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Questions tagged [inception]

Inception is a 2010 film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Use this tag for questions about the film itself. Do NOT automatically use with the [movie] tag; check that tag's usage guidance before using it.

Inception is a 2010 film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a man who specializes in corporate espionage with a device that allows him to enter other people's dreams. Stunning visual effects punctuate a thought-provoking plot with an ending open to interpretation.

                                                       Theatrical release poster of "Inception"

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Interpreting the end of Inception

Sorry for the vague title--I don't want the title to be a spoiler. I've seen the movie three times, and the last two times I looked specifically for clues to this question, but found none. The final scene in Inception shows Cobb's top spinning,…
Flimzy
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Is the top still reliable?

Several times in the movie, Cobb says that no one should touch your totem, which would otherwise lose its ability to tell you if you're in a dream or not. I understand, there is no "magical" ability in the totems. Just a way they are done/built,…
LudoMC
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In Inception, how do Cobb and Saito escape Limbo?

At the end of the movie: Cobb and Saito are both stuck in limbo, and according to someone on the team (can't remember who said it) limbo is a place you don't want your mind to be in... but some how Cobb and Mal once managed to get out of it without…
Jared
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In "Inception", why didn't Cobb take his kids with him when he had to flee the country?

I feel this is a major plot point. If he could manage to stay hidden alone, he could stay hidden with his kids as well. Why leave them behind if he misses them so much?
Andrei Vajna
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Why does Saito say “Have you come to kill me” in the first sequence?

In the very first sequence in Inception we see Cobb interact with Saito, Saito says, Are you here to kill me? But , what I can't understand is why he would say this, due to the fact that this is a projection of when Saito is buried deep inside…
KyloRen
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In Inception why does the music played not slow down in each successive dream level?

In the movie Inception, a song was played to synchronize the kicks in the different dream levels. Now, in every level the time runs much faster than the previous level of the dream. When the music is played in the first dream level, it is heard by…
Deiknymi
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How did they get the working dream share device inside dreams in Inception?

After getting into the dream they also have that dream sharing machine with them. How did they get that machine 'working' (fully functional) inside dream because inside dream that machine was just an image of the real machine.
LifeH2O
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Is the spinning top in Inception a bad choice for a totem?

In the movie Inception, the concept of a Totem is that is has a special distinguishing feature, maybe weight or dimension or feel or something else - i.e. its different from a run of the mill piece of the same type. The basic concept is that in…
user93353
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How is it that Robert Fisher could have been killed by his own projections?

In the movie Inception, Robert Fisher had an army of militarized projections presumably meant to protect him against extraction. However, during the street battle at the first level of the inception, Fisher's projections are indiscriminately…
John Freemyer
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Why did Cobb ask Ariadne for the secret passage in the third-level dream?

In the third-level dream (the snow one), Saito and Fischer are compromised when they try to enter the building. Cobb asks Ariadne to tell him the secret entrance, but she refuses because if Cobb knows, then Mal knows. Cobb insists and finally…
Guillelon
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Is there an actual time calculation in Inception?

In the movie, they (Cobb and his partners) are drawn into multiple layers of dreams, and they said that if you're going further/deeper you'll find the time in real world or previous layer is multiplied, thus allowing you to do more in the dream…
Abie Giordano
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Why did Cobb personally drug Fischer in the air?

In Inception when they embark onto the plane, Cobb covertly gives a sleeping drug to Fischer in a glass of water. In the next scene we can see that the air-hostess is also working with them. So why does he have to give the drug secretly when the…
user4947
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Why didn't the team wake up from the multi-level kick?

In the movie, there's one scene that seems very strange to me. First, the point: When the team gets in the first level, they find out that Fischer has a militarized subconscious. After they freak out, and argue about it, they also find out that they…
LcSalazar
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In Inception, how does the machine determine who are the Dreamer and Subject?

In Christopher Nolan's Inception, characters can have "shared dreams" with a machine called PASIV (Nolan also published a manual about it as part of viral marketing campaign). In each dream there are always a "Dreamer" (the one that creates the…
Teem Porary
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What was Cobb's totem before the spinning top?

The movie explains that Cobb adopted Mol's totem after her death. Do we ever know what his totem was before he adopted her spinning top?
John
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