It drops, Casselman. Stop being such a pessimistic dick. Seriously the mere fact that it wobbles gives it away, because it never ever wobbled before. That's the thing.

Sorry, guys, there is no true ending. Nolan purposely made it ambiguous.The top doesn't drop in the film, but it's left up to the audience to interpret what they want how they want.

Oddly symbolic of the architect's creation, you create a conclusion for yourself.

There is no definitive ending,

This. Pure and simple.

There is such thing as an open ending. Read a book goddamit!!!

How can I explain this? Potion guy drank a lot of something so that he'd wake up on his own. That is why it is raining in level one. Everyone is not dreaming. They are only inside of potion guy's dream. However, Joseph Gordon Levitt begins his dream inside of level one. His body is the one who has to experience the van going off of the bridge to wake up. Level two is Joseph's dream. The potion guy doesn't make it to level two because he does not go in Joseph's dream, because level one was already potion guy's dream. In level two, the forger begins to dream. This makes level three the forger's dream. Joseph can not go into level three because level two was his own dream. The forger has to feel the kick of the elevator in level two to wake up from his dream, which is level three. The next level the characters go down into is limbo. The forger can not go down another level because his dream was level three. Limbo is supposed to be blank, unless going with someone who has been there before, which Cobb has been. That's why his projections from his time with Mal remain. I am not sure how the characters get out of Limbo. Cobb and Mal seemed to use death. Ariadne seemed to use a kick. Cobb and Saito seemed to just 'realize they were in limbo.' That part I could use help on. But, I hope you understand that for dream levels 1, 2, and 3, nobody is going two levels deep into their own dreams. They are only travelling down through the dreamer.

True, Nolan purposely made it ambiguous. But for me, using evidence from the film, the ending is clearly reality. I feel as if he was 'trying to plant ideas in your head' otherwise. Oddly symbolic of the film's plot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrYPJ4Yc31g

Must watch.

It's not really practical to use the spoiler box given the size of this post, so um, spoiler warning.


Well, they are dreaming in the most technical sense. Even if they're in another person's dream, they still have to be unconscious to get there.

Or so I think. Are they not unconscious when they're hooked to the machine?


But that's the problem with the kick: the van isn't real. It's a manifestation within the dream. In the real world, the kick is a real fall in a real bath tub. If the "dream kick" is going work, then that means the person must in some way still be remaining in the previous level. That leads to ontological problems.

Let's put it this way: if Arthur is in Level 2 but can still experience the sensations ("the "fall") inflicted upon his form in Level 1, then that implies he's either:

A) occupying both levels at the same time, which is metaphysically odd because that implies when Cobb is in Limbo, he's actually inside all four levels at the same time. I guess this could work, but this doesn't seem to be coherent with what the movie is trying to communicate. Or...

B) he's replicating his psychological ego every time he enters a new level, meaning he's either leaving a replication behind (the sleeper in the previous level) or he's sending a replication in (the new Ego that occupies the lower level). We'll call the leaving-replication-behind possibility B(1) and the sending-replication-in possibility B(2). If B(2) is true, the replication of Cobb in Level 2 IS ITSELF creating a psychological replication. So the entity in Limbo is actually a replication of a replication of a replication.

(note: Although I use Arthur and Cobb in the above examples, it can apply to any character who enters the dream levels)

I'm just going to go out and say that scenario B(2) is logically impossible. You can't replicate the Ego. If you did replicate your Ego, it would simply be a new entity all together. It wouldn't be you. One could say, "anything's possible in a movie," but I can't suspend believe at that level.
B(1) might be true, because the replication wouldn't be another ego but sort of a "sensor" that can perceive things in Level 1 even though the Ego is in Level 2. But that begs the question: if this machine is that damn sophisticated, then WHY does it have to simulate a falling van in order to create a "fall"? Why can't the machine just access this "sensor" directly?

Scenario A makes sense, but again, the movie did a poor job of communicating that this was indeed the case.


I'm with you there. There seemed to be a decisive event when the old Asian guy saw the totem, but I couldn't figure it why it worked.


Understood, but if you think about it, the problems are the same. Either way, it's one person's mind either dividing itself or replicating itself, and both seem unexplained as the movie stands (the latter defies explanation anyway).

Agreed! I think the way it ended was how it should be, though I was actually expecting something like what happened half way. I said to my mate at one point..

Personally I'm still not sure what to think about the ending, still awesome movie. I really enjoyed it. Don't buy DVD's much, but this I'm buying fo shoooo.

- What Do Professional Dream Scientists Think Of The Movie Inception?

Frankly, this isn't slightly the insightful article you might hope it is. Sometimes you get a great idea for an interest piece, and sometimes your subject drops a dud response in your lap. The first comment in particular is pretty insipid.

Still, I thought I'd drop it here for anyone interested. The subject of whether or not the methodology and style of the dreams was applicable seemed to be a big after-thought to the movie's initial impact. A popular interpretation is that the movie is more about the process of filmmaking, than actual dreams. Personally, I found the style and approach to dreaming very relatable, even if it isn't the exclusive style of dream I might have.

Still a great movie. Not sure how much there is to be confused about. (Boy, I really didn't like that first guy's response!) I wonder how everybody feels about it at this stage. It certainly seems to me the worm has turned for some.

I'm gonna watch this movie again. Really engaging.