1 - The children look the same as in his previous memories, HOWEVER they cast two different child actors for the last shot, and their clothes are slightly different in the end too.
2 - Everyone is caught up on the fact that his totem didn't fall at the end, however do you remember that Cobb said he took his wife's totem from her dream-safe? Which means...
Basically there's a theory going round that the entire movie is his dream, that there is no such thing as dream extraction technology, it's all a dream so that the dreamer (Cobb) can get over the death of his wife.
I personally don't like this theory, however there is enough stuff in the movie to prove it.
There's also another theory that Michael Caine's character (Cobb's wife's dad) hired Saito and the other characters to make an inception on Cobb so that he can a) find out what happened to his daughter, and b) make Cobb get over her death.
I'm just going with the idea that reality is actually reality in the movie but that Cobb got stuck in limbo in the end (but this also doesn't make sense because he managed to get over his wife by realising she's just a 'shade' of reality, so why would he accept fake kids in limbo?)
But I prefer the happier ending that he actually got out and the totem would eventually fall, lol.
Basically Nolan made an inception on us with that final shot which made us doubt everything.
Goddamn it, I was content thinking it was all a dream but you had to go and say that. = (
First of all, it's not so important if the top falls or not, what's important is that Cobb walked away from it without a care in the world. It wasn't important to him anymore, he got over his wife and saw his kids again.
However, I think Cobb is in reality at the end. The reason why the camera lingers on the top spinning and cuts away, is because Christopher Nolan is doing an inception on the audience.
What is an inception? It's planting an idea in your head that you wouldn't normally have had otherwise.
So if the top had fallen, we wouldn't be asking all these questions, the story would be clear-cut, right? However he lingers on the top, makes it wobble a bit and then cuts away. This doesn't necessarily mean the top span endlessly and that Cobb was in limbo, or that the whole movie was a dream, I think it means that we simply cut away before seeing it fall.
It's to get the viewer thinking about the concepts of the film, and it's of course cheeky of Nolan to do an inception on us.
More idle thoughts:
# Maybe the first half of the movie is reality, but once Cobb first tries out that super sedative, the rest of the movie is a dream. After all, we never saw Cobb's top fall over when he was washing his face in front of the mirror (we never saw him wake up either)
# Maybe the entire movie is a dream until Cobb wakes up on the plane, then it's all reality.
I'm gonna stop before your brains melt. But I'll add one last thing:
Tag line for the movie which I take to heart: The Dream Is Real.
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol
I just came back from seeing it. The movie was great, but the ending SUCKED. I sat and yelled at the screen. It pissed me off and is still pissing me off.
I adored the movie. Finally, something to make you think. Seriously, the people that didn't like it don't like critical thinking ;)
I honestly think that there isn't a right answer. I'd be interested in the commentary when it comes out, which I think is the goal ;)
Honestly, I think it revolves around the top. It's mentioned several times that the medallion or whatever they call is, is a way to tell is anyone is manipulating YOUR dreams. Only you know the size, weight and feel. So, with that being said, It being Cobbs piece, since theoretically he was stuck within his own dream, he had the ability to manipulate his own piece. So, if we go with that this is my structure:
Reality
Movie World Dream
Van Dream
Hotel Dream
Snow Dream
Limbo
When we were in Movie world, it is explained that when a person who is hosting the dream is killed, then the dream collapses. So, in Molly (I think her name was?) killed herself, that is an indication to me that it wasn't HER dream, it was Cobbs. So in all actuality, he was controlling that world. And since he didn't even have his totem until he was 'stuck in limbo' with his wife, that means that he MADE the totem when he got back to the movie world (going under the assumption that objects aren't transferred). So of course it's going to react the way he wants it to.
Then, going even deeper. When Cobb finds that Japanese guy in limbo (so bad with names) It does NOT show what happens. We assume that they are both shot, but are they? What about the sedative? It was explained that they would have to have a simultaneous kick to bring them up all the waves.
My possible theories:
1) They both did wake up, however they woke up in Movie Reality, which is still the not reality. The wife is the only one that woke up. One theory I saw that made sense was the whole concept of protection army. I picked up that Juno was overly nosy....I think she was planted into that dream. Juno was able to jump into his dreams after the fact, so why can't something else be planted? Anyway, I noticed the children were identical. The top? I think that when he is focusing on it he can make it do what he wants....it's his dream. So when he stopped paying attention, it didn't know what to do. It wanted to keep spinning, but started to topple. It's the first time in the movie we saw it. It would either topple, or spin flawlessly. As Cobb mentioned, its the breakdown of reality.
