Inception

The inability of the subconscious solders I think ties into the mental state of Fischer, how powerful Fischer feels himself to be. He buys into the dream as reality, he gets kidnapped and feels helpless - so the subconscious is only going to pursue so hard. Dicaprio convinces him that these men in suits are out to get Fischer and so this also should wear them down.

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Of course the guards are going to be inept when facing an elite Cobb and his elite team. As would the pink elephants with laser eyes. The film explained why they were there, that seemed plenty for me. What ever defence was there, Cobb and his team were going to excel and move forward...simply because the movie had to move forward.

After all, they did shoot Saito in the chest. They did flip the van several times in a vehicle chase. The defense wasnt that bad.

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If I had a dollar for every existential crisis I've ever had, does money really even matter?

Vicky, Meats and Fischel have hit the nail on the head. Also, some of you guys have to remember that it Cobb has trained Fischer and people like him to use his subconcious as a defense mechanism, but he probably made sure that there are limits to these defenses, to protect his investments, if you will. I think it's an astounding film. Very powerful three dimensional plotting/thinking.

I know, I heard that too. I like modern glass buildings but if I was living for 50 years in a self imagined environment I wouldn't have them as the sole surroundings. Anyway we're not talking here about what the characters liked or didn't like, making Cobb say that, well, that's just a cop out, we're talking about what the film makers omitted from the vast scale they could've imagined

Yes, but to say that someone could train your subconscious as a defence mechanism, is to denigrate the might of human intelligence and the utter delight of the power of human imagination. To confine the subconcious into preprepared vistas and not give us any leeway (apart from Cobb's freight train) to go off at a, very human, tangent, was not where I expected Nolan to go.

where does it say that Cobb trained Fischer?

Any interpretations of the ending ?

Highlight spoilers:

I would have to respectfully disagree, mam. I don't think that the defence mechanism in anyway invalidates the idea of the human mind as powerful. I would say it's the other way around, the fact that somebody would have to train subconscious gives you an idea of just how powerful the nature of dream and constructing dreams is. The fact that you would have to defend against such a technologically advanced forced shows you how far the human mind has come.

It seems that you and a few others may have figured there the film will be a bit more random and you guys may have taken the whole 'anything goes' scenario a bit too literally. I think having such things pop in and out would have been too easy, personally. 99.9% of films that deal depict dreams tend to go a bit too over the top, imo.

It's almost like having someone win the lottery and go on a spending spree with most of the money spent in one day. Nolan showed some considerable restraint while still making the film feel very surreal. I agree that there were more gunplay than there should have been, and yes, I would have like to have seen a bit more variety in the subconcious acts, but, really, do you guys honestly think it affects the film to an extent where you would have to take away a star?

I'm seem to remember Cobb saying something about he had trained Fischer to use his defences in the past but that Fischer doesn't remember or something. Or maybe he meant his team had trained Fischer at one point, which would make a bit more sense, I guess. I'm sure it was said in the 2nd level dream sequence.

Nope... that never happened..
If you are referring to the Mr. Charles trick, than that was a trick.

Ah, right. I think I may have misremembered it then..I really need to watch it a few more times. But Fischer was still trained.

Yep he was.. That's why after Saito gets shot, Cobb ends up yelling at Arthur for not doing a proper background check on Fischer.

I seen, I completely forgot about the scene. Now I remember. Like I said, there was a lot to digest

But it doesn't "denigrate the might of human intelligence" to say that one could trick someones subconscious into revealing secret ideas? I don't think it's a big stretch to go from buying into the idea that the subconscious could be tricked in this way to buying into the idea that the subconscious could be trained into guarding against such trickery.

Maybe I just don't have as much faith in human intelligence as you.

Wow, these conversations are getting as deep as the film itself. I wouldn't even know where to jump into the conversation because I am having a hard enough time digesting the movie as a whole in the first place and to try to break it down at this moment would totally blow my mind out of the water. I think I need to see this film at least one more time to get a harder grasp on it.

some minor spoilers in the last paragraph

I saw Inception again today, and I now feel comfortable writing some thoughts down after I mopped up the drool and picked up my jaw.

Inception is not a lot of things. It's not a psychological examination into the subconscious nor is it a complex character study. So don't expect it to be one. Instead, the film aspires to be a mindbending adventure heist film set in the realms of dreams and in this regard, the film is flawless. With jawdropping and visceral sequences, it not only engages the intellect but also the emotions as it deals with guilt and loss and being haunted by your past. In its own right, it's a masterpiece.

