Okay folks, I FINALLY saw Inception and it has totally fucked my brain up. I cannot stop thinking about it.
Since extremely bright people visit this blog, and I’m sure some of them have seen the movie, can anyone please answer for me (If someone hasn’t seen the movie, you can go ahead and read because the “spoilers” won’t/can’t do jackshit to “spoil” this movie for you; on the other hand, you should be rushing away RIGHT ABOUT NOW to go catch it):
1. From the fourth level of the sub-conscious (the level at which Cobb meets the aged Saito), how does Saito come back? Because he’s dead in the third level right? So, he’s supposed to go into limbo.. which is why Cobb finds him at the fourth level… that’s fine! But does the fact that he wakes up fine, mean that the sedative has worn off?
2. Now the top remaining spinning at the end has been left open for interpretation. But the speculation has largely remained around whether Cobb’s still in a dream/ reality/ limbo. Is there a case that the spinning top doesn’t matter because it’s not HIS totem in the first place? It’s his wife’s!
3. This might be damn stupid. How does Cobb know that Fischer will be found with Mal’s projection, after he dies at the third level?
Pleaaaaaaaaaase answer, someone! Before I go crazy.. or before the weekend, when I’m watching it again!
Tip: Don’t scrounge the internet and don’t beseech Google. I’ve broken my head enough. There are hundreds of theories out there, but by now, people are really making their own movie up 😀 I want to know if there’s something in the movie that explains these things, which I might have missed or which my IQ isn’t.. well.. suitable for? Thankee, in advance! 🙂
Another Dark Comedy 
What ya wonderful stage to make the first comment in here 🙂
I believe Nolan’s Idea was to make you ponder over the exact things that you have outlined and how many ever times you see the movie, there will only be more questions (Wait from Nolan’s official response and I am sure he will respond in kind)
a. I have more reasons to believe Cobb is in limbo. Totem not toppling and a masked scene between aged satio and cobb (you dont know whether satio shot him after he lifted the gun) aids this theory. Probably the final shot is a projection of Cobb in Nolan/Viewers dream :). If I remember it right, death in the dream means that you wake up lost in thoughts
b. The totem was hid by his wife and later discovered in the dream by Cobb. But I am not even sure whether Mal and the kids are for real
Thank you, Raj.
a. Death in the dream means waking up, but not in the case of being sedated. Which is why I am wondering how Saito woke up. Couldn’t have been death because if at all, HE is the one who kills Cobb. Couldn’t be a kick. Can’t be the apparatus disconnecting (a bizarre theory doing the rounds) because the others do follow the plan and wake up. So, it can only mean the sedative wearing off FOLLOWED by death?
You make a damn good point about whether Cobb was actually killed.. now that I think of it, the whole thing could be a dream from that point on!
b. Hmmm.. still thinking about it.
c. What do you think? How is it so obvious that Mal has taken Fischer with her as bait?
And yes, welcome 😉
Ah Inception s kinda flick dat yu should watch it for 100 times. .
Wil tel ya l8r. .
3) It’s obvious(to Cobb) that Fischer has been taken as a bait by Mal because
1)That’s what Mal has tried her level best to do: to keep Cobb with her, in her “real” world.
2) Remember that scene where Ariadne plugs into Cobb’s dream without asking for Cobb’s permission and they go in an elevator to different levels where Cobb keeps a sort of prison and Mal cries out that he can’t keep her in there and waiting forever. I think that’s the scene that shows how desperate she is and how unwilling(even if only a little) Cobb is to live with her in her real world.so yeah, mal wants something, cobb doesn’t. and they both know it.
hence the bait thing?
Nolan has a thing in common with my husband. That man just screwed up my head beyond belief.
Hey, what I wanted to know was that though Mal is obviously going to do anything to stay close to Cobb, is it TECHNICALLY possible for her to take another dream-sharer as a bait to another dream level of HERS. As in, she kills him and he should then slip into a limbo of HIS own right?
Mal is dead and hence a projection of Cobb. Isnt it. So its his subconscious that is working as Mal. The subconscious that is created from his memories with her. Hence he knows she will have Fischer.
I think Cobb’s in a limbo. He meets his kids who are the same age and wear same clothes as in his ‘dreams’, in the end of the movie. So Mal’s world is real and it’s Cobb who’s dreaming.
This is a damn good point. But then wont the totem topple when he spins it at other times? I need to go watch again.
Also if Cobb’s world is dream, when he plugs in the device to go into another dream, then it will be one level into dream, where he meets Mal. So that is not to reality.