Thread: Let's Talk Inception (Spoilers abound)

It was all a dream.

i had a dream last night that i was home and everything was really nice and then i opened a box and that little spinning top was spinning and spinning and spinning and i was like noooooooooooooo

(true)

i was impressed by (what i thought was) the originality of the idea, above all. as for the movie itself, i thought it was fairly typical chris nolan fare: well-thought-out and intricate plot, solid performances across the board (i fuckin love ellen page), great effects and action sequences that aren't shot spectacularly, a lot of suspense but less than the film seems to think, and not very much depth of character or emotional investment. i mean i didn't really care about the characters.

edit: what i mean about the action sequences is -- the effects are brilliant (the rotating hallway in arthur's dream-level looked spectacular) and all the sequences serve the story well, but they are shot (at best) without very much visual pop and sense of danger and (at worst) confusingly, without a crystal-clear idea of who and what is where and when. the best two examples of this are the snow dream-level in inception and the car chase in the dark knight.

when the snow fortress ride comes out at universal studios i hope i get to be on the blue team

Apparently Chris Nolan is the new Stanley Kubrick.

In other news film critics are idiots.

I thought Ellen Page's character was a little jarring. I mean she seemed to care way too much about DiCaprio's character's problems.

Other than I that I really enjoyed the movie.

The spinning top was only a red herring if it was a dream (protip it was a dream)

The spinning top was only a red herring if it was not a dream (protip it was not a dream)

sorry uh how was the spinning top a red herring and where did togs's comment come from

are you talking about the end

because the only thing to say about the end that makes sense is that the events of the film could have been a dream or not -- there is no definitive answer because we are not told one way or the other; it is not even indicated.

disclaimer: i need to see it again to make sure there aren't intricate hints laid out through the film.

it is up to the viewer whether it was a dream or not. saying authoritatively it is or is not is retarded and unbecoming of any insightful discussion of the movie (like debating the guilt or innocence of the priest in doubt - disclaimer: i have not seen that movie).

I for Inception

Originally Posted by gwahir

sorry uh how was the spinning top a red herring and where did togs's comment come from

are you talking about the end

because the only thing to say about the end that makes sense is that the events of the film could have been a dream or not -- there is no definitive answer because we are not told one way or the other; it is not even indicated.

disclaimer: i need to see it again to make sure there aren't intricate hints laid out through the film.

it is up to the viewer whether it was a dream or not. saying authoritatively it is or is not is retarded and unbecoming of any insightful discussion of the movie (like debating the guilt or innocence of the priest in doubt - disclaimer: i have not seen that movie).

Yes, at the end.

I don't think anyone makes an insightful interpretation of the movie based on the top. It's irrelevant, because only if the movie is real does the outcome of the spin even matter; if the movie is a dream then the "totem" is a dream construct anyways.

The better indicator that it's a dream is the fact that he isn't reunited with his children, he's reunited with the memory of his children in the exact same position he had seen them last. It's been a few weeks, so I can't recall details, but time had clearly passed (at some point, I seem to remember the dad mentioning at least a year but I could be wrong.) Children don't stay 7 years old in the same clothes playing in the same way.

The point, though, is that the line is supposed to be blurry, indicative of the way a director feels as he immerses himself into a film (see also: Heath Ledger hint hint.)

The children weren't the same age at the end of the movie. They were played by different actors.

Claire Geare ... Phillipa (3 years)
Magnus Nolan ... James (20 months)

Taylor Geare ... Phillipa (5 years)
Johnathan Geare ... James (3 years)

It's been a few weeks but I'm willing to bet you're wrong and that there was a flashback of the children prior to the last sequence that was repeated throughout the movie.

i think atmosfear is right, and the fact of the kids being so similar to his memory of the kids is certainly a more persuasive argument than the spinning (or not spinning) top.

but, yes, the final line of your post is ultimately the point.