Inception

I can't read all these posts, so I'm just going to say I loved it. Great film, Great experience. I'd see it again. Nothing that changed my life. Several movies stay with me longer, but that is a solid fun movie that has little to no faults.

As for the ending: Highlight -> The ending was clearly him in a dream. From the flashbacks of when he left home into exile... the toys on the bench were the same toys in the same position as before.... The time of day was the same, the children were the same age, they were wearing the same clothes, etc. I liked the ambiguous ending with the top spinning... but he is clearly (for an unknown reason) still in dream land. Maybe his wifey was right... wouldn't that be something?
 
Kholi said:
Sense of Urgency: It was urgent, however, you're projecting your own emotions into this. These guys are trained professionals, they all obviously know the ramifications of specific actions. Being shot in a dream is probably normal. Let's call that a practical assumption and move it to the scenes that occur:
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Of course I'm projecting my own emotions into this. It's a movie. It's what you are supposed to do.

I feel that for a group of professional dream sharers, understanding the risks they would take every possible precaution. Yet, it seemed only COBB knew that Death=Limbo rather than Death=waking up. This shouldn't have been a shock to everybody. And, knowing they'd be heavily sedated, you'd think they would make sure the stewardess doubled as a professional dream sharer or a doctor and monitored their physical well being with wires and heart monitoring machines, etc. I felt that was a bit of a hole. It was something that wasn't addressed that should have been. It's something that made me go, "this is silly. why didn't they plan for the dangers of being heavily sedated; like getting shot?"

When the businessman was shot, if I'm not mistaken, it was during the rainy van scene. The first level. In a real mission, they should/would have 'kicked' him right then and there to get him out of that dream. And, the Van going over-board, which was the first kick, should have woken him up.
 
agcohn said:
I wasn't bothered by the actual camerawork. What did bother me though was that the snow battle itself was like something from a generic action film compared to the hotel fight, which was something I'd never seen before.

The snow battle felt like Nolan was auditioning for the next James Bond film or something.
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If he does JB the same way he did Batman you can bet JB is going to live forever !

OK abit off topic !
 
Ryan... I won't give away what you wrote, but I completely agree with you about the ending... though I'm not sure how it adds up... I need to watch it again.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
:Drogar-Mark-01(DBG)

I said they sewed it up in dialogue. I'm saying that dialgue is not very plausible. I said it would have taken a long time and lots of scenes to address it otherwise and it would have made it a lesser movie. But my point was that - come on - if this technology were real, it would be the assumption that anyone in Cillian Murphy's position would have militarized training in the dream world. Not an "oops didn't show up in the research." That would be like going to kidnap Bill Gates and going "Crap he has body guards and a security system. Damnit how could you let this happen? Sorry it slipped." So I said in my post that yes they tied this up in 4 lines of dialogue. I'm saying the 4 lines of dialogue are bullshi*, (if you are going to look for bullshi*) but that I don't care. Movie would have been worse if they went through a couple of long scenes just to facilitate what could be facilitated in 4 lines of dialogue. There's just no way they wouldn't operate under this assumption and no way that someone like Jospeh Gordon what's his name who was described as "the best at his job" wouldn't work under the assumption that one of the world's most powerful men wouldn't have been prepared for this.

Along your analogy - would Macgregor or Balcomb forget to bring media for the camera, especially if the stakes meant death or insanity? But the movie's saying someone who's "the best at their job" just didn't think about something that obvious. But again, I would have done it the same way.

It's what Hitchock calls a refrigerator question - meaning that if the audience is along for the ride, they won't stop and question it until they get home and open the refrigerator to make a sandwich (if they ever even question it). My point wasn't that it was a hole. Yes it was "sewn up" with some dialogue. Addressed (which is really all an audience wants most of the time). So my point wasn't that it was a hole. Just not very plausible when you stop to think about it. "Really? Brad pit has body guards? I can't just walk up and mug him? That didn't show up in the research." But it was the right choice as anything else would have bogged down the script. My point was that the kick wasn't a problem. But if you wanted to poke holes in something (for the shear sake of poking holes) that notion of being utterly clueless about an internationally powerful man having been trained to handle this is pretty indefensible.
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I actually thought that it was Cobb's subconscious in the first dream level that was attacking everybody. Surely if Fischer's mind was trained to defend against such an attack then it could be trained to recognise that attack so he wouldn't fall for the scheme that leads to the inception.

