I saw it the other night, it was amazing!! Ellen Page was incredible!
I wanna see it again!

Here be spoilers:

I'm convinced that it was real. The kids wouldn't have aged much because remember early on, they were talking on the phone and they sounded really young? I think the top was wobbling and about to top over before the scene cut.

Maybe it's because I advocate happy endings all the time haha, but I'm convinced it was reality.

*End Spoilers*

Decent movie, but it's no Blade Runner.

Originally Posted by Tallee

Here be spoilers:

I'm convinced that it was real. The kids wouldn't have aged much because remember early on, they were talking on the phone and they sounded really young? I think the top was wobbling and about to top over before the scene cut.
*End Spoilers*

That's a great point.

For sake of my brain not exploding, I like to the assume he was in reality at the end. But I guess there's really no way of knowing. Excellent movie. I suggest everyone who liked it to watch The Prestige, also directed by Nolan.

I think we all just gotta watch it again, I know I will at some point. :]

Spoiler!!

Well, I was just looking at the credits for Inception and there are different ages for the children. Like two actors played Philippa, and two actors played James. So... he wasn't dreaming? Limbo was a recreation of memories for him and Mal, so he wouldn't have known what they looked like when they were older.

Spoilers!

There's a few things in the ending that may point towards the conclusion that Cobb was still dreaming. First, the grandmother wasn't present, and instead his homecoming was rather picturesque, which makes me think that it could have been a dream-reality constructed from his memories - he would want a warm welcome, without the presence of his grandmother who was a negative figure earlier in the film, wouldn't he? I think if it had been real, the kids would've (as said earlier) looked older and the homecoming would have been subdued, but maybe the happy-ending is just Hollywood's influence (However, this is a Christopher Nolan movie, so all generic conclusions should really be thrown out the window)

Also, the fact that we see the kids' faces doesn't really prove that we are in a reality and not a dream-reality, since when Cobb was in the "limbo" stage talking to his wife, he turned away at the last second from his kids so as to avoid seeing their faces. (But on the other hand, he seemed unable to recall any memories of earlier experiences with his children in order to see their faces, so being in a dream-reality where he does see his children's faces could be an implausibility.....wh o knows!)

Maybe the fact that we're having a hard time concluding if it the ending was real or not shows how masterfully designed and executed this movie really is - the ending ties in so well to the rest of the movie that even we can't distinguish between reality and the dreamworld!

Oh, and the three-layered-dream-in-which-time-is-progressively-compounded-and-from-which-you-must-be-woken-up-by-a-"kick" concept? Simply AMAZING.


Here endeth spoilers.

that movie was amazing. the ending was awesome!

My brain hurts. The ending, I don't know how to feel; kinda want it to be a happy end but, it can be argued that it's happy either way (reality or not).

Personally, I think that the ending WAS NOT a dream.

*SPOILER*
When Leo and the girl were in the Leo's dream that he claimed to have constructed from memory, he said that he never got to see his kid's faces before leaving. Therefore, in that dream, he couldn't construct their faces because he never actually experienced it and therefore didn't have the memory from which to construct the dream.

Therefore, in the end, when his kids turn around and he does see their faces, it as to be reality. If it were still a dream, he wouldn't have seen them turn around because he wouldn't have the memory to construct their faces.

I was avoiding this thread until I had a chance to go see it.

And holy moly was it good.

SPOILER:

There's one alternative that hasn't been discussed though- what if it was all a dream? Not just the scene after the airplane, but the entire being challenged to perform inception, and everything since he "woke up with Moll". The spinning top could have been meant to show that even after he came though all the layers and got back he was still in a dream.

Also, I'm not sure they were consistent with the "kick" thing, is it something that has to be done in the dream? Or is it something done in the waking world/level above? It seems like there were instances of both happening- Cogg being pushed into the bath in the first scene, for example, vs. Ariadne jumping off the building to wake her self up.

/SPOILER

Originally Posted by Marlowe

I was avoiding this thread until I had a chance to go see it.

And holy moly was it good.

SPOILER:

There's one alternative that hasn't been discussed though- what if it was all a dream? Not just the scene after the airplane, but the entire being challenged to perform inception, and everything since he "woke up with Moll". The spinning top could have been meant to show that even after he came though all the layers and got back he was still in a dream.

Also, I'm not sure they were consistent with the "kick" thing, is it something that has to be done in the dream? Or is it something done in the waking world/level above? It seems like there were instances of both happening- Cogg being pushed into the bath in the first scene, for example, vs. Ariadne jumping off the building to wake her self up.

/SPOILER

*spoiler*

haha yup that's one of the other options i've considered and it is very possible that he never really got out of his dream maybe he got out of limbo but was still dreaming within a layer and made a mental "mission" for himself that had to do with his wife's death (which had to do with himself).

The only thing I don't find realistic because it kind of doesn't make sense (at least in my perspective) is how you can possible make someone go into another layer by having their dream self hooked up to the machine again. I mean how is your dream self supposed to have it's own subconscious. The actual person might have different layers but getting them their by hooking up their dream state/body doesn't make sense because that "self" wouldn't have its own dream. I mean its plausible that hooking up the machine itself and making the dream "self" think that they are going into a dream induces their mind to go into a deeper state.

*End Spoiler*

This movie is definitely worth seeing again and probably should be seen again to take in more information and have a better understanding of the concepts.

Originally Posted by EasternHeat

*spoiler*

haha yup that's one of the other options i've considered and it is very possible that he never really got out of his dream maybe he got out of limbo but was still dreaming within a layer and made a mental "mission" for himself that had to do with his wife's death (which had to do with himself).

The only thing I don't find realistic because it kind of doesn't make sense (at least in my perspective) is how you can possible make someone go into another layer by having their dream self hooked up to the machine again. I mean how is your dream self supposed to have it's own subconscious. The actual person might have different layers but getting them their by hooking up their dream state/body doesn't make sense because that "self" wouldn't have its own dream. I mean its plausible that hooking up the machine itself and making the dream "self" think that they are going into a dream induces their mind to go into a deeper state.

*End Spoiler*

This movie is definitely worth seeing again and probably should be seen again to take in more information and have a better understanding of the concepts.

I think that when they go into a "Second layer" or "dream within a dream" it means that they are simply going deeper into their subconscious, not necessarily into a second subconscious.

Wanted to watch this last night but it became sold out while I was standing in line. Murr.

*SPOILER*

Personally, I think he was in reality. The top wobbles, which it normally doesn't do in dreams throughout the film. Also, considering that his wife may have passed very recently, it could have been only a couple months since he last saw his kids. There is no indication of when she died. His kids could still look the same age.

All in all, a spectacular movie, and perhaps one of my favourites of all time. Hands down.

WHY does this movie only have an average rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes? It should be around, oh, I dunno.......100?