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Inception

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I will echo a remark I first read on an aicn.com talkback: Inception is the opposite of Avatar.

Whereas Avatar was dumb but emotionally evocative Inception is smart as hell but I was left wondering just what was accomplished at the end, and was all the trouble worthwhile. Inception is very suspenseful.

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Spoiler Alert:

I found the end of the movie deeply unsatisfying. As it stands, it seems to leave open the question of what is and is not reality, as if it is an open question in real life. Even though I found it obvious the totem will topple (what with the instability seen at the end), I would have much preferred if that question had been definitively answered, as the implication would have been that reality is knowable and certain. And so, while I found it a great movie, it was tarnished by a less than satisfying "open" ending.

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Loved, loved, loved, loved it.

I found the end of the movie deeply unsatisfying. As it stands, it seems to leave open the question of what is and is not reality, as if it is an open question in real life.

This is implausible an explanation because a theme of the movie was about adherence to reality -- actual reality. More likely a lesser mind found its way to influence, like an executive worried about the audience's take on a complex movie, and the guys getting paid, writers/director, had to cave. I also hated the ending, but for that reason. It did not follow.

What a great movie, original and creative!

Edited by JASKN
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Loved, loved, loved, loved it.

This is implausible an explanation because a theme of the movie was about adherence to reality -- actual reality. More likely a lesser mind found its way to influence, like an executive worried about the audience's take on a complex movie, and the guys getting paid, writers/director, had to cave. I also hated the ending, but for that reason. It did not follow.

What a great movie, original and creative!

Yes, it was disappointing, because it didn't definitively end the movie on the side of reality, which had been the whole struggle of Cobb. Though, I think, perhaps it hinted enough to get the real point across.

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If Douglass Hofstatder and the Wachowski bro. went to see MOMENTO and then wrote a movie together, this is what they probably would come up with. I really enjoyed it. I took the last scene as asking the audience "Do you know which reality is true?Did you follow the facts?" The plot would not make sense if the end was a dream.

Edited by Plasmatic
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One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I'm convinced that Leonardo DiCaprio is no longer capable of being in a bad movie. Every movie I've seen with him recently has been fantastic. This is also the second movie he has starred in, in the past 6 months, that has made me question my sanity (the other being Shutter Island).

Christopher Nolan has shown himself to be one of the finest directors currently active and not just a one-trick pony (unlike that self-congratulatory, Hitchcock-wannabe hack, M. Night Shyamalan). There are so many concepts in this movie that are difficult to wrap my head around (the notion of 3 seconds turning into decades worth of dream-time, for instance), but Nolan did a superb job of weaving them all together so that they actually make sense. I might go see it again this upcoming weekend.

For whatever it's worth, my take on the ending is that he's still asleep and that his wife was right all along. Eventually, he'll wake up, and his wife will either be waiting for him or he'll realize that she never existed in the first place.

Edited by The Wrath
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My take on the ending:

I agree with plasmatic. It doesn't seem like the sort of movie to completely negate the point of it with a bad ending. It was more of a challenge to people of whether they still question reality or whether they embrace it and focus on their lives.

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This movie solidifies Nolan as, I think, the best mainstream director of our time. He weaves together so much of the big, important philosophic topics into easily digestible drama-action.

The movie itself is visually inspiring. You get to do so much crazy shit simply because most of it takes place in dreams.

However, for those of you looking for a clean cut ending, where the lines are clearly defined; you're screwed. Inception leaves you feeling a lot like Memento does. You're a tad confused at just what the ending is supposed to mean. Even though you see the totum shaking, you're not sure. That's the point, I think. I don't think Nolan is looking to espouse any particular idea, but just to have an avenue in which to interestingly portray the past 400 years of debate over the mind-body dichotomy and skepticism. He's clearly a mind-body guy.

This movie is powerful. You can't sit one second in your chair and not be thinking about what is going on, about dream states collapsing, about exactly what is real and what is the dream. It doesn't slow down the pace of the film for you. Just like other Nolan films, this is something you're gonna have to watch a few times to truly appreciate the depth of.

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I'm not quite sure. I don't remember if they explained this in the movie. If they did, I didn't catch it, but when you are under anesthesia you do not dream. I remember them talking about sedation, but clearly they were sedating themselves to the point where they would become unconscious. Seems like a major plot hole to me.

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I saw it tonight. A very well made film with an original premise. It is a perfect mixture of Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction, and Action movie. The only movie I can think fitting that category would be Total Recall... ugh.

I would like to say that it is a very cold and tense film. Also it is basically sad throughout the whole movie.

As far as the ending goes, I don't think it is possible for this movie to have ended with the object still spinning, as that would have negated the themes of the movie (moving on from the dead, staying in reality, getting over guilt, ect.). If it had ended with him in some sort of dream, then the movie effectively would have been about nothing.

Also, the Top was destabilizing at the end. There was also the implication of the Seiko and Dom getting out of limbo. In addition to that there was all of that character development in limbo, which contradicts the theory that Dom decided to live in denial.

Another possibility to rule out is the idea that Dom didn't know he was still in a dream at that point. This means either A) He never made it out of Limbo or B) Supreme Skepticism, in which case we have no idea what happened, making the film about nothing (not even about skepticism). Option A) I think it ruled out by Seiko and Dom killing each other (it is implied).

Basically, I am assuming that the plot doesn't negate the themes. If that is true, Dom couldn't have been in a dream at the end. I am choosing to interpret the movie's ending in the most charitable light .

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I don't know where many of you got such a strange interpretation for what the ending signified. It was simply leaving open the question as to whether or not his struggle had succeeded, or if he had in fact simply tricked himself into thinking he had found Seito and woken himself up.

It had nothing to do with "is the real reality really real?" - that was never presented as a serious question in the movie (as opposed to The Matrix, for example). The only thing questioned by this movie is whether Cobb would be able to pull himself back to reality, or get lost in his memories.

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Didn't the Seiko touch the top? Doesn't that mean Cobb wasn't in control. I think the ending was sort of a dream come true for Cobb. Like, he finally gets what he wanted, whether it's real or not may not matter -- he got over his guilt, and dealt with his personal problems.

One small thing that made the film great was that no one on the their team died! The Matrix disappointed me because so many of the characters die -- they were essentially useless. But all the characters on the team played their roles and had their moments of glory. I loved the scene when the guy opens the vault and his father was in there. That was just powerful. The fight in the hall was awesome.

It's my favorite type of movie -- it has a lot of character development, it makes you think, believable setting and dramatic action scenes.

Non-spoiler post -- Just go see it! :lol:

Edited by Sabre
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