Doesn't Ariadne realise that it is actually Cobb's subconscious infiltrating the dream world when speaking to him about the danger he is putting everyone in? It seemed to me that he just said it was Fischer's subconscious to cover up the fact that he is so mentally disturbed that his guilt can leak into the mission and put everyone in danger.

Also, the fact that we see visions of Cobbs children and Mal in the dream worlds shows that his guilty sub-conscience is beginning to break into these dreams. Isn't the train that breaks into the first dream level the same train that killed Cobb and Mal in Limbo? Aren't the agents pursuing them in the dream world reminiscent of the agents pursuing Cobb in real life?

The thing that confuses me slightly is with Cobb and Fischer in the second dream level. This is where the team is doing the 'Charles' act that involves Cobb pretending to Fischer that he is there to help him, convincing him that the previous dream level is actually reality and that his kidnappers are trying to break into his mind. Cobb keeps referring to Fischer's "Training". Did Fischer actually have training?

The answer to this could simply be that Cobb confuses Fischer so much that he believes him. If Fischer never had any such training then Cobb's ability to change the pull of gravity etc would be enough to make Fischer believe whatever he is saying.
 
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I also found it odd that when speaking to the Businessman, Cobb used the example of when you tell someone not to think of an elephant, that it is precisely what they think about. Yet, all Juno did when they were in the dream was mention is ex-wife; essentially bringing up the elephant. Seems to me that she would show up on the spot, given the constant reminders.

But, I'm not so sure the entire movie wasn't a dream. If he was in limbo with his wife, he may have been dreaming the entire time. Perhaps Juno and the rest of the professionals were all just part of the dream. Then again, I'm not sure we are supposed to know for certain.
 
Here is the good news if the ending is how I thought it was:

If he is indeed still dreaming... he should do the following... he should stay in the 'world' he is in right now... age until he is ripe and old, lived a complete life. See his kids grow up and etc. When he is ancient old (like the guy who hires him and has to age in limbo) he (cobbs) should just kill himself. If he dies, he dies. If it's a dream, he wakes up relatively young and Mal should be bouncing around somewhere, in the not so distant future from her 'suicide'. Big deal. The man gets another 'life'.

I mean heck, an entire life time in the dream world would be at most, what?, a year or two at MOST? In case he is in the real world he should stick it out, but then he should kill himself when he is old. If he wakes up, he'll be with Mal. If he truly dies, it simply depends how the afterlife is.
 
^^ i like that, Ryan.

i think you're hitting on some existential 'make what you will out of what you're given' kinda vibe. and think it's a valid one, i.e. maybe that's the moral of the story.

dream or not, i really can't say too much crap about a film that has me talking about it days later : >
 
Wonderful film. This is why Nolan is my favorite director. Has been since momento. He never dissapoints. I still prefer the dark knight and the prestige to this one, but inception is still great in my books.

I could really feel the audience in the theater with me, which is a rare thing IMO. At every OMG moment you could feel the audience around you going through the same experience. Then at the end, right as it cut to credits, everyone *gasped*. This is when I like seeing it with a large audience (no one talked either!)

Jack Daniel Stanley said:
:Drogar-Mark-01(DBG)

I said they sewed it up in dialogue. I'm saying that dialgue is not very plausible. I said it would have taken a long time and lots of scenes to address it otherwise and it would have made it a lesser movie. But my point was that - come on - if this technology were real, it would be the assumption that anyone in Cillian Murphy's position would have militarized training in the dream world. Not an "oops didn't show up in the research." That would be like going to kidnap Bill Gates and going "Crap he has body guards and a security system. Damnit how could you let this happen? Sorry it slipped." So I said in my post that yes they tied this up in 4 lines of dialogue. I'm saying the 4 lines of dialogue are bullshi*, (if you are going to look for bullshi*) but that I don't care.
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Bill gates having a body guard is a normal thing. Perhaps being trained for dream defense is a rare thing, not like having a bodyguard. I got that impression when Saito wasn't trained in that defense.

It could very well be that he slipped up because it's so rare he made the mistake to not check. Perhaps it's not something easy to find out either. Plus they're human, people **** up.
 
didn't love it. same problem i had with dark knight: Enough with the exposition in dialogue already!
I'd much rather watch the movie than have the characters explain it to me. Show don't tell.
 