Inception was filled with great performances. Not DiCaprio's best but very solid. I was once again shocked by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This kid is full of talent. Cillian Murphy stood out as well, in my book.

The vocal and physical reaction Cobb (DiCaprio) abrubtly shrieks into after his wife Mal (Cotillard) jumps from the multi-story window really stuck with me as one of those great moments Leo has in all of his films. Another favorite scene was Fischer speaking with his projection of his dying father in the safe room vault - this was another moment that gave me chills.

I give Inception no less than a perfect 4/4 stars.

Inception
Christopher Nolan, 2010



Christopher Nolan has done it yet again with his seventh feature film, Inception. Nolan first truly original film might be his greatest yet; maybe he should stick to original ideas in the future. To me this seems as like a cross between the intelligent storytelling of Memento mixed with the look of The Dark Knight. The film really does make you question reality, because it goes so deep into the concept of a dream; and as the film goes on you just go deeper and deeper into the dream. The whole storyline is just so incredibly done. I find it hard to believe that anyone could even think an idea like this up and somehow make it work. There is nothing quite like it.

Of course DiCaprio shines from start to finish, this actually might be one of the most emotionally challenging roles that I’ve seen him. The entire plotline between him and his dead wife, Marion Cotillard, seems like it would’ve been really challenging for an actor to do. Maybe this role might finally get him his long deserved Oscar win. The real shining star of the film, though, is none other than Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I don’t think I’ve made it any real secret that I’m a huge Levitt fan, ever since I saw in (500) Days of Summer just last summer, but he did extraordinarily amazing in Inception. Hopefully this’ll get him the stardom he deserves, with this being his first non-indie film since a decade ago. I hope you all realize that I’m not counting G.I. Joe for a reason. Who I was most surprised about, though was Ellen Page. I hated her, especially in Juno, which may be one of the blandest films I’ve ever seen. I think the fact that her character, Ariadne, was a lot more interesting than all of the other roles I’ve seen her in helped too.

The movie’s score is done by Hans Zimmer, who’s now scored three of Nolan’s films. Most of it was quite amazing, namely the final track on the soundtrack which plays during the final moments of the film. Some of it just doesn’t sound that great to me, but I guess I shouldn’t have expected to love the entire score. The film’s climax is extremely well done as well. The fact that Nolan made the climax an hour and a half long and kept everyone entertained was amazing. Which also brings me to the film’s pacing, and Nolan really knows how to pace a film. There wasn’t a single moment in the film when I started to get bored at all, and I’ve seen it three times already. I guess at some point I’d have to bring up the Kubrick-like ending, too. I think Nolan made a great call leaving the ending open to interpretation rather than just giving us the usual happy ending, even if it did end up leaving some people disappointed.

I think there is no doubt in my mind that this will the best film of the year, no matter what else comes out. This might even be Nolan’s greatest achievement yet, even though I still prefer Memento and The Dark Knight. Also on one last point, the entire hallway fight scene is probably one of the coolest scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie. What’s even more spectacular about it is that Levitt did all those stunts by himself. That just shows you he’s someone who truly loves what he does in life.

Because it's his subconscious, and nobody's subconscious associates random things like pink elephants with laser beam eyes with the concept of "defense." I'd say, to a person, the first images that word conjures for any of us deep down would be some variation on guys with guns, or a fortress, or any of the other things that we do, in fact, see in Inception.

I get what you're on about, and I'm not unsympathetic to it, but I think the key here is to remember that this isn't his conscious mind. He doesn't have control over it. It does things on its own, so it can't do calculating things like flatten whatever building the good guys are in. It's nebulous, sure, but then again, so is the subconscious.

This complaint I can understand a good deal more; the projections are annoyingly incompetent at times. That said, it's clearly better than nothing, and even at that level of effectiveness it probably makes sense for the titans of industry to have it done in a world where psychological corporate espionage is a possibility.

I also really like meatwad's explanation that their effectiveness reflects Fischer's state of mind, as well as Fiscal's points that they did manage a thing or two. They were ineffective more in terms of efficiency, or ratio of bullets fired to targets hit...but as a swarm they got things done eventually, and I think we can presume they would have overwhelmed the good guys if things had gone on much longer.

What I really would have liked to have seen are the good guys using genuine creativity to outsmart the more predictable projections. This would explain why they're able to withstand the assault so well and dovetail perfectly with the film's recurring themes about the raw power of inspiration. It fits so well I'm kind of stunned it wasn't employed in this manner.