2) Another thing I thought at first, was a forced dream state. What if he woke up, and was just placed in another? I mean, who says the Japanese guy could do anything to actually get him off, and just put him in his own dream? I don't know why I thought that, I liked the first idea first.
Those are just my thoughts, please feel free to expand :) I've been dying to chat about it.
Jiynnx said: I saw this today.
It was brilliant, but I hate confusing movies and cliff hangers like that!
I think in the end it's reality though.. the spinner seemed like it was just about to stop before it cut to black. Or was it just me?
Even so there are 2 important factors that go against this:
1. His kids look exactly the same as he envisioned him in his old dreams. We have no idea how long Cobbs has been on the run trying to get back to his kids. As well with his actual phonecall to the kids that where his son doesn't sound a thing like a toddler at all.
2. We never see how he got back to reality. It's implied with Saito, but left ambiguous with Cobbs.
Jiynnx said: I saw this today.
It was brilliant, but I hate confusing movies and cliff hangers like that!
I think in the end it's reality though.. the spinner seemed like it was just about to stop before it cut to black. Or was it just me?
Even so there are 2 important factors that go against this:
1. His kids look exactly the same as he envisioned him in his old dreams. We have no idea how long Cobbs has been on the run trying to get back to his kids. As well with his actual phonecall to the kids that where his son doesn't sound a thing like a toddler at all.
2. We never see how he got back to reality. It's implied with Saito, but left ambiguous with Cobbs.
How long he was out of the country was definitely suspicious. Few points on that:
1) His kids did sound older than his memories of them. The last scene in particular. They did look exactly the same.
(and as an added note: The ages are mentioned on IMDB as:
Claire Geare ... Phillipa (3 years)
Magnus Nolan ... James (20 months)
Taylor Geare ... Phillipa (5 years)
Johnathan Geare ... James (3 years)
Notice the relationships between the actors. It would make sense that they look identical. Props to them for using relatives ;) And is Magnus Nolan any relation to Chris Nolan perhaps? ;))
2) The father mentioned that you "can't keep sending them gifts" blah blah. If it was a shorter time, then numerous gifts wouldn't have worked, seeing how difficult it is to see the grandfather in the first place.
And that raises another point, how did he get out of the country in the first place? Who LET him go? Honestly, it was a little suspicious. My initial thought was the company that hired him to get in the Japanese head was who snuck him out. It may make sense, how long does a dream take to get going?
And Mol did make a point, the Movie world was a bit glamorie to be reality ;)
But I find it interesting that there were different kids cast for the memories / 'reality'. Could it be like he said with his wife, you are but a figment of my own imagination, you are only as perfect as I can remember. Which may explain why the kids were different. His reality was shifting again.
After introducing us to the characters and the world they live in the director reveals to us the suspicion that the 'real' world is still only Cobb's dream. From this point on that is the question that we're asking ourselves. "is Cobb's reality actually a dream?" Even Cobb himself suspects this when you see him spin the top near the end of the movie. However he chooses to be reunited with his children rather than face the truth. That leaves the audience to witness the outcome of the spinning top. It spins for a while and then begins to wobble... not enough to be certain it will topple but enough to make us believe it could. It is then that the movie cuts to the credits. We are left in uncertainty. Or, you could say "The audience was left in limbo."
During the film they often reference (and even visit) a place called limbo. Limbo is the deepest level of the dream world where seconds stretch to years and the mind eventually drives itself crazy. From here it boils down to wordplay.
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary said: Main Entry: 1lim·bo
Pronunciation: ˈlim-(ˌ)bō
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural limbos
Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin, abl. of limbus limbo, from Latin, border
Date: 14th century
1often capitalized : an abode of souls that are according to Roman Catholic theology barred from heaven because of not having received Christian baptism 2 a : a place or state of restraint or confinement b : a place or state of neglect or oblivion <proposals kept in limbo> c : an intermediate or transitional place or state d : a state of uncertainty
If you'll see the definition 2; a, b & c accurately describe how limbo was portrayed in the context of the story. Definition 2; d accurately describes the end of the movie. At this point the ending becomes a metaphor to describe Cobb's current situation. He is still in limbo.
In a way, it doesn't matter if Cobb is in limbo or the real world, because either way he'll still live to an old age and happy to be reunited with his kids.
EDIT: I still prefer the reality ending, because five minutes earlier he already acknowledged the fakeness of his wife's memory, so why settle for fake kids?
Seriously, the movie's awesome on so many levels.
"I'm starting to think mal is run by Xinil generating electricity on a bicycle." - idklol
In a way, it doesn't matter if Cobb is in limbo or the real world, because either way he'll still live to an old age and happy to be reunited with his kids.
EDIT: I still prefer the reality ending, because five minutes earlier he already acknowledged the fakeness of his wife's memory, so why settle for fake kids?
Seriously, the movie's awesome on so many levels.
lol, i c wat u did thar
Well, one could argue that he spent more time interacting with the shade of his wife then he did with his children, so he could not have been fully sure if they were just a shade of his real children, too. The viewer also can not be sure since the movie ends like that.
Although... I just thought of something that would support the reality ending (well, diminishing the whole movie is a dream theory, really). Mal. She would appear every time Cobb would (consciously or subconsciously) think of her when he went dreaming, while on a job or no job,... yet, if all along he was dreaming till the very end of the film, then how come we never see Mal or even the image of his children appear out of the blue and intrude on his supposed dream? One could say that this "limbo" is just finally defined as a near perfect representation of reality and that whenever he checks his (wife's) totem, and it would stop spinning, he would THINK he was sure that he was in reality, thus Mal intruding would be greatly limited only to him constantly wanting to "relive" that shade by just sleeping.
Thing is, that's all hypothetical. You wouldn't have enough information to back that up, no matter how much you like it sounds. Not to mention that his kids are in America, and that evidence just strongly points to him being in reality, as opposed to the hypothetical argument I made.
That movie was good. I loved it! Watched it a few days ago, but I would watch it again to actually understand the meaning behind Inception and such. :P
Rokubungi said: Note to self: NEVER re-watch a movie in a regular movie theater after seeing it first in IMAX.
Once you go IMAX, you never go backax.
There's no such problem when there's no IMAX anywhere in your country :/
This movie certainly was amazing, truth be told I did enjoy Avatar slightly more, but how this movie still has me thinking bumps it ahead of Avatar as my favorite film.
Well, one could argue that he spent more time interacting with the shade of his wife then he did with his children, so he could not have been fully sure if they were just a shade of his real children, too. The viewer also can not be sure since the movie ends like that.
Although... I just thought of something that would support the reality ending (well, diminishing the whole movie is a dream theory, really). Mal. She would appear every time Cobb would (consciously or subconsciously) think of her when he went dreaming, while on a job or no job,... yet, if all along he was dreaming till the very end of the film, then how come we never see Mal or even the image of his children appear out of the blue and intrude on his supposed dream? One could say that this "limbo" is just finally defined as a near perfect representation of reality and that whenever he checks his (wife's) totem, and it would stop spinning, he would THINK he was sure that he was in reality, thus Mal intruding would be greatly limited only to him constantly wanting to "relive" that shade by just sleeping.
Thing is, that's all hypothetical. You wouldn't have enough information to back that up, no matter how much you like it sounds. Not to mention that his kids are in America, and that evidence just strongly points to him being in reality, as opposed to the hypothetical argument I made.
Dunno about the whole thing, didnt he fully get over Mal in the limbo thing and chose to go back to his kids? He believes his kids are in reality (but as we could tell regardless of whether he was dreaming or not, he wanted to believe he was in the real world because he didnt bother to see what happened to the totem). So since he got over his wife she would never affect his dreams ever again.
I know full well that I'm grasping at straws too but meh.. I blame the creators for pulling his own inception on all of us =). Awesome movie!!
wow, I saw it today with my brother and his girl and man, we were all mind blown xD Awesome movie, totally deserves to be in imdb's top 5 *thumbs up* To all of you who still haven't seen it - move your lazy asses to the cinema to watch 2,5 hours of total awesomeness ;) You won't regret it
I watched it. Lots of people said that it's overrated, but... lots of people are strict about picking great stories.
Inception is not a masterpiece, but, it's as good as Clannad ~After Story~. It has its obvious flaws, but it's the best thing you could get in our age of remakes and reboots (besides Toy Story 3).
I thought the film was amazing. I went to see it with little knowledge of the concept and was very impressed. It's an original and very cool idea, to say the least. First cinema trip in a while which I was really satisfied with, definitely worth the money, you gotta see it :3
wMw_ said: Original movie, but wikipedia says that idea of dreams was stolen from anime paprika.
Really? Paprika is a brilliant movie too, but the plot isn't that similar, as I recall. I love the 'mindfuck' sort of value they both have, though.
i really loved it...tho i think it can be hard to follow
...but i didn't understand why he couldn't go home...cause if ppl thought he killed his wife then surly he would be arrested and not be able to walk around freely =|
i like to think that it wasn't a dream at the end ><