Dan_The_Man said:
I actually thought that it was Cobb's subconscious in the first dream level that was attacking everybody. Surely if Fischer's mind was trained to defend against such an attack then it could be trained to recognise that attack so he wouldn't fall for the scheme that leads to the inception.

Doesn't Ariadne realise that it is actually Cobb's subconscious infiltrating the dream world when speaking to him about the danger he is putting everyone in? It seemed to me that he just said it was Fischer's subconscious to cover up the fact that he is so mentally disturbed that his guilt can leak into the mission and put everyone in danger.

Also, the fact that we see visions of Cobbs children and Mal in the dream worlds shows that his guilty sub-conscience is beginning to break into these dreams. Isn't the train that breaks into the first dream level the same train that killed Cobb and Mal in Limbo? Aren't the agents pursuing them in the dream world reminiscent of the agents pursuing Cobb in real life?

The thing that confuses me slightly is with Cobb and Fischer in the second dream level. This is where the team is doing the 'Charles' act that involves Cobb pretending to Fischer that he is there to help him, convincing him that the previous dream level is actually reality and that his kidnappers are trying to break into his mind. Cobb keeps referring to Fischer's "Training". Did Fischer actually have training?

The answer to this could simply be that Cobb confuses Fischer so much that he believes him. If Fischer never had any such training then Cobb's ability to change the pull of gravity etc would be enough to make Fischer believe whatever he is saying.
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Is it just me?
 
^^honestly, i think i might have to watch it again. because, 1) it might all be a dream (which makes the story poo, or 2) there was some turning point during the course of the story that made the end bit a dream.

the 'what' and 'why' for any of the characters depends on if it was 1, or 2. it could be something else.
 
Nolan is so damn overrated. He makes these seemingly deep and complex films, but they're so damn shallow.

He drives his entire movie with loud music.

You know, I loved Memento, enjoyed Batman Begins, thought Prestige was kinda cute, but now it's just getting ridiculous. The dude clearly has nothing to say in his films. The first half of his films are just trash. Look at the first hour of Dark Knight, and the first hour of Inception, boring as hell, characters telling us what's going on. It's like the dude can't wait to get to the action. Now, let me be clear when I say "boring." I don't need explosions to get excited. i just need to care about the characters.

The most ridiculous part of the whole film was the relationship between Dicaprio and Paige. The fact that one man divulges his entire life's story to a stranger in the course of however long they know each other, is just stupid.
 
Untitled04 said:
Nolan is so damn overrated. He makes these seemingly deep and complex films, but they're so damn shallow.

He drives his entire movie with loud music.

You know, I loved Memento, enjoyed Batman Begins, thought Prestige was kinda cute, but now it's just getting ridiculous. The dude clearly has nothing to say in his films. The first half of his films are just trash. Look at the first hour of Dark Knight, and the first hour of Inception, boring as hell, characters telling us what's going on. It's like the dude can't wait to get to the action. Now, let me be clear when I say "boring." I don't need explosions to get excited. i just need to care about the characters.

The most ridiculous part of the whole film was the relationship between Dicaprio and Paige. The fact that one man divulges his entire life's story to a stranger in the course of however long they know each other, is just stupid.
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valid. although i do think he's a great director... but as someone mentioned earlier, maybe not so much a great writer.

but.. he is damned successful. which begs the question: is directing more important than writing in the movie making business? i think not, but i might be wrong. at the very least, it seems that great directing can save mediocre writing.
 
Fahad, I guess I would have to agree with you. But even his directing is suspect here. I thought Dicaprio, and Wantanabe were weak links here.

I'm beginning to think Nolan and Michael Bay are indeed the same person, with Nolan just being the "dark", emo version.

No one can really argue with his record of success. It must be great to be Nolan right now, but at the same time, the thing I hate most is wasted potential.

By the way, I love how the dumbed down movie going public pats themselves on the back for sitting through such a "smart" film.
 
Untitled04 said:
By the way, I love how the dumbed down movie going public pats themselves on the back for sitting through such a "smart" film.
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What exactly distinguishes you from the "dumbed down movie going public"?
If you related to the film differently or not at all, what gives you the right to put other people beneath you because they didn't share your sentiments?

It's understandable if you didn't like the film, but when you go on an attack against people who enjoyed themselves it kind of makes you look an @sshole.
 
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