INCEPTION: Was Cobb ...? to Ask My Full Question Here Might Be Too 'Spoiler' ...
@mythociate (21432)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
December 11, 2012 8:01pm CST
I don't want to spoil the movie for you, because the idea behind it is so explosive that knowing about it beforehand might 'spoil' the movie for you ... might get you thinking that writer/director Christopher Nolan or any of the other production-people listed on the IMDb-page I found at search.mylot.com/search.aspx?t=web&k=inception+imdb?ref=mythociate did something not-as-good as what you can imagine ...
In short, This discussion is for those who have already seen the movie INCEPTION (Leonardo DeCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt). If you haven't seen it, QUIT READING THIS! and come back after you have seen it (if you're over 25 ... because it's got a really heavy idea in it that youngsters shouldn't think of ... heck, 31 (MY age now) might be too young to see it!)
If you've seen it, you know that Leonardo DeCaprio plays Cobb, who is an extractor (according to the reality he gives anyway)---leader of a team that goes into people's dreams to find their 'hidden secrets.' And you remember all the supernatural trouble that got him into.
But one of the things that supposedly kept him "sane" was his 'marker' (or whatever they called it), a top which--if he was dreaming--would never stop spinning. And the movie ended with him going off to see his children after starting to spin the top, which looked like it was never going to stop.
So what's the deal? Was Cobb ever NOT dreaming? Is THIS all a dream (from which 'waking up' would lead us to another dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a ...?)
6 responses
@Bionicman (3958)
• Czech Republic
12 Dec 12
Remember the totem starts to wobble before the movie cuts to credits. It's open to interpretation.
@Bionicman (3958)
• Czech Republic
14 Dec 12
Obviously. Here's what Nolan said about the ending:
"I’ve been asked the question more times than I’ve ever been asked any other question about any other film I’ve made. What’s funny to me is that people really do expect me to answer it. There can’t be anything in the film that tells you one way or another because then the ambiguity at the end of the film would just be a mistake. It would represent a failure of the film to communicate something. But it’s not a mistake. I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me."
The real point of the scene, he explains, is that Cobb is looking at his kids and not the top. "He’s left it behind," says Nolan. "That’s the emotional significance of the thing.”
@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
14 Dec 12
So I guess that's 'the moral of the story': it doesn't matter where you end up, so long as you're doing what you love.
Maybe that would be good for a sequel---how Cobb lives fully (even though he may only be dreaming) because he loves being a good father. And hey! we could 'verify' that he's dreaming by having Mal come back & sue him for custody! ... we could make it sort of a mystery by disguising Mal as someone else, like a social-worker who 'deems Cobb unfit to raise them' or something.
Anyway, Do you think Nolan might've 'fleshed-out "Cobb's Eternal Dreaming" a little' by including an extra scene showing Cobb watching his kids run & have fun & maybe tumble around with him on a pink-&-purple beanbag on the grass (showing that he was probably still dreaming--with a little 'maybe not'--but still communicating that it doesn't really matter)?
('Cobb's Eternal Dreaming,' sounds like a good title for an instrumental to put on the sequel-soundtrack!)
@brew2x (3094)
• Philippines
12 Dec 12
Me and my husband has the same question about that ending. The director, writer and everybody that is involve in the plot writing has been triumphant in making people think and wonder about this. We thought we are not going to enjoy the movie, we actually quit watching it after a few minutes the first time. The second time we attempted to watch the movie was successful since we were able to enjoy the movie. Maybe they designed the ending to be that way in case they wanted to make a sequel for this.
@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
14 Dec 12
Christopher Nolan was the writer AND the director.
@Iriene88 (5343)
• Malaysia
12 Dec 12
Yes, this is the most asked question after the movie ended.
My eldest brother even asked the same question in the email.
I really do not know the answer. Some people said he is in
the limbo.
My son (16 years old) love this
Inception movie very much. Christopher Nolan is his model
director. He likes all Leonardo DeCaprio & Joseph Gordon-Levitt
movies too... Hmmm, he said he likes the idea of dreams within
dreams! Perhaps you are right, I hope his young mind and understand
it. It seems this movie left an unanswered ending for viewers to
decides ..
My son (16 years old) love this
Inception movie very much. Christopher Nolan is his model
director. He likes all Leonardo DeCaprio & Joseph Gordon-Levitt
movies too... Hmmm, he said he likes the idea of dreams within
dreams! Perhaps you are right, I hope his young mind and understand
it. It seems this movie left an unanswered ending for viewers to
decides ..@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
14 Dec 12
I watched part of it again today, and saw that his 'totem' DID stop spinning a couple times while he was in Paris looking for "Juno" (I forget her real name) to join his team.
@UmiNoor (4522)
• Malaysia
14 Dec 12
Inception has the most complicated plot for a movie that I've ever seen. I just don't want to think about it too much as it would make my head spin.
I think your question had been asked around the Internet. Is Cobb still in the dream world? Did the top stop spinning? It does seem like it was about to stop but then the camera didn't show it to the end. It's Christopher Nolan's way of making his audience contemplate.
@XianLovesMe (171)
• Philippines
13 Dec 12
The movie leans heavily on the assumption that he is still in thelimbo because the movie cuts before the totem stops or keep spinning still. But I strongly believe otherwise, I do believe he did wake up from the limbo. If you notice the totem wobbled before the cut. So its safe to say that in the dreaming world the totem would never lose its momentum and therefore open to possibilities, that it would be spinning always.
I don't know it only my opinion but the movie's open to interpretation though. hha
@zhaoyu1314 (9)
• China
12 Dec 12
Do not keep asking, just say no to every thing that you do not satisfied with.The future is about to chanllenge not to destroy.Destroy makes you clear ?Not exactly ,I think.
