out any type of solutions as to how he got there (with Mal). the building up their world(buildings/houses) could be what they chose to do(a couple in love wanted their own world) instead of indicating limbo is a empty space.

I assumed they use sedatives aswell in some form as it was said earlier in the film going down to level 3 is very unstable without some form of sedative, which means Cobb and Marian were initially trapped there until that sedative wore off but because of limbo taking so long by the time it wore off they had forgotten that it wasnt reality.

if like what i said above,the escape from limbo simply means that when you realise you are in a dream (in limbo), you can just leave limbo by killing yourself off.

Yes you can leave by killing yourself, but to reach limbo you need to be so heavily sedated initially that killing yourself 10 minutes after arriving wont work unless its synced up with all the levels above it, once the sedative wears off if you still can remember its not reality and you still have some braincells left then yes pull the trigger and you will wake up.

the machine was set to 10hours limit,the machine stops working at 10hours time. and we can clearly see the machine is removed already in the last scene on plane when cobb/saito wakes up. however the sedative may remain in the system for awhile, lightly saying, like 30minutes in real world(i just realise i did a 4years course about drugs), saito must have grown old/cobb finds him in limbo during that time. it could be dangerous for them caused' 30minutes in reality can be a long long time in limbo (their brain will be mushy). other wise,Cobb/saito should be wake up already when the team took away the machine - again if this is the case i wont be afraid of the limbo,caused' i wont be experiecing that 100yrs in limbo anyway

removing the sedative does not automatically wake people up, its there to ensure stability. In the opening scene of the film, Dicaprio gets trapped in a dream falling apart because Saito wakes up in the level above him, thats the reason for the sedative, 3 levels down and they get interupted by reality puts the whole mission at risk. The sedative comes with its own price though, it puts you at the high risk of being trapped in limbo.

ghostchant

Saw it last night, loved it. Couple of possible plot holes that don't really bother me, but there's one in my head that may actually be of my own doing, but was brought up on this thread already:

At the beginning, Cobb shoots Arthur to remove him from the dream, and he wakes up. Only we then discover that this was a 'dream within a dream' (or 'level 2'). So what I gather from this is that if you die in level 2, you go to level 1, not back to reality.

Skipping on to the sedative-based dream, we learn that if you die in a dream under sedative, you go to limbo, which I can accept. They then go to level 2, level 3 etc. If you die in level three here, surely you would just go back to level 2, much like Arthur did at the beginning of the film. I would think that the risk of limbo is only present if you die in level 1, where you would normally be sent back to reality, where the sedative problem would raise its ugly head.

Is there something I'm missing?

Renn

See, all this exposition in the movie has led to numerous boring takes on what actually happened in the movie. Thanks Mr. Nolan.

trustno1

Renn wrote: »

See, all this exposition in the movie has led to numerous boring takes on what actually happened in the movie. Thanks Mr. Nolan.

Renn - you clearly didn't like the film... so why then are you still reading this thread that is mainly being populated by people who have seen and have enjoyed the film and are enjoying discussing it?.. if you don't like all the 'numerous boring takes on what actually happend in the movie' stop reading the thread.. :rolleyes:

Renn

You're wrong, I thought it was decent, probably a 7/10 or so. Didn't realise this thread was for positive posts about the movie only, my bad.

trustno1

Renn wrote: »

You're wrong, I thought it was decent, probably a 7/10 or so. Didn't realise this thread was for positive posts about the movie only, my bad.

My apologies Renn - I didn't realise that you had thought it was decent.. from the tone of your post I thought you didn't like it and was I was basically just wondering why someone who didn't like a film would keep reading a thread mainly discussing ideas about it. No.. the thread isn't just for positive posts.. but the majority of it is made up of positive ones and interesting discussions\ideas about the film.

WesternNight

Renn wrote: »

You're wrong, I thought it was decent, probably a 7/10 or so. Didn't realise this thread was for positive posts about the movie only, my bad.

It's not for positive posts only...but the posts should be about the film itself rather than bitching about people theorising it, which was the whole point of the film, I'd imagine.

Renn

Look, all I'm saying is that Nolan told us too much. That's one of my gripe's with it. Page/Exposition girl was an idea that didn't really sit well with me. I thought the movie looked great and sounded great - defo one for the cinema (love the opening scene, sound was perfect for it...reminded me of Shutter Island earlier in the year actually).

veXual

Sorry but I just thought I had to throw this in here: