Inception Review Podcast

June 15, 2025

Alright, here it is. This was a surprisingly long and tedious process. Ahhh, maybe not tedious, as I do love doing this kind of shit, but it was definitely a lot of work that required me to call on my self-taught years of producing my own podcast network, including my own music show, to get done

Between my reading recordings and clips of the movie, there were nearly 100 audio recordings (95 to be exact) that I had to organize (that was the hardest part, actually), edit, and label exactly where I wanted to put it to make it as simple as possible to put together 95 clips. I was inspired by Dr. King's Autobiography on Audible, because it included the audio clips of some of his sermons and speeches. That's where I got the idea rather than me reading lengthy scenes (or scenes where the characters were doing more physical activity than speaking), to include the actual audio clips from the movie

A part of getting this recording done was frustrating. I didn't want to break out my podcast equipment for the first time in five years. But during the time I was podcasting, I put a high standard on myself for my audio quality to be excellent. I first tried using a voice recorder app on my phone, but that shit wasn't happening. Not for my high ass standards

A couple of times during the height of my podcast network, I bought a small sound card with the idea of one day podcasting on the go. During my initial unwrapping of the equipment, nothing worked the way I wanted it to. The equipment was brand new, so I didn't want to just toss it even though I couldn't use it for what I wanted to at the time I wanted to use it. So, I just tucked it away in a bag with the rest of my equipment in my closet

After recording several test recordings on the voice recorder app and thinking, 'oh hell no', I ordered a sound card I found online for something like $14. When I got it, I found that it didn't have outlets for the things I already had equipment for. I started looking up new mic's that would fit the new sound card, then it dawned on me. I knew I had some other equipment aside from my main equipment. Maybe I had something in that bag that could work with this sound card

What I instead found was much better. I found a different sound card that I had never used before, but already came with a microphone, headset, AND the microphone was already an XLR mic (the kind I had when I was podcasting), and the sound card already had Phantom Power. I broke out the equipment, plugged it in and to my surprise, it all worked perfectly. All I had to buy first was a mic stand. That mic didn't come with one and I didn't want to hold the mic for the whole recording. I record in my bedroom, so I bought a stage mic and set it up to remain low and kinda roll over to my mouth. I bought another cord to plug my phone that does not have a headphone jack into the sound card to record the audio files. And it turns out I had to buy another recorder because my last recorder I hadn't used in more than five years broke

Then I discovered that my phone I used to record the audio clips of the movie from, had an excellent option for what I was trying to do. I forgot what they call it, but it basically makes it so that movie plays with the character voices turned up, and the background music turned down, for more clearer recording of the dialogue in this movie where the dialogue was crucial. Lastly, I would find one more feature that would be incredibly helpful in making this recording

I decided to record in my bedroom because I could close the doors and be in the back of my home away from additional noise. But as I said, my microphone is XLR with Phantom Power, so that fucking thing even picks up the thoughts in my head! There was a lot of background noise in my recordings, and that is one thing I never learned how to remove in editing, as that is a bit above my self-taught paygrade

The only thing that made it tolerable was when I was reading, my voice was powerful enough on the excellent mic to drown out the background noise. Between breaths though, I could hear that shit tenfold. The company I'm publishing my podcasts through advertised this AI service, that will not only level your recording (remember, I had 95 clips) to the same level, but it also goes through and removes all background noise as well as all ums and ahs. There's not a lot of those in here as I am reading, but I did say I was concerned about the background noise in my recordings. But at this point I'm still skeptical

Fortunately, they had something that also caused me to buy $300 headphones a few years ago, after previously saying I would never spend that much on headphones (but that's another story for another day). They provided a sample of the service, both the before and after. I listened to the before clip, and it was as if the shit was my own recording of this movie review but made to sound like someone else. There was A LOT of background noise! So, admittedly it did pique my interest

When I clicked on the after and listened, I think I said out loud in my home, "ohh shiiiit, that's EXACTLY what I need!!!". When I tell y'all that shit had ZERO background noise of any kind, I was hooked!! It turns out they don't even charge very much for this, compared to what you actually get. I can't see myself not running every single podcast I make moving forward (and more are coming) through that shit

What was a lot of work turned out to be an excellent finished product, that I don't think I could be happier with. The shit sounds like I recorded it in a recording booth. I've listened to many books on Audible, and I genuinely can't hear a difference in their recordings from my own for this movie. Y'all can't hear it, but TRUST ME when I say there was an insane amount of background noise in my original recordings. And to me, it sounds like it even improved the already excellent quality of the audio clips. I cannot sing it's praises enough

Now, while the AI is excellent (man I wish that was available back when I was podcasting in my apartment), it is not without its flaws. First of all, I swear to y'all I said Major LEAGUE!!! I don't know what the fuck the AI thought I was saying there. And about an hour into it for the rest of the recording, those of you listening carefully will notice with the way I wrote the dialogue, I put the character's name followed by a colon before writing their actual words, and when I say Dom before reading his words in this review, the AI edited me saying his name out. It took some time for me to figure out what happened, but depending on how I said his name, if I didn't heavily emphasize the D, the system thought I was saying 'uhm' instead of 'Dom', and the software takes all of those out

The running time of the final project? Just a hair shy of 3 1/2 hours. But with my insight, the movie clips, and keeping in my outtakes I found hilarious, look at this as one of the most entertaining Audible type listening of a movie review you'll ever find. Hit play, enjoy and share!

WHEN YOU'RE DONE LISTENING!!

Now that I've recorded this review, I did not include the last part at the very bottom of this page, linking this site to an article from Jon Negroni titled Everything You Missed When You Watched Inception, with my thoughts spliced in between

I didn't think that would really translate very well over recording. So, after you're done listening/reading, I recommend scrolling to the very bottom of this page to read that part too. This is a classic example of how two people who love and watched the same movie repeatedly did not see the same things

Should be a VERY entertaining read for those of you enjoyed the film

Dreams Within Dreams: The Genius of Inception Unraveled

Inception

began writing 11/27/2024

I became a fan of Christopher Nolan after his excellent Dark Knight (Batman) trilogy; Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises

I've seen almost all of his films (I still haven't seen Memento, but the kicker is that I actually own that fucking movie smh) and I've only come across two of his movies so far that I couldn't get into. Tenet, which I never even finished, and I tried three times. I'ma just go 'head and say it; John David is no Denzel. But to be fair, that's a pretty tall order for the younger Washington. Michael Jordan's kids couldn't hold a candle to their father's legacy on the court either. Shaq's youngest is struggling too. And the other movie was Dunkirk, which I did finish, but just thought it was a loud ass fucking movie I couldn't wait to be over. And I saw Oppenheimer twice in the theater

But nothing could prepare me for when I went to the theater to see this one all the way back in 2010. There's a reason this movie teeters between the first Matrix as my all-time favorite movie. It usually just depends on how I'm feeling that day as to which is my favorite, but I have to admit after having watched both movies recently for the first time in quite a while, Inception is likely to be my #1 moving forward. I'll explain why as well as try to explain this cluster fuck of a movie below

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen this movie or haven't seen it in a while, I recommend aborting this page until you have. And if it's your first ever viewing, I recommend watching it at least twice before you continue reading. One last thing, I strongly recommend watching this movie with the subtitles of your preferred language turned on

What makes this movie so great?

For me, there's a multitude of reasons. We'll start with the shallow shit. The picture above is from a dream sequence in the movie that was clearly filmed Downtown Los Angeles, just a few blocks from where I work. There's another scene in this movie that shows the DWP building downtown where my dad worked. Inception, Set It Off, White Men Can't Jump, I love movies that film not only in my hometown, but near specific locations close to me. The scene in White Men Can't Jump where Sidney (Wesley Snipes) exacts his hustle revenge on Billy (Woody Harrelson), losing to the guy wearing the Magic Johnson jersey and only crediting $300 for his partner's girlfriend's "zircon" (cubic zirconia) necklace, was filmed at a playground right at the end of the block from where my grandparents lived, the house where my dad and his six siblings grew up. I would go to their house every day one summer when I was out of school to be babysat by my older cousin, Zenet. One of my other older cousins, Don Jr, (they called him Lump, although I never got the story why) used to take me to that same playground every day for me to practice learning how to ride my bike. We even almost got arrested one time there with a bunch of other guys for allegedly throwing rocks at cars. It wasn't us and we told them that and they let us go. Looking back at it though, it was way too easy. They had to know it wasn't us already (bitch y'all saw us playing an intense full court basketball game when you rolled up on us, when tf were we gone throw--) to believe so quickly when we said it wasn't us. But that wasn't before they had us line up facing the fence (the fence right behind where they played their game, matter of fact, we were playing on the same court they were playing on in the movie when the cops rolled up on us) with our hands behind our heads as they individually patted us all down

Anyway, I digress

The technical reasons I love this movie are more plentiful. Let's just address the big bitch in the room. It's a complex film. It's such a complex movie that many people didn't get it. You know how that goes. When someone doesn't understand something, they just get frustrated with it. That's why I heard so many people behind me in the theater and when we were walking out express how much they hated it. The word I kept hearing that I just couldn't believe was 'boring'. That let me know they likely didn't understand it. This movie was anything but boring! But I am a really big fan of complex films. Films where you have to really pay attention to the whole thing to get it, and you still might not get it. As a writer myself, I think I can appreciate those screenplays even more. But, unlike Tenet, this one has the added bonus of actually being good

There were also the special effects, which were second to none while managing to be very careful not to overshadow the movie, rather to enhance the story telling. That's where I give one point to Inception over the Matrix, and especially the Matrix sequels. Nolan made the effects grand but didn't do too much

Then the acting was overall excellent. There are two exceptions to this part, though to be fair, I think my gripe with those actors are less about their acting, and more about their accents. Due to the nature of its complexity, the dialogue in this film is very, very important! Why the fuck Nolan would get these actors with thick accents to deliver important dialogue is a mystery I will never understand. In fact, in watching scenes again to record specific dialogue correctly for this review, I had to turn on the English subtitles just to get the dialogue accurate; the reason I suggested it to you. I'll break down the two actors and the specifics during the recap of all the characters intertwined within my recap of the film below. Also, because the movie heavily relies on dialogue to advance the plot, this review will feature more of the exact dialogue from the movie than any of my other reviews out of necessity

Also due to its complexity, I remember this movie caused A LOT of dialogue among me and some of my Facebook friends at the time who also loved the movie. What was so great about that dialogue was that we all had different views and interpretations of the movie, which makes for a great movie and great conversation. When it first came out on home video, it was a rare movie that I had actually pre-ordered and couldn't wait for that shit to drop. When it was finally released, I had to have watched this damn movie 10 times in the first two weeks alone - no exaggeration. And every time I watched it I saw something I hadn't noticed before. Those will always be among my favorite movies

So what's Inception about anyway?

Aw shit, you're asking difficult questions for a high muhfucka to answer, but we'll give it the old college try

Perhaps the best place to start is with Inception's antithesis.... Extraction

Extraction, in this case, is when you remove information from someone's mind. But it's usually without their permission, so you're essentially stealing ideas directly from the source. When other people are able to jump in a dream with you, it's called Dream Sharing

In the film, Leonardo Dicaprio's character, Dom Cobb, is a highly skilled extractor with a complicated past. He's hired by Saito - a billionaire with seemingly limitless power - not for his extractor skills, but to perform inception actually, which means to plant an idea in someone's mind. When Cobb's partner Arthur, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, tells Saito that inception is impossible, Saito asks a very important question in helping understand all of this

"If you can steal an idea from someone's mind, why can't you plant one there instead?"

Arthur responds with a clever anecdote involving Elephants, that was convincing enough for me to believe, ending it by saying "true inspiration is impossible to fake". But Cobb, who had been silent this whole time, quietly interjects simply saying "that's not true". That would lead us to a key part of the story but not till a little later

A big part of Dom's backstory is he can't go home to the United States to be with his kids. Before Saito offers Dom the job, he first puts him and his crew up for an audition, despite the fact that Dom and his crew were already there to extract information from Saito. In this test, Dom's wife Mal, played by Marion Cotillard, unexpectedly shows up and later puts a damper on the whole thing

At the point where she shows up, we already know they're dreaming (we would later find out they're technically two levels deep), asleep in a raggedy ass apartment and Mal is not with them. So I feel like it was obvious that she wasn't really there, as she only shows up in dreams. But it's not until Ariadne - played by now Elliot Page - shows up that Arthur fills her and the audience in on the fact that Mal is dead. What we see is just Dom's projection of her

Dom asks to get off the helicopter, and Saito obliges. He tells Dom to tell the crew where he wants to go. But as Dom walks away, Saito entices him with a godfather type offer that he can't refuse. Saito tells Dom that if he does this job for him, he can fix his issue with his going back home to America to see his kids. Dom tells him no one can fix that. Saito assures him he can

Now that Saito has piqued his interest, Dom wants to know more about what Saito wants him to implant into someone's head. Here we get important information to the story:

Dom: How complex is the idea?

Saito: Simple enough

Dom: No idea is simple when you need to plant it in somebody else's mind

Saito: My main competitor is an old man in poor health. His son will soon inherit control of the corporation. I need him to decide to break up his father's empire

Dom requests a guarantee that if he could pull this off, Saito can deliver on his end of the bargain. Saito tells him he doesn't have a guarantee, but he can deliver. Then he hits him with some really cool words that Dom quotes back to him later in the film (although we see it at the beginning, yeah, this is a very fucking confusing movie). Dom agrees to inception and begins assembling his team

In the scenes where he is assembling his team, the movie really shines to me. This is another reason why I say this movie was anything but boring. Not only were the supporting characters intriguing, each also providing their own specific area of expertise, but in assembling his team we had no choice but to venture deeper into both this fascinating world, and Dom's backstory. The film does an EXCELLENT job of explaining how high the stakes are without having to say shit like the stakes are really high. Or use all caps

For some unknown reason, I've always been drawn to films with, I don't even know what you call them.... montages? Training montages, we'll call them. The part of a movie showing a team or an athlete in training or practicing before the playoffs. Or especially military boot camp training where we follow one group or character through their journey to find themselves. Or maybe a musical artist or a choir getting ready for the big concert/competition. Legal dramas showing how the team is preparing to argue the big case at the end, I could go on and on. My two favorite movies have such montages, with Neo going through his combat training in the Matrix, and in this one with Dom assembling his team and developing the plan for how they're going to get this job done. The film I've written also has such a montage

As a side note, Nolan loves to recycle the actors in his films. It's like a fraternity and once you're in, you're among the chosen few that Nolan trusts to bring his vision to life. Michael Caine played Alfred in all three Dark Knight films and was in Interstellar. Cillian (pronounced Killian, btw) Murphy, jesus christ, this man has been in damn near every Nolan movie, including all three of the DK films where he even played one of the main villains in Batman Begins; Scarecrow. And of course, can't forget about his role as the titular character in Oppenheimer, leading to his first Best Actor Oscar (with Iron Man himself taking home the well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar). Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy were in The Dark Knight Rises, with Tom Hardy playing the famous villain Bane. Ken Watanabe (Saito) was fake Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins (remember that for later). Matt Damon was in both Interstellar and Oppenheimer. Christian Bale was Nolan's Dark Knight for the entire trilogy but was also in The Prestige. I could go on

But we need to get back to Dom assembling his team. When he and Arthur met up with Saito on the choppa, Saito revealed Dom's architect - the designer of the dream worlds - to be a ole punk ass sellout, who went to Saito to sellout Dom in exchange for his life. He was unaware that Saito was only testing them. Saito offers Dom "the satisfaction" of taking his architect out. Dom declines, stating "it's not the way I deal with things". Saito has his people cart the guy away never to be seen again

So, of course, as he's assembling his team, the first person he decides he needs is a new architect. They head to France, where Mal is from, and Dom goes to visit his father-in-law Miles, played by Michael Caine. In that conversation, we learn that it was actually Miles who taught Dom to navigate people's minds. Miles never wanted him to use those skills to become a thief, but Dom points out that "after what happened, there weren't a whole lot of legitimate ways for me to use that skill." We would find out "what happened" later in the film

Miles figures out Cobb is there to "corrupt one of my brightest and best (students, he's a college professor)", after Dom explains that he's been hired to do a job by some very powerful people he believes can fix his charges permanently. He does in fact need someone who can design the dreams for him. Miles suggests Dom design the dreams himself, to which Cobb responds saying, "Mal won't let me"

Miles pleads with him to come back to reality. Dom responds that his grandkids are waiting for their father to come back home, "that's their reality". He explains that he would not be there if he knew any other way to get home. He finishes it with "I need an architect who is as good as I was"

Miles responds, "I've got somebody better". This is where we officially meet.....

Ariadne, played by now Elliot Page

Ariadne was the most annoying character in the movie to me. I guess I do kinda get why she had to be that way, adding that pressure to Dom who was a complete mess in all he was hiding from the team. But I agree with Mal in that one scene when Ariadne said, "I'm just trying to understand."

Mal responds, "How can you understand? How can you possibly understand ..."

Right after Miles introduces them, Dom puts her to the test explaining "before I describe the job, I have to know you can do it (since it's not strictly speaking, legal). He tells her that she has "two minutes to design a maze that takes one minute to solve." After a couple of easy puzzles, he tells her she's going to have to do better than that. Before he can finish that statement, she snatches the notebook and draws some elaborate shit. Dom didn't even know where to start in trying to break that maze, adding "that's more like it"

At least in part because of this, ultimately, Ariadne proves just as an integral part of the team as anyone else. Can't deny she's brilliant. After Ariadne is confronted and killed by Mal in Dom's dream as she's being introduced to everything, she quits. Dom tells Arthur she'll be back and adds "I've never seen anyone pick it up that quickly before. Reality's not gonna be enough for her now....."

Dom's words turned out to be a bit prophetic, as she did return not too long after. The issue that I have with Ariadne is, uh hello, you're a fucking guest in this new world. This world you didn't have a clue existed until now. In a sense, she was that holier than thou voice in the movies that piss me off. Like Mal asked... how could she understand? And how can you "diagnose" Dom, like you seem to be trying to do, when you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground? Dom was extremely patient with her but she still got on my fucking nerves!

But we do have our first new member of the team

As they are beginning to assemble Dom's team they still haven't revealed the plan yet. In that sense, we don't necessarily know what they are recruiting for specifically. I actually really liked that. I always trusted they would reveal each character's relevance if I just kept paying attention, and of course they did. But early on, we don't know what these people were being brought on for, and they were being recruited quite rapidly. That could have been a disaster in many other filmmaker's hands, but not in Nolan's

So, after Dom predicts to Arthur Ariadne would return, he tells Arthur he has to go visit the next character we're introduced to.....

Eames, played by Tom Hardy

This was the first thing I ever saw Tom Hardy in. As I was gathering information for this writing, his IMDB bio starts off by calling his role in this movie his "breakout role". I haven't seen any of the Venom movies as of yet, but I became a fan of his after this, because his Eames was easily my favorite character in this movie. I did, of course, see Dark Knight Rises, which came out two years after this movie. And earlier this year I did watch The Bikeriders (not bad at all). But to me he will always be remembered for this film

Eames' important job within the group is that of their thief/forger. Dom meets up with him in Mombasa where he is struggling at a casino despite having forged chips. Dom offers to get him a drink, where he then proceeds to fill Eames in on what he's looking for

Dom: Inception. Now, before you bother telling me it's impossible, let me--

Eames: No, it's perfectly possible, it's just bloody difficult

Dom: Interesting, cuz Arthur keeps telling me it can't be done

Eames (laughs slightly): Arthur....you're still working with that stick in the mud? (an extremely accurate description of Arthur)

Dom: He's good at what he does, right?

Eames: Ohh, he's the best. But he has no imagination

Dom: Not like you

Eames: Listen, if you're going to perform inception, you need imagination

I really enjoyed this dialogue exchange between these two characters. If you pay close attention, this dialogue is telling us a lot about the story. We've already seen Arthur berate Dom a couple of times (did you see him roll his eyes when Dom accepted the job from Saito?), adamant about inception being impossible. Eames accurately referring to Arthur as a stick in the mud indicates they've obviously worked together before. It tells us that Eames operates much differently than Arthur, and that HAD to create tension between the two of them, right? Already Eames is telling Dom that if he wants to perform inception, he'll need something that Arthur doesn't have. To which Dom replied, "not like you", so we know Eames does have imagination. But you have to figure that Arthur wasn't going to just take all of this lying down

So to me, the film is continuing to get me hype for this inception plant heist, curious as to how they're going to pull it off

In this same conversation, Dom first asks Eames if he's ever done inception. Eames said they tried it, got the idea in place (actually he said idear, which always cracks me up. That and alls, as in "alls you gotta do" haha. Word?), but it didn't take. Dom asks if they didn't plant it deep enough

Eames explains, "it's not just about depth. You need the simplest version of the idea in order for it to grow naturally in the subject's mind. It's a very subtle art."

Seriously, this is important shit

Eames asks what the idea is that they need to plant into someone's mind. Dom explains they need the heir of a major corporation to dissolve his father's empire. Right away, Eames recognizes the multitude of political and monopolistic motivations in them getting the job done, but ultimately says they just need to start at the absolute basic; "the relationship with the father."

Finally, Eames asks Dom if he has another part needed for this plan; a chemist. Dom did not as of yet. So, Eames provides a recommendation

Eames: Right, okay well there's a man here (says his name), he uh formulates his own version of the compounds

Dom: Why don't you take me there?

Eames: Once you've lost your tail

Eames points out the man at the bar. Earlier, after Saito's audition, Dom and Arthur were discussing what to do next when Dom points out that Cobal Engineering, the company they were working for to extract information from Saito, at that point had to know they have failed in that mission. When Dom tells Arthur he's going to see Eames in Mombasa, Arthur points out that is Cobal's back yard. To which Dom replies, "necessary risk"

Of course, the man at the bar is from Cobal. Dom tells Eames to run interference, and he'll meet him downstairs in the bar in 30 minutes. When Eames asks in surprise, "back here?", Dom tells him it's the last place they'd suspect

Eames goes to run interference, and it doesn't work, which I think it's HUGE (for reasons I'll explain later, one of my favorite things about the movie). Dom runs and several Cobal henchmen chase after him in a thrilling scene, including the walls inexplicably closing in on Dom as he ran down an alley. Early on in this chase, one of the henchmen grabs Dom before he slips away, and as he grabs him, he says, "you're not dreaming now, are you?" (another line I think is huge)

Eventually it is revealed that Saito is in Mombasa, and his car appears out of nowhere to scoop up Dom to cart him away from his chasers. When Dom asked Saito what he was doing in Mombasa, Saito said "I need to protect my investment"

Dom has Saito's driver head back to where he started and pick up Eames. Together, all three of them go the next person recruited for the team.....Eames' chemist

But not before another quick related side note:

Today (12/2/24) I was perusing Yahoo, and saw a headline that mentioned the top three movies added to Peacock this week. I don't even have a Peacock subscription anymore but what caught my attention was the picture they used. It looked like Leo in Inception. I opened the article, and sure enough, one of the movies was Inception. The writer, Phillip Swann, wrote this short writeup on the movie that I found interesting:

Inception (2010)

Inception, the 2010 mind-bending sci-fi drama from director Chris Nolan (Oppenheimer) which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief who steals information by entering another’s mind. Great movie, but if you’re not a chess player, (be) prepared to get lost in the plot a few times.

The part that really grabbed me was the "if you're not a chess player" part. I had never previously heard that comparison associated with this movie, but it does make sense. The people who called it boring probably don't play chess. And depending on how far you are into perusing this site, you know that I do and love it. It's my all-time favorite game, and this movie happens to be my all-time favorite movie. Interesting

Yusuf, played by Dileep Rao

I liked Yusuf. He was probably my second favorite character in the movie. Yusuf's important job is that of the group's chemist. Makes sense, right? With all this shit taking place in dreams, you kinda almost forget this requires you to obviously be in a deep sleep, and to remain as such for an extended amount of time. With this level of dreaming, you can't just take some Nyquil in this bitch. Yusuf's important job as the chemist is to create his own formulas to allow the group to stay in a deep sleep for the duration of the time needed to complete the job

Almost immediately, Yusuf's and Dom's conversation begins, providing additional important information to the story

Yusuf: You are seeking a chemist?

Dom: Yes

Yusuf: To formulate compounds for a job

Dom: And to go into the field with us

Yusuf: Noo I rarely go into the field, Mr Cobb

Dom: Well, we need you there to tailor compounds specific for our needs

Yusuf: Which are?

Dom: Great depth

Yusuf (nodding knowingly): A dream within a dream. Two levels

Dom (leaning in for dramatic affect): Three

Yusuf (shaking his head): Not possible. That many dreams within dreams is too unstable

Dom: It is possible. You just have to have a sedative

Yusuf: A very powerful sedative. How many team members?

Dom: Five

Saito: Six. The only way to know you've done the job is if I go in with you

Yusuf, who just seconds ago said three levels of a dream was not possible, grabs one of his formulas in a small glass vial from his shelf, and says, "this, I think, is a good place to start. I use it everyday"

When Dom asks, "what for?", Yusuf volunteers to show them. But after grabbing his keys he pauses for a second and says, "perhaps you will not want to see"

Dom stands up and rolls up his sleeves, "after you"

They head downstairs in the building where there is a guy who I'm not sure if he was just a co-worker or Yusuf's father, and he's overseeing the bodies of 12 sleeping people. Yusuf says, "they come every day just to share the dream". Then Yusuf's co-worker/daddy slapped the face of one of the people sleeping, to which Yusuf said, "See, very stable"

Dom: How long do they dream for?

Yusuf: Three, four hours each day

Dom: And dream time?

Yusuf: With this compound, about forty hours each and every day

Saito: Why do they do it?

Yusuf: Tell him, Mr Cobb

Dom: After a while it becomes the only way you can dream

Yusuf: Do you still dream, Mr Cobb?

Eames: They come here every day to sleep

Yusuf's Co-worker/Daddy: No. They come to be woken up. The dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise, sir?

Dude, I fucking love this movie

At this point, Dom wants to experience this shit for himself. He quickly removes his jacket and tells Yusuf, "Let's see what you can do"

Dom becomes a believer after dozing off and having some intense dreams about Mal, causing him to abruptly awaken. Yusuf, who is overseeing him like his co-worker/daddy was overseeing the 12-sleeping people, sees him quickly awaken and says, "sharp, huh?"

Dom had been a little fucked up by his dream and went into the bathroom to run some water on his face. After Mal killed Ariadne in the dream and they both woke up, after telling Arthur that Ariadne needed a totem, Dom went into the bathroom to spin his totem to make sure he wasn't still dreaming

If the totem continues infinitely spinning, that meant they were still in someone else's dream (dream sharing). If the totem stops, that means they are in the real world. We see that Dom is back in the real world after Mal killed Ariadne

But after this dream and wetting his face, he pulls his totem out and tries to start spinning it but is unable to do so successfully. Then he's interrupted by Saito asking him if he's okay. I think this is HUGE! The fact that he couldn't determine if he was in the real world or not at that moment cannot be arbitrary to me. The camera even cut to a close up of the totem not spinning on the ground before Dom picks it up and the scene ended. That could not have been for nothing!

After a little bit more dialogue between Saito, Dom and Eames that digs deeper into Saito's motives, Eames asks if he can get him access to "this man" (holding up a picture). It's a picture of....

Peter Browning, played by Tom Berenger

I will always remember Tom Berenger from the first thing I ever saw him in. One of my all-time favorite movies; Major League. In this film, he is Robert Fischer's (the heir Saito needs to break up his father's empire) godfather, as the right-hand man to the ailing Maurice Fischer, Robert's dad. While he technically wasn't actually a member of the team, since Eames impersonates him to gain Robert's trust, I consider him an unofficial member of the team

But the way they used him was complex and brilliant. I actually still can't tell if the real version of Browning was a good man or crooked. In the end I guess it ultimately didn't matter. But with introducing Browning to the lineup, I think this film reminded us that their ultimate goal here is not something you see in movies on a regular basis. What difference did it make if his "Uncle Peter" was on the straight and narrow or not, when the main goal here is to get Fischer to break up his father's empire, while convincing him that he's the one who came up with it? See the dilemma? This isn't your regular "good guys" trying to take out "bad guys" in the simple, traditional sense we've come to see so often in action films of the past. And in doing this, the movie showed its true brilliance to people like me. It's one of the many things I loved about this movie. The relationship between Browning and the young Fischer was the true definition of complicated

A short montage after we're introduced to Browning, Eames hits us with some important information as they slowly continue to peel back every layer of their plan. After we see a slight disagreement between Robert and Browning:

Eames: The vultures are circling. The sicker Maurice Fischer becomes the more powerful Peter Browning becomes. I've had ample opportunity to observe Browning. Adopt his physical presence, study his mannerisms, and so on and so forth. Now in the first layer of the dream I can impersonate Browning and suggest concepts to Fisher's conscious mind. Then, when we take him a level deeper, his own projection of Browning should, should feed that right back to him

Arthur: So he gives himself the idea

Eames: Precisely. That's the only way it will stick. It has to seem self-generated

Arthur: Eames....I am impressed

Eames: Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated Arthur, thank you

Lol told you there had to be some tension between those two. But this is obviously crucial information to the story

After this, Ariadne first catches Dom doing a no-no, which was going under unsupervised. Dom lies his way out of it and changes the subject to totems. Ariadne had hers and showed Dom she really got the hang of how it worked. She admitted it was "an elegant solution for keeping track of reality". Here we learn the entire concept of the totem was Mal's idea. See, shit like this is why I say people who called this movie boring didn't understand it. That little tidbit of information was a HUGE piece to the story!!

But so is the next part of their conversation, after he asks her how the mazes are coming along

Ariadne: Each level relates to the part of the subject's subconscious that we are trying to access. So, I'm making the bottom level a hospital so Fischer will bring his father. Um, you know, actually, I have a question about this layout--

Dom: No, no, no. Don't-- Don't show me specifics. Only the dreamer should know the layout

Ariadne: Why is that so important?

Dom: In case one of us brings in our projections. We don't want them knowing the details of the maze

Ariadne: You mean in case you bring Mal in. You can't keep her out, can you?

Dom: Right

Ariadne: You can't build because if you know the maze, then she knows it. Well, she'd sabotage the whole operation. Cobb, do the others know?

Dom: No, no they don't

Ariadne: You gotta warn them if this is getting worse

Dom: No one said it's getting worse. I need to get home. That's all I care about right now

Ariadne: Why can't you go home?

Dom: Because they think I killed her

She stands there in stunned silence

Dom (cont): Thank you

Ariadne: For what?

Dom: For not asking whether I did

So, this line of conversation is the first reason I thought Ariadne needed to stfu about shit she didn't understand. It was like although she's in the movie, she must not be listening to her co-star's dialogue. This man hit her with 12 very precise words:

"I need to get home. That's all I care about right now" (how many of y'all just counted to make sure it was 12? Be honest!)

Ok, listen Ms know-it-all, I don't know how much clearer he could have made it. Especially those last seven words. So, wtf are you trying to figure out? This means he will hide shit from you and the team and will probably lie to your face. He's telling you this up front but he's also telling you why. Getting home to his children is all he cares about. It's the only reason he took this job he initially wanted no parts of, and why he brought your judgmental ass along in the first place. It's the only reason you know ANYTHING about this illegal underworld. His priority of getting home far outweighs all your fucking judgement, that even his dead ass wife told you that you won't understand anyway. So, (ahem) SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DESIGN THE GODDAMN MAZES BITCH!!

"I will split up my father's empire. Now, this is obviously an idea that Robert himself would choose to reject. Which is why we need to plant it deep in his subconscious. The subconscious is motivated by emotion, right? Not reason. We need to find a way to translate this into an emotional concept"

Dom hit us with a buncha shit here. We're digging deeper into how they're coming up with their specific plan. He announces that Robert's relationship with his father is "stressed to the say the least"

Eames wonders if they can run with that by suggesting breaking up his father's company "as a screw you to the old man"

"No, because I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time", Dom explains, going further into the complexity of this job. "We all yearn for reconciliation, for catharsis. We need Robert Fischer to have a positive, emotional reaction to all this"

Now, while I don't agree that we ALL yearn for reconciliation (I sure in the fuck don't), I do understand his point, as there was once a time when I did yearn for reconciliation and catharsis with my family. And this goes back to that point of their goal here being a different kind of animal. They needed Fischer's reaction to be positive not because they care, but because of what Dom explained about this being an idea that Robert would obviously reject. It was quite tricky how they had to implant this idea, and as Eames already explained earlier, "it's a very subtle art"

But before we advance the story, we need to profile individual main characters I may have already mentioned several times but didn't give them their own specific character intro write up

Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio

I haven't seen everything Leo has been in, but I've seen quite a few of his movies and I like him as an actor. Probably not as much as others but I do like him. This is my favorite role of his that I've seen, with his role in Catch Me If You Can running a comfortable second. But this isn't one of his flashy performances, so it wasn't going to garner all the awards buzz he so often stirs up. The character really required him to be subdued, but that doesn't mean it wasn't still a brilliant performance. In fact I think it's subtleness is where the brilliance of his portrayal of Cobb comes into focus

And the character is brilliant. Those of us who have picked this movie apart over the years could see that really early on, when he shot Arthur in Saito's test at the beginning to wake him up before Mal could get him to say something he shouldn't. He and Arthur are the ones who mostly school Ariadne (and in doing so, us) about the intricacies of this world. He's unquestionably the leader of this team of some of the most brilliant people in this world. He's definitely damaged. His projection of Mal still exists both because of his love and his guilt for the love of his life. And we got one telephone exchange between he and his kids that showed us how much he is still struggling with not being able to see them. This is the single most important thing to him, and somehow, someway, Ariadne seemed to miss all of this

As important as all of these people were to the story, all of this simply does not happen in any way, shape or form without Dom. He is literally the glue that holds everything together, and that could not have been easy for him with everything he was dealing with secretly

Mal, played by Marion Cotillard

Uh first of all....heeeey Ms Cotillard. How you doin? I mean you do have the same first name as my father, which is a little fucking weird if I'm being honest. But while you share the name, fortunately you don't look anything like that MF. You ever had any American....let me stop

Sooo, confession time. Marion is one of the two actors in this movie I have a complaint about their accent. I know she's won an Oscar before, so I guess that was all Nolan needed to know. But a little digging revealed she won Best Actress for her role in a foreign film that is mostly in French. And get this. It was for playing the singer of the song used in this movie to cue the kick. Uhh Chris ol buddy ol pal, you couldn't do just a little more research first? Or were you interested because it was the role of the singer of one of the crucial songs in your movie? She could very well be a terrific actress (although I thought she was horrible in Dark Knight Rises, especially in her final scene in that movie), but that accent was way too fucking thick for the important dialogue in this movie for my liking. I thought this role should have gone to more like a Rosario Dawson. But she ain't made her way into Nolan's secret society yet

But I did like the character though. Mal is kinda sorta the villain in the movie (with mal meaning bad in Spanish, see what the Nolan bros did there?), but when we find out what happened to her you can't really call her a villain in my opinion. Sure, that's argumentative, but that is again what makes this movie so fucking great. It was also why Dom was having trouble letting her go, in part because he felt so guilty. And based on their dialogue I've carefully watched too many times to count, I'm pretty sure Mal's dad Miles didn't know about his son-in-law performing Inception on his wife. That was the real reason "Mal won't let me" (design the dreams himself)

Mal represents to me the same kind of person I am in society. People always see everything you do as a villainous deed but never take the time to consider how you got to that point in the first place. If you hated Mal then you weren't paying attention

Saito, played by Ken Watanabe

Aaaand Ken is the other actor with a problematic accent for this movie. Actually, I think he had more critical dialogue in the movie than Marion, so I feel like his accent is more frustrating. His native language is not the same as Marion's so I don't know who the fuck has the thicker accent. But I know they both had no business being in this fucking movie (no offense to either actor)

Saito is not only an obviously very powerful person in this world, but it's also his plan to bankrupt his competitor that sets this whole thing spinning in the first place. The only complaint aside from his accent that I have about Saito, is that we don't really get to know any of his backstory. How he became so powerful or how he even knew about Dom's issue in America

All we know is he is extremely rich and powerful and has no problem flexing his wealth and power; "complete the job en route, I make one phone call...", "I just bought the airline....it seemed neater", "I need to protect my investment"

His funding is also about the only thing that would allow this mission to continue. Maybe that was Nolan's point in the character. Maybe it didn't matter how he became so powerful; it was just important that the team had someone who was. Still, I feel like it wouldn't have hurt to include more of a back story for Saito

Earlier I mentioned he was fake Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, and I asked you to remember that for later. The reason for that was because - BATMAN BEGINS SPOILER ALERT - the real Ra's Al Ghul turned out to be the man training Bruce Wayne in the League of Shadows, Henri Ducard, played by Liam Neeson in the movie. If you're reading this far into this post you had to have seen the movie, right? Am I the only one who thinks Liam Neeson would have been PERFECT in this movie as (though they would have had to change his name) Saito? Liam Neeson has an excellent movie voice with no accent. I'm assuming that's why Nolan gave him the responsibility of training Wayne (while educating the audience) in Batman Begins. He obviously became a part of Nolan's secret society, although it may be glaring that he has not appeared in another Nolan film since BB (minus a brief clip where they used old footage of him for Dark Knight Rises). Did they have a falling out? I think either he or maybe Matt Damon if you no longer want to work with Liam would have been much better for this role

But ultimately, KW got the job done so I guess I can't complain too much

Arthur, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Admittedly, I haven't seen a lot of movies JGL has been in, although I've definitely seen all of his Nolan films. He seems to be a decent actor and all, but I have a gripe against him too. If you've read any of my other movie reviews, you know I am never fond of the big moral authority in a movie. Shit probably reminds me too much of my mother, among other things. Well, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has made a career out of playing these characters. The second most annoying character in this movie to me behind Ariadne (although, just like Ariadne, Arthur is an extremely valuable member of the team), whenever another character calls your character a stick in the mud, you can pretty much assume that's what your character is known for

But it wasn't just in this movie. He was kind of the same thing as a cop in Dark Knight Rises. Remember his judgment of Commissioner Gordon in that movie? "Your hands still look plenty dirty to me". Ah fuck off, Robin. And there's a scene he pisses me off in earlier in that movie. The whole scene drives me crazy. This isn't a write up for DKR so I won't list the whole conversation here. But to gain entry into Wayne's mansion after Alfred tells him that Wayne doesn't take unscheduled guests even from a police officer, he asks Alfred, "And if I go get a warrant for the investigation of Harvey Dent's murder, that still count as unscheduled?"

Miraculously, Alfred lets him in because of this!!! Wtf??!! I would have said "yep" and slammed the fucking door right in his face. As far as I'm concerned, you would have HAD to get that warrant for me to let you in. Alfred let this MF in on a hypothetical warrant smh

His holier than thou attitude doesn't just extend to Nolan movies though. His character in Beverly Hills Cop 4 was along those same lines

Side note: I consider that movie to be pretty good strictly for the nostalgia if you really loved the first two films. Nobody liked the third one (and I like how Gordon-Levitt's character took a dig at that). I temporarily signed up for Netflix again when I found out the Tyson/Jake Paul fight on 11/15/2024 I previously assumed would be on PPV, would be streamed on there. That also gave me an opportunity to finally watch Cop 4, a new Katt Williams stand-up I didn't know about, Jamie Foxx's new special where he discusses his recent health issue, and to catch up on the new season of one of my favorite shows based on the Karate Kid movies; Cobra Kai

Ohh shit and I forgot he voiced Jiminy Cricket in the Tom Hanks led live action version of Pinocchio, which I did see. A lot of people didn't like that version for some reason, but I actually loved it. And I don't even like when they make live action movies of classic Disney cartoons. But we know Jiminy is Pinocchio's conscious, once again the voice of reason. Okay, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, how 'bout you get the entire fuck over yourself would you? Lmao, just kidding. But seriously though, it's time to broaden your acting horizons my man

As I said, can't take away how crucial Arthur was to the team. And his rolling fight scenes in the hotel dream sequence while they're asleep rolling in the car Yusuf is driving, are among my favorite scenes in cinematic history. But why do your characters always have to be moral authority assholes?

Robert Fischer, played by Cillian Murphy

Ya know, I really liked Cillian's portrayal of Robert Fischer. Like every other character in the film, he's clearly highly intelligent. But rather than being a snotty prick with a wealthy father, he played him more like a deer in the headlights, fish out of water manner. Someone who doesn't have a clue of wtf is going on but knows enough to know he has to figure the shit out and soon. He's the unsuspecting victim of the team's plots and schemes, beginning with delaying his plane, and then spiking his drink with Yusuf's compound. And yet, throughout all of this, all he ever wanted was his father's approval. I can most definitely relate

Ok, I think that's all of the characters. There was Robert's dad, Maurice, but he didn't have many lines outside of a few inaudible grunts. It's time to advance the story on this review

But first, there's a part I forgot about that turns out to be crucial to the plot

Earlier, after Ariadne passes Dom's test and he's teaching her about this new world, the two of them are having a conversation outside of a cafe. Dom explains exactly how he's able to navigate people's minds and why, concluding it with the best possible practical example of what he just explained, by pointing out to Ariadne that they're, in fact, dreaming right now

Despite his advice to stay calm, she panics, causing the dream to explode around them in an awesome, eye-popping scene every time I see it. And I remember I loved seeing that whole, ahem, montage of her learning things in the dream - including a cinematic jewel of her folding a world on top of another - on the big movie theater screen

Anyway, after the explosion of the dream kills them both waking them up, and Ariadne of course overreacts, Dom asks Arthur to give them "another five minutes"

To which Ariadne, still all overreactin n shit shouts, "five minutes? We were talking for at least an hour"

Dom explains, "In a dream, your mind functions more quickly therefore (yep, dude actually said therefore. I ain't heard that since the Wizard of Oz) time seems to feel more slow"

Arthur adds, "Five minutes in the real-world gives you an hour in the dream"

I know I've said this before, but this is not only important shit, it's critical to the mission for a part we'll go over in just a short while

How Time Works in the Real-World vs the Dream World

After the team is recruited, they go to sleep to discuss the plan. That's where that Downtown LA pic above took place. While standing on the vacant streets of LA, Eames breaks some more shit down for us:

Eames: On the top level, we open his relationship with his father. And say, 'I will not follow in my father's footsteps.' Then, the next level down, we feed him, 'I will create something for myself'. Then, by the time we hit the bottom level we bring out the big guns

Dom: My father doesn't want me to be him

Eames: Exactly

Arthur: Three layers down, dreams are gonna collapse with the slightest disturbance

Yusuf (with an odd amount of glee): Sedation. For sleep, stable enough to create three levels of dreaming, we'll have to combine it with an extremely powerful sedative

At around this part in the dialogue, we cut to a shot of Ariadne seemingly ready to leave. She glances in the back and sees Yusuf sitting back there. She slowly walks toward him, and it's revealed Yusuf is overseeing a sleeping Dom. Yusuf, reading a book, turns and notices Ariadne

Yusuf: Good night

He turns back to his book as Ariadne walks out

Then back to the conversation we went

Yusuf: The compound we'll be using to share the dream creates a very clear connection between dreamers whilst (yep, dude actually said whilst) actually accelerating brain function

Dom: In other words, it gives us more time on each level

Yusuf: Brain function in the dream will be about 20 times normal

Ok so remember the most recent update above explaining how time works in the real-world vs the dream world? Well, we'll call those the normal rules. Continuing to show this ain't yo daddy's action flick, because of the uniqueness of this job, Yusuf needed to temporarily alter that normal time formula. So pay close attention to the next part and forget the five minutes = 1 hr equation

Yusuf (cont): When you enter a dream within that dream, the effect is compounded. It's 3 dreams - that's 10 hours times--

Eames, not even trying to hide his annoyance: I'm sorry, math was never my strong subject. How much time is that?

Dom breaks it down: It's a week, the first level down, six months, the second level down, and the third level...

Ariadne: Is 10 years. Who would want to be stuck in a dream for 10 years?

Yusuf (with a creepy smile): Depends on the dream. (I mean, he ain't lyin)

Arthur: So, once we've made the plant, how do we get out? And I'm hoping you have something more elegant in mind than shooting me in the head

Dom: A kick

Ariadne: What's a kick?

Eames: This, Ariadne, would be a kick (right before tripping one of the legs of Arthur's chair next to him he's leaning back on, almost causing Arthur to fall)

Dom: It's that feeling of falling you get that jolts you awake. It (snaps fingers) snaps you out of the dream

Arthur: Are we gonna feel a kick with this kind of sedation

Yusuf (once again oddly full of glee): Ahh that's the clever part. (Lol even if he must say so himself) I customized the sedative to leave inner ear function unimpaired. That way, however deep the sleep, the sleeper still feels falling. Or tipping (Lol ok, Yusuf is a little weird, I'll admit. He's like part full of himself and part humble all at the same time. But tell me you wouldn't want to have this dude on your side)

Dom: The trick is to synchronize a kick that can penetrate all three levels

Arthur: We could use the musical countdown to synchronize the different kicks

Ok, so they hit us with a lot of really important shit in this short span. Before moving on, let's recap

We already know from Dom's dramatic leaning in when he first met Yusuf, that they are going three levels of dreams deep. We also know Eames' plan for planting this idea in Fischer's head at each level. And now we know how much time they'll basically have on each level

On level one, 10 hours in the real world is one week in the dream world

On level two, 10 hours in the real world is six months in the dream world

On level three, 10 hours in the real world is 10 years in the dream world

Because they are not planning on spending too much time on any level, this really only becomes a problem if someone (or all of them) gets stuck on one of these levels

Then, once they make the plant, Arthur wanted to know how they will basically wake up and ascend three levels of dreams after having done what needed to be done. He was hoping for something more sophisticated than shooting him in the head, to which Cobb kinda firmly says "a kick" (what they did to him in the bathtub in Saito's test)

With this being a super powerful sedative, Arthur asks a legitimate question of if they'll be able to feel a kick that far under

That's when Yusuf hit em with them Kanye lyrics back when Kanye was good, "I don't need your pussy bitch I'm on my own dick." He was like that ain't gone be a pralem fa my shit chief, inner hearing is cleverly unimpaired because I'm the cleverest of the clever of clevers

Final matter, how were they going to sync a kick that could penetrate through all three levels? That's when Arthur suggested the musical countdown. Since inner hearing is unimpaired to allow falling, it will also allow the sleeper to hear music. Once they hear the music in the dream, they know it's time for the kick. Brilliant. We see them rehearsing, playing a song in what I think is French while they slept, being overseen by Yusuf

Ok, everybody all caught up? Cool. Let's continue

Eames: He hasn't got any surgery scheduled. There's no dental, nothing

Dom: Wasn't he supposed to have a knee operation? (apparently unsure of what the word "nothing" means)

Eames: Nothing, nothing that they'd put him under for, anyway. And we need at least a good 10 hours

Saito: Sydney to Los Angeles. One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two weeks

Dom: He must be flying private, then

Saito: Not if there were unexpected maintenance with his plane (seriously, how the fuck does this guy have all this power?)

Arthur: It would have to be a 747

Dom: Why's that?

Arthur: Because on a 747, the pilot is up top and the first-class cabin is in the nose, so no one would walk through (told you these people are fucking brilliant). But you'd have to buy out the entire cabin, and the first-class flight attendant

Saito: I bought the airline. It seemed neater

Dom: Looks like we have our 10 hours

DOM'S SECRET DREAMS

Next scene, Ariadne again catches Dom already under on his own. She decides to join him. So we're just going to gloss over the fact that this bitch decided to do the very thing she was wagging her finger at him for doing? Well, he did it first. What are we in fucking grade school?

While we don't get all of Dom's backstory here, we do begin to peel back the layers of it

Ariadne finds herself in a home with an elevator that I'm pretty sure was the same raggedy ass elevator used in Driving Miss Daisy. The elevator descends and she first passes what clearly has to be Dom and Mal's kids James and Phillipa's room. The next level down, she finds Dom talking to Mal

Mal: You know how to find me. You know what you have to do. You remember when you asked me to marry you?

Dom: Of course I do

Mal: You said you had a dream

Dom: That we'd grow old together

Mal: And we can

Mal then cuts an eye on to Ariadne, with unnecessarily suspenseful music backing her up. Dom jumps to his feet and quickly makes his way over to the elevator

Dom: You shouldn't be here (as he enters the elevator he presses the button for the 12th floor, the top floor of the building)

Ariadne: I just wanted to see what kind of "tests" you're doing on your own every night

Dom: All right, well this has nothing to do with you (like, seriously bitch)

Ariadne: This has everything to do with me. You've asked me to share dreams with you (god I hated this bitch)

Dom: Not these. These are my dreams (duh bitch)

They reach the top floor, which is awesomely a beach (not what you'd expect on the top floor of anything). Mal and the kids are playing in the sand at a distance as Dom exits the elevator a couple of steps

Ariadne: Why do you do this to yourself?

Dom: It's the only way I can still dream

Ariadne: Why is it so important to dream?

Dom: In my dreams, we're still together

And see, just as Mal said how could she understand? These things are clear as day to Dom, Mal and the audience paying attention. All Ariadne is doing is judging and why, because he asked her to share dreams with him on completely unrelated matters? Never has either he or Arthur in any of the time they were explaining this world, ever say you weren't allowed to have private dreams. As with anything in life. You have the shared dreams you're going into that you need to enter for work, and your separate, private everything you do not have to share with anyone you don't want to. That's like saying because you work with someone, you have to let them into your private life because you work together. God, just shut the fuck up Ariadne. Seriously, can we kill this bitch off? She can't be the only one in this world to be able to design mazes

Hey Miles, who else ya got?!

Dom gets back on the elevator and closes the door when Mal playing in the sand looks up at them. We don't see what floor he hits this time. As the elevator descends, ole stankin' ass Ariadne has a revelation

Ariadne: These aren't just dreams. These are memories. And you said never to use memories

Dom: I know I did

Ariadne: You're trying to keep her alive. You can't let her go

Dom: You don't understand (lol and there the fuck it is again smh). These are moments I regret. They're memories that I have to change

Ariadne: Well, what's down there that you regret? (She attempts to hit the B for basement button on the elevator before he stops her. Jesus christ, Nolan, why did you make this bitch so annoying?)

Dom: Listen, there's only one thing you need to understand about me

They reach their destination floor and Dom exits, followed by Ariadne. They begin walking down a long hallway in a home

Ariadne: This is your house?

Dom: Mine and Mal's, Yes

Ariadne: Where is she?

Dom: She's already gone

They continue walking down the hallway and get to the end of it, leading to what looks like the kitchen with a sliding glass door leading outside into their back yard

Dom (cont): That's my son, James. He's digging for something, maybe a worm. (His daughter runs up behind her brother) That's Phillipa. See, I thought about calling out to them, so they'd turn and smile and I could see those....those beautiful faces of theirs. But...it's all too late

(cuts to flashback taking place in the same room)

Guy in a Suit: Right now...or never, Cobb (handing Dom what looks like a plane ticket)

Dom voiceover as he reviews his plane ticket: Then I start to Panic. I realize I'm gonna regret this moment, that I need to see their faces one last time. But the moment's past (after their grandmother calls them in). And whatever I do, I can't change this moment. As I'm about to call out to them...

This raggedy bitch slowly begins inching toward the elevator as we go back to the current timeline

Dom: ....they run away

Lol not coincidentally, Ariadne ironically begins to full on run away at this point

Dom (cont): If I'm ever gonna see their faces again, I've gotta get back home to the real world

Yeah, Dom has already told her waaaaay more than I would have. Around this time he hears her running feet down the hall and abruptly turns in time to see her close the cage of the elevator, and of fucking course, hit the B button. How many Hippa violations has this bitch committed?

Dom has to be plotting on how to piss in Miles' soup next time he sees him at this point

Next, we get more talk about trains. Initially it may seem arbitrary but it's not. Earlier in the film when Saito was testing them, when they woke up on the train on the "real world" level, just as they were about to split up, Dom announces he's getting off at the next stop because "I don't like trains"

As Ariadne is descending the elevator now alone, the first level she gets to she hears and sees a train rumbling. She then gets to the basement level and it's a hotel suite that has been trashed. Ariadne's ole nosey ass gets off the elevator and slowly walks into the room. After taking a few steps and accidentally stepping on glass, she sees Mal sitting on the couch

Mal: What are you doing here?

Ariadne: My name is--

Mal: I know who you are. What are you doing here? (getting up off the couch, she slowly begins walking toward Ariadne)

Ariadne: I'm just trying to understand

Mal: How could you understand? Do you know what it is to be a lover? To be half of a whole?

Ariadne: No (then shut up bitch! oh I added that part, my bad)

Mal: I'll tell you a riddle. You're waiting for a train (there it is again), a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where the train will take you? (she picks up a piece of a broken champagne glass)

Dom: Because we'll be together (exiting the elevator)

Mal: How could you bring her here, Dom? (hey Casper, you know damn well he didn't bring her there)

Ariadne: What is this place?

Dom: This is the hotel suite where we used to spend our anniversary

Ariadne: What happened here?

As Ariadne is turned talking to Dom standing behind her, Mal makes a bee line for her with that broken glass. Dom pulls Ariadne into the elevator (to a chorus of boos ringing out from the sole audience member in my household)

Mal: You promised!! You promised we'd be together!

Dom: Please, I need you to stay here just for now!

Mal: You said we'd be together! You said we'd grow old together!

Dom: I'll come back for you. I promise

The elevator begins ascending and Mal is left looking crazy as fuck. Ariadne and Dom wake up back in the warehouse. It doesn't take long for Ariadne to resume being a judgmental ass bitch

Ariadne: Do you think you can just build a prison of memories to lock her in? (it's worked so far) Do you really think that's gonna contain her? (when did he say that?)

(Door opens) Saito: It's time. Maurice Fischer just died in Sydney

Dom: When's the funeral?

Saito: Thursday. In Los Angeles

Arthur: Robert should accompany the body no later than Tuesday. We should move

Dom: Right

Ariadne: Cobb, I'm coming with you

Dom: I promised Miles, No

Ariadne: The team needs someone who understands what you're struggling with (why?). And it doesn't have to be me, but then you have to show Arthur what I just saw

Dom: Get us another seat on the plane

More boos rang out from my living room

We see our team board a flight dressed to impress. We also see Robert Fischer get on the plane and head to first class with the rest of the team. Eames purposely delays Fischer getting to his seat, and when Fischer walks past him, he pickpockets his passport and hands it to Dom. The plane takes off

Once in the air, Dom takes out a small vial of Yusuf's compound, and once the seat belt sign turns off, Dom goes to work

Dom (to Fischer): Excuse me, I think this is yours? (Handing his own passport back to him). You must have dropped it (ha, smooth)

Stewardess: Would you gentlemen care for a drink?

Dom: Uh, water please (remember, Saito owns the airline)

Fischer: Um, same please. (To Dom) Um...thank you

Dom: You know I couldn't help but notice, but you wouldn't happen to be related to the Maurice Fischer, would you?

Fischer: Yes, he, um...he was my father

Dom: Well, he was a very inspiring figure. I'm sorry for your loss

The stewardess brings the waters and stops at Dom's seat first. He pours Yusuf's compounds into Fischer's water before handing it to him

Dom: Here you go

Fischer: Thank you (apparently too preoccupied with his passport to notice it was Dom handing him the water instead of the flight attendant)

Dom: Hey. To your father. May he rest in peace, huh? (raises glass)

Fischer taps it with his glass before taking a swig

Moments and an unspecified amount of time in the film later, we see Dom unloading the overhead compartment to grab something in a plastic bag and toss it on a knocked-out Fischer. Dom shakes him a few times to make sure he's asleep, and when he verifies he is, he signals his team to proceed with the next step, prompting the stewardess to close the curtain connecting first class with the rest of the peasants on the plane. She then grabs a silver briefcase from out a safe and hands it to Arthur

The briefcase was the crew's sleep shit for the dream. Everyone gets prepared to go under and dream share with Fischer in his dream. Before the stewardess comes in to put them all to sleep, Yusuf takes one last swig of champagne. Then she activates the compounds after Yusuf gives her the nod, and five seconds later we're in their dream in what looks like a rainy downtown LA

Yusuf is standing on the sidewalk holding the same silver briefcase being drenched by the rain. The guys all pull up in a red car to pick him up (not sure where Ariadne is)

Arthur: Couldn't have peed before you went under?

Yusuf: Sorry

Eames: Bit too much free champagne before takeoff, eh, Yusuf?

Yusuf: Ha ha bloody ha

Dom (driving): Well, we know he's (Fischer) gonna be looking for a taxi in this weather

He takes off and pulls up behind a taxi. He revs the engine and intentionally rams the back of it, causing both cars to come to a screeching halt. The taxi driver hops out all huffy and calls Dom an asshole to himself as he aggressively approaches Dom's car. But as he gets a few steps away from the car, Dom pulls out a gun and points it at him while telling him to walk away

The back door flies open, and Saito gets out followed by Arthur. They both hurry to and enter the cab, with Arthur driving and Saito hurrying to the front passenger side and take off

They approach Fischer standing on the corner talking on his cell phone. He waves down the cab for a ride. Arthur obliges

Fischer (after he enters the cab): All right, third and market. Snappy

Then Eames gets out of the car Dom is driving behind them and rushes into the cab backseat driver side, next to Fischer

Fischer: What are you doing?

Eames: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought it was free

Fischer: Well, it's not

Eames: Maybe we could share

Fischer: Yeah, maybe not. Can you pull over and get this--

Saito turns around from the front seat and points a gun at Fischer. Fischer sighs. Eames looks pleased

Fischer: Great

Arthur continues to drive, we see them pass Ariadne on the corner who is walking into the street as Dom pulls up and she enters the front passenger side. As soon as she gets in the car and closes the door, a train crashes into them (there it is again!) and runs right down the middle of the downtown street pummeling anything in its path

Meanwhile back in the taxi, Fischer clearly has no idea what he's into

Fischer (taking out his wallet): There's $500 in there, and the wallet's worth more than that. So you might at least drop me at my stop

Eames: I'm afraid it doesn't...

Suddenly, the cab comes under heavy gun fire. A silver pickup truck pulls up on the opposite side of traffic and its front doors fly open. Two guys get out and begin firing at the cab. Behind them, another guy gets out of a gray car armed

Arthur: Cover him! (Fischer)

Eames: Down! Down now!

Fischer: What the hell is going on?!

The cab continues under heavy fire

Dom and Ariadne are still in disbelief about the train

Ariadne: This wasn't in the design (whaaaat, you mean you didn't put a random train in the middle of downtown LA? lol I don't think that was necessary to say, ma'am). Cobb? Cobb?!

He begins backing up quickly. Meanwhile, Arthur tries ramming the car in front of him first. Eames turns around and begins firing out the back window (didn't even know he had a gun)

The gunfire continues as Arthur tries desperately to wiggle out of the traffic jam they're stuck in while taking constant gunfire. Arthur even had to shoot a muthafucka

Dom eventually backs away far enough to get away from the train. He turns around and begins speeding back toward the guys. He runs over one of the shooters with his car. Arthur then backs the cab into the same shooter pinning him between Dom's car and the taxi. Realizing he's pinned, the shooter begins firing toward Arthur

Arthur: Ready?!

Eames raises up from the back seat and shoots the shooter in the head. This frees the two cars from one another, and Arthur turns around and starts speeding away from all the drama

Arthur (to Eames in the back seat): Are you alright?!

Eames: Yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay. Fischer's okay, unless he gets carsick

Arthur: Saito?

He looks over at Saito in the passenger seat, who's holding his chest over his heart. He's been shot

The two cars containing our peeps veer off the road to a warehouse, that fortunately for them happened to be abandoned. What ensues is one of my favorite scenes in the movie

Eames gets out and opens the door to the building allowing both cars to speed through. Dom and Yusuf rush to the cab

Dom: Get Fischer in the back room now! Get him in the back room. Move!

He and Yusuf get to the cab and Dom quickly opens the door as he shouts instructions. He grabs Fischer (who has a hood over his face preventing him from seeing anything) out the back seat and pushes him toward Eames

On the other side of the cab, Arthur pulls Saito out of the front passenger side. Dom heads over to Saito

Dom (clearly shaken up by his ticket home being shot): Has he been shot? I-is he dying?

Arthur: I don't know

Dom: Jesus Christ

Arthur: Where were you? What happened to you?

Dom: We were blocked by a freight train

Arthur (to Ariadne): Why would you put a train crossing in the middle of a downtown intersection?

Ariadne: Well, I didn't

Arthur: Well, where'd it come from?

Dom (raising his voice for the first time): Well (damn that's a lot of wells), let me ask you a question! Why the hell were we ambushed, huh? Those were not normal projections! They'd been trained, for god's sakes!

Arthur: You're right

Ariadne: How could he be trained?

Arthur: Fisher (sighs) had an extractor teach his subconscious to defend itself (GOD I LOVE THIS FUCKING MOVIE!!). So his subconscious is militarized. It should've shown in the research. I'm sorry

Dom: So why the hell didn't it?

Arthur: Calm down

Dom: Don't tell me to calm down! This was your job, goddamn it! (pointing his finger in Arthur's face) This was your responsibility! You were meant to check Fischer's background thoroughly! We are not prepared for this type of violence

Arthur: We have dealt with sub-security before! We'll be a little more careful, and we're gonna be fine

Dom: (pointing to Saito) This was not part of the plan! He's dying, for god's sakes!

Eames approaches with a gun

Eames: Put him out of his misery

Dom quickly grabs his arm and stops him from pulling the trigger

Dom: No, don't do that!

Eames: Hey, hey

Dom: Don't do that!

Eames: He's in agony. I'm waking him up

Dom: No, it won't wake him up

Eames: What do you mean, it won't wake him up?

Dom: It won't wake him up

Eames: When we die in a dream, we wake up

Yusuf: Not from this. We're too heavily sedated to wake up that way

Eames: Right. So, what happens when we die?

Dom: We drop into limbo (in a crazy coincidence, both of my top two favorite movies deal with limbo in a small part)

Arthur: Are you serious?

Ariadne: Limbo?!

Arthur: Unconstructed dream space

Ariadne: Well (geesh y'all), what the hell is down there?

Arthur (angrily): Just raw, infinite subconscious. Nothing is down there, except for whatever might have been left behind by anyone sharing the dream who's been trapped there before. Which, in our case, is just you (to Dom)

Ariadne: Well (lmao well am I getting punked?), how long could we be stuck there?

Yusuf: Can't even think about trying to escape until the sedation has eased

Eames: How long, Yusuf?!

Yusuf: Decades. It could be infinite, I don't know. Ask him (Dom) he's the one who's been there

Arthur: Let's just get him upstairs (umm, so is this their building or?...)

Eames: Great. Thank you (to Dom). So, now we're trapped in Fischer's mind, battling his own private army, and if we get killed, we'll be lost in limbo till our brains turn to scrambled egg, hmm?

Dom stands there for a second or two and then walks over (or apparently up) to where they took Saito. Arthur looks angrily at Dom as he walks toward him

Arthur: So, you knew about these risks, and you didn't tell us

Dom: There weren't meant to be any risks. I didn't know we'd be dealing with a load of gunfire

Arthur: You had no right

Dom: This was the only way to go three layers deep (remember, Yusuf initially said it wasn't even possible. Going three levels deep may be something that even the crew - aside from Dom and Yusuf - didn't fully understand)

Arthur (turning his wrath to Yusuf): And you. You knew about this and went along with it

Yusuf: I trusted him (another finger pointed at Dom in this convo)

Arthur: You trusted him? When? What he promised you half his share?

Yusuf: No. His whole share. Besides, he said he'd done it before

Arthur: Oh, he'd done it before. What, with Mal? 'Cause that worked so good?

Dom: That has nothing to do with it. I did what I had to do to get back to my children (making that statement again and giving his whole share to Yusuf, how many more ways can this man make it clear he only has one thing on his mind?)

Eames: So you led us into a war zone with no way out

Dom: There is a way out, alright? We continue on with the job, and we do it as fast as possible, and we get out using the kick, just like before

Eames: Forget it. We go any deeper, we just raise the stakes. I am sitting this one out at this level, boys (hey, do you think Eames had a foresight as to what would happen with Elliot since he said....)

Dom: Fischer's security is surrounding this place as we speak. Ten hours of flight time is a week at this level, that means each and every one of us will be killed. That I can guarantee you. We have no other choice but to continue on and do it as fast as possible. Downwards is the only way forwards. (Eames looks dejected knowing Dom is right) Get ready. (to Arthur) You, come on. Let's go shake him up (tossing him a mask)

Ooooook!! Lots to unpack here. Let's take a moment to catch our breath

So, earlier I said when Eames went to run interference at the bar and it didn't work was one of my favorite things about the movie. And this scene magnifies that thing I love in a massive, yet magnificent way

We were privy to some key information from the team on how they plan to make this already impossible mission a reality. One of my absolute favorite things about the movie is that nothing, not one single part of any heist/implant we saw in this film went exactly according to plan. This is why Dom and his team have to be as brilliant as they are. Every single time we've seen them on the job they've had to call at least one audible

As both a superfan of the film and an aspiring writer myself, I can appreciate the brilliance Christopher Nolan is exuding here with he and his brother's screenplay. Each part of the plan is already complicated enough. Imagine the attention to detail it took the Nolan bros to write this flick. I bet choo they proofread this thing so many times, that neither of them ever wants to read this fucking script again. Because they had to not only create the plan, but they also had to create the plan's several deterrence as well. AND they had to write the audible

That's probably why I can watch this movie so often without getting bored. And duuuuude, I'm STILL learning shit when I watch this film. As I was watching again today to write more, I saw something I never noticed in 15 years and probably a record number of viewings

Much earlier, when mentioning Dom not being able to go home, I said that we could still see how much he is struggling being away from his kids, and that's still true lol. I'm not about to be like, turns out he was like 'fuck them kids', although that would be funny as shit

While he's on the phone with his kids, we stay with Dom, so we can only hear his children's voice over the phone the way he does. Next time you watch this scene, pay attention to his daughter Phillipa's voice. You'll notice she sounds closer to 11 - 12 years old, especially when she says, "grandma says you're never coming back"

Ok, so in the scene at about the five second mark, take note of the children, particularly the girl. Now, tell me the voice of the girl at the 34 second mark matches the girl playing outside with her brother. That girl looked only a few months to a year older than her brother. But on the phone, she sounded like she's got two kids, a husband and a mortgage. With this being a movie that deals with time in a tricky way, I can't be convinced that was arbitrary. Hell I didn't even notice it until today and I've watched this movie how many times? No, I'm asking y'all because I really don't know

Next scene, we see a masked Dom and Arthur pretend to shakeup Fischer for a combination to a safe in his father's office. Fischer denies any knowledge of a safe. To which shakeup Dom says, "that doesn't mean you don't know the combination"

This scene was really good to me too, because we already knew it was total bullshit. This is the first step of the plan. While Eames told us the ultimate goal of what he wanted to do at each level, number one we already know shit doesn't always go according to plan, and two we didn't get the information of exactly how he was planning on doing it

Shakeup Dom demands Fischer tell them the combination. Fischer again denies knowing. Shakeup Arthur tells him, "We have it on good authority that you do know"

Fischer: Yeah? Whose authority?

We then jump to Yusuf sniffing Fischer's wallet (seriously, this dude is fucking weird)

Yusuf: $500 this cost?

Eames: What's inside it?

Yusuf: Cash, cards, ID...and this (he hands Eames what looks like a business card, but it turns out to be a picture of Robert as a kid and his dad Maurice)

Dom approaches Eames

Eames (to Dom, holding the picture up for Dom to take it): Useful?

Dom takes a look at the pic: Maybe. You're on. You've got an hour

Eames: An hour? I was supposed to have all night to crack this

Dom: And Saito wasn't supposed to be shot in the chest. You've got one hour. Now, get us something useful, please

Eames turns into Browning on the spot and turns and begins screaming toward the door where he knows Fischer is

Back in the room with Fischer and shakeup Arthur

Fischer: What's that?

Shakeup Arthur: Good authority

Eames masquerading as Browning continues screaming in the background

Fischer: (softly) Uncle Peter. Just-- Just make them stop

Shakeup Arthur: The combination

Fischer: I don't know it

Shakeup Arthur: Why does Browning say you do?

Fischer: I don't know. Just let me talk to him, and I'll find out

Shakeup Dom brings in Eames masquerading as Browning and tosses him on the floor beside Fischer

Shakeup Dom: You have one hour! Start talking

The shakeup bros leave the room while Eames masquerading as Browning agonizes in so-called pain, as Robert continuously asks his Uncle Peter if he's okay

Eames Browning: Those bastards have had at me for two days. They have someone with access to your father's office, and they're trying to open his safe

Fischer: Yeah

Eames Browning: They thought I'd know the combination, but I don't know it

Fischer: Yeah, well (lol, ok so that must be the Nolan bros favorite word), neither do I, so...

Eames Browning: What? Maurice told me that when he passed, you were the only one that would be able to open it

Fischer: No, he never-- He never gave me any combination

Eames Browning: Maybe he did. Maybe you just didn't know it was the combination

Fischer: Well, what, then?

Eames Browning: I don't know. Some meaningful combination of numbers. Based on your experiences with Maurice

Fischer: (scoffs) We didn't have very many, um...meaningful experiences together

Eames Browning: Perhaps after your mother died

Fischer: (sighs) After my mother died, you know what he told me? "Robert, there's really...nothing to be said"

Eames Browning: Oh, well, he was bad with emotion

Fischer: I was 11, Uncle Peter

We then cut to Dom heading over to check on Saito

Dom: How's he doin'?

Ariadne: (looking annoyed at Dom) He's in a lot of pain

Dom: When we get down to the lower levels, the pain will be less intense

Ariadne: And if he dies?

Dom: Worse-case scenario? When he wakes up, his mind is completely gone

Saito: (panting) Cobb...I'll still honor the arrangement

Dom: I appreciate that, Saito. But when you wake up, you won't even remember that we had an arrangement. Limbo is gonna become your reality. You're gonna be lost down there so long that you're gonna become an old man

Saito: Filled with regret?

Dom: Waiting to die alone

Saito: No. I'll come back. And we'll be young men together again

Then we go back to the conversation between Fischer and Eames Browning

Eames Browning: These people are gonna kill us if we don't give them the combination

Fischer: They just want to ransom us

Eames Browning: I heard them. They're gonna lock us in that van, and then drive it into the river (lol, because they would really say the plan loud enough so that he could hear it, right? This is an entertaining ruse to me)

Fischer: Alright, what's in the safe?

Eames Browning: Something for you. Maurice always said it was his most precious gift to you. A will

Fischer: Maurice's (I used to call my dad by his real name too when he wasn't around) will is with Port and Dunn

Eames Browning: That's an alternate. This would supersede the other if you want it to. It splits up the component businesses of Fischer Morrow. It'd be the end of the entire empire as we know it

Fischer: Destroying my whole inheritance. Why would he suggest such a thing?

Eames Browning: I just don't know. He loved you, Robert. In his own way

Fischer: In his own way? At the end...he called me in to his deathbed. He could barely speak. But he took the trouble to tell me one last thing. He pulled me close. And I could only make out...one word. Disappointed

Eames Browning sighs. His time is running out. He's going to need to call another audible

Then we head back to Dom being chastised by Ariadne's old judgmental ass. But this part is super important because we learn the rest of Dom's story, and the answer to so many things in the story so far that we didn't understand before

Ariadne: When were you in limbo?

Dom looks hesitant to answer

Ariadne (cont): You might have the rest of the team convinced to carry on with this job, but they don't know the truth

Dom: Truth? What truth?

Ariadne: The truth that, at any minute, you might bring a freight train through the wall (shit, she's got a point there). The truth that Mal is bursting through your subconscious. And the truth that, as we go deeper into Fischer, we're also going deeper into you. And I'm not sure we're gonna like what we find

Dom (nodding his head slowly): We were working together. We were exploring the concept of a dream within a dream. I kept pushing things. I wanted to go deeper and deeper. I wanted to go...further. I just didn't understand the concept that hours could turn into years down there, that we could get trapped so deep that when we wound up on the shore of our own subconscious, we lost sight of what was real

We head to limbo where we see Mal wake up on a beach. Then back to Dom

Dom (cont): We created, we built the world for ourselves. We did that for years. We built our own world

Ariadne: How long were you stuck there?

Dom: Something like 50 years

Ariadne: Jesus. How could you stand it?

Dom: It wasn't so bad at first, feeling like gods. The problem was knowing that none of it was real. Eventually, it just became impossible for me to live like that

Ariadne: And what about for her?

We head back to the limbo flashback, where Mal is standing across a little water area next to the DWP building where my dad worked mentioned earlier, staring at a recreation of her childhood home

Dom (voiceover): She had locked something away, something deep inside her. A truth that she had once known, but....

We see her in what has to be her childhood bedroom open her doll house revealing a safe. Her totem sits on the counter, not spinning

Dom (voiceover, cont): ...chose to forget

She puts her totem in her safe and locks it. Then we go back to Dom

Dom: Limbo became her reality

Ariadne: What happened when you woke up?

Dom: Well (insert eye roll here), to wake up from that after -- After years, after decades...to become old souls thrown back into youth like that?

After he says decades, we go back to limbo and Mal lying down, looking at the camera. Then we see them both laying on the floor of their house that Ariadne visited. Mal wakes up on the floor and sits up a bit uneasily

Dom (cont): I knew something was wrong with her. She just wouldn't admit it. Eventually, she told me the truth. She was possessed by an idea -- This one very simple idea that changed everything

Back in the flashback, Mal is sitting at her dining room table after having cut up some tomatoes, and she's staring at her totem between her fingers that still isn't spinning

Dom (cont): That our world wasn't real. That she needed to wake up and come back to reality, that...In order to get back home, we had to kill ourselves

Back in the flashback, Mal is still sitting at the table with the cut-up tomatoes, but now she's rubbing her finger on the sharp edge of the knife. Dom comes up behind her and gently removes her hand from the knife and grabs it, before placing his mug on the table and sitting next to her

Ariadne: What about your children?

Dom: She thought they were projections, that our real children were waiting for us up there somewhere

Back to the flashback, Dom tries to remove their two children from the room while he and Mal argue about this

Mal: I'm their mother!

Dom: Calm down (this may have been just a matter of the same words, but I wonder if it's of any significance that Arthur told him to calm down when they were arguing after Saito was shot, and Dom said, "don't tell me to calm down")

Mal: Don't you think I can tell the difference? (Her argument for why those weren't their real kids)

Dom: If this is my dream, why can't I control this?

Mal: Because you don't know you're dreaming!

Dom (voiceover): She was certain there was nothing I could do, no matter how much I begged, no matter how much I pleaded

We return to the current time

Dom: She wanted to do it, but she could not do it alone. She loved me too much, so, she came up with a plan on our anniversary

Back to the flashback of Dom walking down the aisle toward their hotel room. You'll recall when nosey ass Ariadne went into his dreams, she met up with Mal at a trashed hotel suite where Dom told her they used to spend their anniversary. When Dom walks into the suite in the flashback, it's trashed in the exact same manner it was in Dom's dream. The window is open on the other side of the room, and as Dom walks in, he steps on glass in the exact same way that Ariadne did in his dream. When he noticed the crunching glass he looked down. That's where he saw Mal's totem on the floor beside the glass he stepped on not spinning. Dom picks it up

He continues to walk toward the window and looks outside. There he sees Mal sitting on the outside windowsill at the hotel directly across the street from Dom

Dom: Sweetheart, what are you doing?

Mal: Join me

Dom: Just-- Just step back inside. All right? Just step back inside now. Come on

Mal: No. I'm going to jump and you're coming with me

Dom: No, I'm not. N-Now, you listen to me. If you jump, you're not gonna wake up, remember? You're gonna die. Now, just-- Just step back inside. Come on. Step back inside so we can talk about this

Mal: We've talked enough. (she kicks off one of her heels letting it fall the several stories to the ground)

Dom (noticing the shoe begins to get more urgency in his voice): Mal

Mal: Come out onto the ledge, or I'll jump right now

Dom: Okay. (He climbs out and sits on the ledge) We're gonna talk about this. All right?

Mal: I'm asking you to take a leap of faith

Dom: No, honey. No, I ca--. You know I can't do that. Take a second, think about our children. Think about James. Think about Phillipa now

Mal: If I go without you, they'll take them away anyway (pay close attention here)

Dom: What does that mean?

Mal: I filed a letter with our attorney, explaining how I'm fearful for my safety

Dom turns around and takes another look at the trashed room as he starts to piece everything together

Mal (cont): How you've threatened to kill me

Dom: Why did you do this?

Mal: I love you, Dom

Dom: Why did you-- Why would you do this to me?

Mal: I've freed you from the guilt of choosing to leave them. We're going home to our real children

Dom: Oh, no, no, no. Mal, you listen to me, alright?

She closes her eyes

Dom (cont): Mal, look at me, please?!

Mal: You're waiting for a train

Dom: Mal, goddamn it, don't do this!

Mal: A train that will take you far away

Dom: James and Phillipa are waiting for us!

Mal: You know where you hope the train will take you

Dom: They're waiting for us!

Mal: You can't know for sure

Dom: Mal, look at me!

Mal: But it doesn't matter

Dom: Mal, goddamn it!

Mal: Because you'll be together

Dom: Mal, listen to me! Sweetheart! Look at me

She stands up, still with her eyes closed and jumps

Dom: Mal, No!!!! Jesus Christ! (he begins to cry)

We return to the current Dom telling this story to Ariadne

Dom: She had herself declared sane by three different psychiatrists. It made it impossible for me to try to explain the nature of her madness

We return to the flashback, this time in his kitchen with that same dude who gave him the plane ticket in his dream

Dom (voiceover): So, I ran. I left my children behind, and I've been trying to buy my way back ever since

Ariadne: Your guilt defines her. It's what powers her. But you are not responsible for the idea that destroyed her (ahem, how in the fuck could she possibly know that? That would turn out to not be true at all!). And if we are gonna succeed in this...you have to forgive yourself...and you're gonna have to confront her. But you don't have to do that alone

Dom: No, no, you're not--

Ariadne: I'm doing it for the others. Because they have no idea the risk they've taken coming down here with you

Alright. We got a buffet of shit in this scene, and it may have been hard to keep up. I got ya back. We got all but one final piece of the puzzle to Dom's backstory

To simplify, Dom miscalculated, probably because he didn't have Yusuf at that time to have his back, and he and Mal got trapped in limbo for 50 years. I just didn't understand the concept that hours could turn into years down there, that we could get trapped so deep that when we wound up on the shore of our own subconscious, we lost sight of what was real

At first, it wasn't bad. In limbo you're free to create to your heart's content, and there's no real rules for it. They were initially able to play god and really enjoyed it. But the problem to Dom was the knowledge that none of it was real. Knowing it wasn't real, it became impossible for Dom to live that way (I can totally relate. Those of us with incredibly shitty parents had to play make believe for much longer than we should have) We created, we built the world for ourselves. We did that for years. We built our own world...It wasn't so bad at first, feeling like gods. The problem was knowing that none of it was real. Eventually, it just became impossible for me to live like that

The way he worded it, in particular, showed an unbelievable amount of selfishness from Dom, I will admit. It became impossible for ME to live like that. Ariadne showed empathy for Mal from the beginning, asking "what about for her". Dom tells Ariadne that Mal had locked something deep inside her. That's why we were shown her putting her totem in the safe. Dom called it "a truth that she had once known, but chose to forget"

This part right here is really the heartbeat of this film. He never says it's her totem that she locked away (choosing to call it "something" instead), but when we see that it's her totem that changes everything!

It's been explained to us several times at this point the significance of the totem. We also saw that the totem was Mal's idea in the first place to keep track of reality. As soon as we see her lock her totem in the safe, Dom says the words, "Limbo became her reality." Limbo became her reality because she locked her totem in the safe, convinced that she was still dreaming. Her mind was playing tricks on her. Without her way of keeping track of reality, she had no way of avoiding the trap she found herself in. The totem was the one thing she could count on to let her know where she stood with reality. Now she was convinced the totem was lying. When you see it unfold with her, you realize how easy it is to lose your grip on reality. And they didn't reveal the final part and why it fucked her up so badly yet. But even with what they revealed up to this point, it really is some scary shit when you think about it

From there, she continued to spiral downhill. To the point where she was convinced that to wake up from what she swore was still a dream, they both had to kill themselves to get back to the real-world. In a sense, Mal represents mental health issues in our real-world. Mental health issues are arguably worse than physical health issues in my opinion, because your mind controls your actions. If there's an issue with wires getting crossed in your brain, that could have catastrophic consequences! That's why people shoot up schools, churches, and/or commit suicide. No matter what Dom said, he couldn't get her to change her mind. It was already made up and at that point, there's really nothing else anyone can say to you. Your brain is what controls everything you do in this world, and when that is not working properly that has to be some scary shit. Another reason why I think y'all just wanting there to be stricter gun laws is bullshit. That seems easier than actually talking to these people and trying to gain some empathy. It is true, by the time you get to Mal's point it's too late. But that's why we shouldn't wait until they get to this point to start trying to help them. Dom even said he knew something was wrong with her right away when they woke up in the real world. That was the time to start trying to help her. Not that you would have definitely been successful in saving her, but you would have had a better shot than when she became too far gone. Please let that be a lesson for us in our real world

Oh, and Mal wasn't finished. She tells Dom that if she goes away without him, they'll just take the kids anyway. He asks what that means. She tells him she filed a letter with their attorney about how she's fearful for her safety, and that Dom threatened to kill her

This is some extra scary shit when you think about it. In one of my all-time favorite action movies, Speed, Keanu's and Jeff Daniel's characters labeled Dennis Hopper's villain as, "crazy but not stupid". I think that describes Mal here. She had lost track of reality, but she was convinced that she hadn't. To draw up this elaborate plan took a lot of genius. But she wasn't able to decipher reality. She really did believe that she was doing all of that to help Dom, as evidenced by her response after he asks her why she did that to him

I've freed you from the guilt of choosing to leave them. We're going home to our real children

And Mal truly, truly believed this. That's what makes mental health issues so scary. Oh, and I've BEEN saying that religion is a form of mental illness, and I 100% BELIEVE THAT!!! The more devout you are to something that is nothing more than a figment of your imagination, the more bat shit you are. The only difference is that religion is a more accepted form of mental illness that ironically happens to be revered by all of these crazy motherfuckers, and they outnumber those of us with common sense

When I was in rehab, I was absolutely fucking losing my mind, especially when I first got there. The child support people had infiltrated all up in my ass - completely fucking uninterested in my side of the story - to a level I didn't even know they could. And I was completely alone on this planet. Easily the hardest thing I've ever dealt with in my life. I had upped my alcohol drinking and edible usage, to the point where the weekend before I decided it was time to get some help, I drank three big bottles of Vodka in three days, from Friday - Sunday. I would wake up and start drinking and would drink all day to try to be numb

My first roommate I had in detox in rehab was cool. He was really laid back, which is the kind of drinker/high-getter I am under normal circumstances. But I didn't realize that I was still high, and more importantly, I was still extremely full of trauma from the previous two months I had just gone through. To the point where I was lying in my bed and looked up at the lights and saw my website pictures of myself in the light fixtures. These people (child support office) had connected to all my devices and was able to watch every move I made. This gave me a serious complex by the time I got to rehab. I told my roommate what I saw and told him to take a look in the light fixture over my bed

Unsurprisingly, he couldn't see shit. But that wasn't good enough for me

"Nooo, dude, look right here. Right there. You don't see that?"

"No man, I don't see anything"

"Come on dude, you're joking, right?"

He wasn't. But worse, neither was I. I truly believed that was what I saw. Looking back now, of course I was fucking trippin. I wasn't in my right mind. You couldn't tell me that though. I got into it with the doctor we met with on video chat once a week. He ended up putting me on crazy pills after I snapped at him about something. When I first got there, it seemed like the staff didn't believe me when I told them what I had gone through. He kept telling me that it wasn't crazy pills and then he would explain what they were. And his explanation always sounded EXACTLY like crazy pills, he just didn't want to call them that. I was in their treatment, so I agreed to whatever they suggested as they did say if they didn't work, or I didn't like them they could take me off. The meds actually ended up doing an excellent job of quieting the crazy thoughts (because they were fucking crazy pills), and I stayed on them for the duration of my treatment, and the beginning of my after treatment when I went back to work. In a conversation I had with the director of the therapists and case managers one day, I told her that I didn't think I was crazy but the pills were helping. That's where she first hit me with, "in the mental health industry we say, if the meds are helping then you had the condition the meds were for"

So, I said all of that to say, in that sense, I was crazy...at least when I first got to treatment. It was the first time in my life I understood just how much your brain could play tricks on you based on nothing more than your current circumstances. Of course, Inception is just a movie. But that doesn't mean it's not incorporating real life mental health issues brilliantly disguised within the plot. Come on, man. IMHO this is the greatest movie ever made

So we have now been filled in on exactly why Dom can't go to America, and why he said, "because they think I killed her". It all started after they got trapped in limbo. That made Mal begin to question her reality. There's still one more part of this that we'll get filled in on later in the movie. But now we know the base of it, and hopefully, you have more of an understanding of Mal's mental health issues, though we still haven't been told why. She genuinely thought that killing herself and Dom was the only way to wake them up from still dreaming once they returned to the real world from limbo

After Ariadne delivers her last line, Dom notices Fischer's projections getting themselves in position outside and tells Ariadne they have to move

We then cut to Shakeup Dom bursting into the room with Fischer and Eames Browning announcing time is up

Fischer: All right. I don't know any combination. Not consciously, anyway

Shakeup Dom: How about instinctively, huh? (Fischer should have also recognized that 'huh', as Dom said it several times throughout the movie). (Dom points his gun at Fischer) I got somebody standing in your father's office right now ready to tap in the combination. Give me the first six numbers that come to your head right now (remember, their ultimate goal is to PLANT an idea into his head)

Fischer: I have no idea

Shakeup Dom: Right now! (he temporarily points the gun at Fischer's temple at point-blank range) I said, right now! (then Dom points the gun at Eames Browning) Right now!!

Fischer (into Dom's cell phone): Five, two, eight...four, nine, one

Dom "listens" for a second to the cell phone

Dom: You're gonna have to do better than that. (to Shakeup Arthur behind him) All right. Bag 'em. You're going for a ride

Arthur puts the bag over Fischer's head (and inexplicably over Eames Browning's head too) and they exit to the van

Fischer: We're worth more to you alive. You hear me?

Dom drizzles some more of Yusuf's formula on Fischer's head and he passes out instantly. Eames has converted back to himself in the van and around this time, he exits the van to where Dom is standing

Dom: What'd you get?

Eames: That boy's relationship with his father is even worse than we imagined (lol, yeah that's often the case guys)

Arthur (forever with a stick up his ass): This helps us how? (Arthur walks to the back of the van to grab some fire power)

Dom: The stronger the issues, the more powerful the catharsis

Arthur: How are we gonna reconcile them if they're so estranged?

Yusuf tries to support Saito walking to the car while Saito leans on him

Eames: Well, I'm working on that, aren't I?

Arthur: Work faster. The projections are closing in quick. We gotta break out of here before we're totally boxed in

He gets to a window, opens the shutters and points his gun outside and fires. He misses his target, and his target fires several rounds back at him. This goes back and forth like this several times. Arthur then goes to the front door, pulls it open a bit, and fires at the same shooter, again missing with the target firing back. This goes on an additional three times

Until finally Eames has had enough and approaches Arthur with a much bigger gun

Eames: We mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling

Eames cocks the gun and fires. The whole tank the projection was hiding behind explodes. Arthur shoots Eames an understanding look as they go on about their day lol

All of the crew are now in one car, a white van being driven by Yusuf. Yusuf speeds out of the warehouse and down the street. Meanwhile, Dom begins addressing the team with the next part of the plan

Dom: Now we need to shift his animosity from his father to his godfather

Ariadne: You're gonna destroy his one positive relationship?

Eames: No, we repair his relationship with his father whilst (lmao) exposing his godfather's true nature. We should charge Fischer a lot more than Saito for this job

I'm thinking Browning was actually crooked and that wasn't part of their implant. I say that because of what Eames said earlier; the sicker Maurice Fischer becomes the more powerful Peter Browning becomes. This part of the plan looks to repair his severely broken relationship with his father by exposing Browning's true greed

Arthur: What about his security? It's gonna get worse as we go deeper

Dom: I think we run with Mr Charles

Arthur: No

Eames: Who's Mr Charles?

Arthur: Bad idea

Dom: The second we get into that hotel and approach Fischer, his security is gonna be all over us

The team all quickly fasten their seatbelts

Dom (cont): We run with Mr Charles like we did on the Stein job

Eames: So you've done it before?

Arthur: Yeah, and it didn't work. The subject realized he was dreaming, and his subconscious tore us to pieces

Eames: Excellent. But you learned a lot, right?

Dom: I'm gonna need some kind of distraction

Eames: No problem. How about a lovely lady I've used before?

Dom (to Yusuf driving): Listen to me, you drive carefully, alright?

Yusuf: Yeah

Dom: Everything down there is gonna be unstable as hell

Arthur: Don't jump too soon. We only get one shot at that kick. We gotta make it

Yusuf: I'll play the music to let you know it's coming. The rest is on you

Eames puts his hood back on and leans back, as do a couple of the other team members

Yusuf: You ready?

Dom: Ready!

Yusuf: Sweet Dreams

He presses a button in the silver briefcase, and all other team members behind him are asleep...now in the second level of the dream

The Dream - Level 2 of 3

Inception - Dom and Arthur Patrol Hotel Room

We know from Dom saying in the back of the van, "the second we get to that hotel", that the second level down will place them in a hotel. Almost immediately after Yusuf says, "sweet dreams", we pick up on Fischer at one of the bars in the hotel

Woman (to Fischer): Am I boring you? I was telling you my story. I guess it wasn't to your liking

Fischer: Uh...um, I have a lot on my mind

We cut to Arthur and Ariadne, suited and booted and seated in the lobby of the hotel

Arthur: There goes Mr Charles

We see a shot of Dom walking across the lobby like he first placed a stick up his ass. He gets to the bar where Fischer and the woman are

Dom: Mr Fischer, right? Pleasure to see you again. Rod Green from marketing...(he extends his hand for Fischer to shake it, but Fischer just stares at him) I...hmm (turns to the lady) And you must be?

Woman: Leaving

Dom gives her the nod signaling for her to scram. She stands up and places a napkin in front of Fischer

Woman: In case you get bored

The woman leaves

Dom: She must've blown you off. That is, unless her phone number really is only six digits

Fischer takes a closer look at the napkin and sees 528-491. Sound familiar? Those are the exact same numbers Fischer said in the warehouse when Shakeup Dom demanded the first six digits that came to his head

Dom (cont): Funny way to make friends, someone stealing your wallet like that (that shoulda been a clue about her right there)

Fischer pats himself down and scoffs when he realizes his wallet his gone

Fischer: Goddamn it. The wallet alone is worth at least five--

Dom: About $500, right? (LOL) Listen, don't worry about it. My people are already on it as we speak

Back to Arthur and Ariadne

Ariadne: Who or what is Mr Charles?

Arthur: It's a gambit designed to turn Fischer against his own subconscious

The woman who stole Fischer's wallet walks past them in the lobby

Ariadne: And why don't you approve?

Arthur: Because it involves telling the mark that he's dreaming, which involves attracting a lot of attention to us

Ariadne: Didn't Cobb say never to do that?

Arthur: Mm. So now you've noticed how much time Cobb spends doing things he says never to do (shit, he does do that. I can't even argue)

Ariadne chuckles

We then cut to Saito on an elevator (remember, Dom said when they get to the lower levels of the dream, his pain will be less intense). The doors open and as he gets ready to get off, the woman who was meeting with Fischer walks on to the elevator

Woman: Mr Saito, can I have a moment?

Saito: I-I'm sorry, but...

She gently places her hand on his cheek

Saito (cont): Hold on! Wait!

The elevator door closes and Saito glances in the mirror on the wall of the elevator. It's revealed the woman was Eames all along. In the van when Dom said he needed a distraction, Eames said, No problem. How about a lovely lady I've used before?

Eames: You look a bit perkier

Saito: Very amusing, Mr Eames

He pushes Eames back as Eames laughs. He then starts going through Fischer's wallet that he stole from him. He finds that "useful" picture of Robert as a kid with his dad. Then the second level of the dream they're on begins rumbling

Saito: Turbulence on the plane? (Asking if that's the cause of the rumbling. They're two levels down here. In the real-world, they're still on the plane heading to Fischer's father's funeral. On the first level of the dream, they're in the back of the white van that Yusuf is driving. Saito is asking if the rumbling is from turbulence on the plane they're on in the real world)

Eames (shakes his head): No, it's much closer. That's Yusuf's driving (from the first level of the dream...seriously, brilliant fucking people)

We head back to level 1 and Yusuf is facing heavy gun fire from Fischer's projections. In the warehouse right after Saito got shot and Eames said he was going to sit it out, Dom says the projections are surrounding them, and one week at that level means they will all definitely be killed, and he guaranteed it

Yusuf is still on that dangerous level and the projections are still trying to kill him and everyone in the van. Yusuf continues to speed as fast as he can while taking constant gun fire, as the rest of the team remains sleep in the van while working on the second level of the dream

We then head back to Dom and Fischer at the bar, where the rumbling Saito could hear in the elevator continues in the bar

Fischer: Uh, I'm sorry. Who did you say you were?

Dom: Rod Green from marketing. But that's not true at all, is it? (Dom takes a seat next to Fischer and continues) My name is Mr Charles. You remember me, don't you? I'm the head of your security down here

Cut back to Saito and Eames on the elevator. Eames provides instructions to Saito

Eames: Get out on a different floor and keep moving. Dump the wallet. Security will be looking for that

Saito: Ok

The door opens and Eames begins walking off. But he turns back to Saito

Eames: We need to buy Cobb a little more time

He walks off the elevator and begins walking down the hall. Saito remains on the elevator quietly coughing from his gun shot wound one level up. Still with us? Cool

Back to Dom and Fischer

Fischer: Security, huh? You work for the hotel?

Dom: No, no. I specialize in a very specific type of security. Subconscious security

Fischer: You're talking about dreams? Are you talking about, um...extraction?

Dom: I am here to protect you. You...

Someone steps on a piece of glass and it makes the exact same sound it made when Dom and Ariadne stepped on that glass in the hotel suite Dom and Mal spent their anniversary. This causes Dom to pause, suddenly see his children outside of the door playing as they have every time we've seen them, and the whole restaurant to stop their talking and stare at Dom, since he's inadvertently fucking up the dream. Dom takes a second to gather himself and gets back into character

Dom: Mr Fischer, I'm here to protect you in the event...

Conversations resume

Dom (cont): ...that someone tries to access your mind through your dreams. You're not safe here. They're coming for you

We cut to Saito, who's walking down the hotel hallway on the third floor. One of Fischer's projections is following him. Saito begins running, and the projection begins chasing him. Saito passes a laundry chute and drops Fisher's wallet down it (Eames told him to ditch the wallet). The projection walks to the chute and starts checking it

Then we jump to Yusuf driving the van on level 1 while, sorry whilst, taking gunfire. Yusuf really struggles with this one and very nearly loses control of the van

Back at the bar

Dom (to Fischer): Strange weather, isn't it?

The rumbling is stronger, and it looks like it may start to even rain harder

Dom: You feel that?

Meanwhile, back with Arthur and Ariadne who can also feel the rumbling

Ariadne: What's happening?

Arthur: Cobb is drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream, which is making his subconscious look for the dreamer (fuuuuuuck I love this movie!!). For me

The projections begin to zoom in on Arthur, giving him harsh looks

Arthur (cont): Quick, give me a kiss

Ariadne obliges

Ariadne: They're still looking at us

Arthur: Yeah, it was worth a shot. We should probably get out of here (LOL)

He walks off, and Ariadne after realizing what he just did, smiles to herself and follows him

We head back to Yusuf, who is still having a tough time. He's forced to make a sharp right, which makes the level of the dream they're on even more unstable

Dom: You feel that? You've actually been trained for this, Mr Fischer. Pay attention to the strangeness of the weather...the shift in gravity. None of this is real. You're in a dream

Everyone in the bar once again pause their conversations and zoom in on Dom and Fischer

Dom (cont): Now, the easiest way for you to test yourself is to try and remember how you arrived at this hotel. Can you do that?

Fischer: Yeah, I, I...

Dom: Now, breathe, breathe. Remember your training. Accept that you're in a dream, and I'm here to protect you. Go on

Fischer: Mm hmm. You're not real?

Dom: No, no

The whole restaurant is still staring at them up to this point, but when Dom says 'no', they go back to their conversations

Dom (cont): I'm a projection of your subconscious. I was sent here to protect you in the event that extractors tried to pull you into a dream. And I believe that's what's going on right now, Mr Fischer

Fischer: (breathing deeply) Yeah. Okay. Okay. Can you get me out of here?

Dom: Right away. Follow me

They exit the bar and quickly begin walking the main lobby of the hotel, with Dom holding Fischer by the elbow. Dom sees his kids again right before they run off, but shakes it off and continues to stay focused on pretending to help Fischer. They run up a set of stairs and are chased by two projections each wearing a suit

Upstairs, Dom and Fischer begin running faster with Dom pushing Fischer in the back as they run. They duck into a restroom. Dom pushes Fischer to the back of the restroom and ducks off to the side

Fischer: Hold on a second!

The two projections walk in right after that. Fischer slowly raises his hands as they approach him. Dom waits off to the side until the second projection pulls out a gun and points it at Fischer. Dom jumps in and grabs the guy's hand, and uses the gun to shoot the first projection while he and the second projection are still holding on to the gun. Then he takes the gun, drops the second projection and shoots him

Fischer: Jesus Christ! What are you doing?!

Dom: These men were sent here to abduct you, all right? If you want my help, you have to remain calm

He begins searching the pockets of the projections

Dom (cont): I need you to work with me, Mr Fischer

He hands Fischer the gun from off one of the projections. Fischer takes the gun as Dom continues to search the bodies. Immediately after Fischer takes the gun, he points it to his own head

Once Dom sees him point the gun to his own head, he freezes

Fischer: If this is a dream, I should just kill myself to wake up, right?

AW SHIT...NOT GOOD! We know that from when Eames was going to try to put Saito out of his misery, that they're too sedated to wake up that way. Fischer doesn't know it, but he's on the same sedation they're on. But several times, Dom has reminded him to remember his training. But with the way he was trained, Fischer - like Eames - is right for thinking that to kill himself would wake him up. But in this scenario, he's instead headed straight to limbo. Dom has to call another audible

Dom: I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr Fischer. I believe they have you sedated (he believes, lol), and if you pull that trigger...you may not wake up. You may go into a further dream state. Now, you know what I'm talking about. You remember the training. Remember what I said to you. (ohh, that is implying that Dom told him about limbo in his training) Give me the gun

Fischer exhales sharply and takes the gun away from his head and hands it to Dom

This was an example of what I said earlier when I said Leo's performance in this film had to be more subdued, nuanced. Dom knows what will happen if Fischer shoots himself and Leo played it to perfection. That nervousness in his voice that he was trying to hide. You got the impression that his stomach was really in knots, and this was all a rouse, but with very serious consequences if this man actually pulls that trigger. Leo played it with an intensity that he was trying hard to disguise to not make Fischer panic. It was brilliant, I think, but it may not have been so obvious to the rest of the world. Especially if a lot of people didn't understand the movie in the first place. How the fuck could you recognize a great performance in a movie you don't understand?

Next, we return to the two Ar's; Ariadne and Arthur. They have now made their way on to what I assume is the fourth floor of the hotel. They walk to room 491 (three of the numbers from the first six numbers to come into Fischer's head), and Arthur uses the key card to enter the room with Ariadne behind him

Arthur: This room should be directly below 528?

Ariadne: Yeah

Arthur enters a combination into the safe, it opens, and he pulls out a black bag. He sits the bag on the bed and first pulls out two explosives and places them on the bed, as Ariadne looks on like she wants to fuck the shit outta Arthur on that same bed

Meanwhile, we go back to Dom and Fischer still in the restroom

Dom: Think, Mr Fischer, think. What do you remember from before this dream?

Fischer: Uh, there was, um...there was a lot of gunfire. There was...rain. Uncle Peter (says it more like he came to a realization). Oh, my good, we've been kidnapped.

Dom: Where were they holding you?

Fischer: Uh...they had us in the back of a van

Dom: That explains the gravity shifts (all the rumbling they've felt). You're in the back of a van right now. Keep going

Fischer: It had something to do with, um...something to do with a...a safe? God, why is it so hard to remember?

Dom: It's like trying to remember a dream after you've woken up. Listen, it takes years of practice. You and Browning have been pulled into this dream (Robert called him "Uncle Peter", so would Mr Charles have known about Peter Browning to know his last name?) because they're trying to steal something from your mind. I need you to focus and try to remember what that is. What is it, Mr Fischer? Think!

Fischer: Oh, a c-combination. They demanded the first numbers to pop into my head

As he said that, the camera cuts to a closeup of Dom focusing and thinking. He already knows everything Fischer just told him, but he's playing it so well. Seriously, I don't think people really saw Leo's brilliance with this role, but I sure in the fuck did!! If I'm in Fischer's position, I believe I would have trusted Dom like Fischer did

Dom: They're trying to extract a number from your subconscious. It can represent anything. We're in a hotel right now. (He begins adamantly digging through his pockets) We should try hotel rooms. (He pulls out his cell phone and looks down at it) What was the number, Mr Fischer? Try and remember for me. This is very important

Fischer (eyes closed, trying hard to remember): Five. Five, two...it was something...it was a long number

Dom: Well (ah yes, it had been a while guys), that's good enough. We can start there. (into the cell phone) Fifth floor

The camera cuts to Arthur still in the hotel room with Ariadne. Arthur has his cell phone up to his ear. It's revealed that's who Dom was talking to

Arthur: Yep (to Dom on the phone; Dom saying fifth floor told Arthur that's where he and Fischer were headed)

We then stay with Arthur and Ariadne and get some very important information for the next scene

Inception - Fischer Holding Gun to His Head

Ariadne: So do you use a timer?

Arthur (while placing one of the explosives on the ceiling): No, I have to judge it for myself. While (surprised he ain't say whilst) you're all asleep in 528, I wait for Yusuf's kick

Ariadne: Well, how will you know?

Arthur: His music warns me (way to sleep through the creation of the plan, Ariadne). And then when the van hits the barrier of the bridge, that should be unmistakable (he steps on a desk to place the other explosive on the ceiling). So we get a nice, synchronized kick. If it's (the kick) too soon, we won't get pulled out. But if it's too late, I won't be able to drop us

Ariadne: Well (this has got to be illegal at this point), why not?

Arthur: 'Cause the van will be in free fall. Can't drop you without gravity

Ariadne: Right

Aight, so before we continue let's recap this last part because this is important. All of you math majors out there may have realized that we're only on the second level of the dream, and we need to go to three

To get to the third level, they'll all be asleep in room 528, directly above the room they're in now, 491. Dom and Fischer are on their way to the "fifth floor" (room 528 to go to sleep to go down to the third level). Arthur will be overseeing everything on this level, as Yusuf is overseeing things on the first level from the van

Ok, so remember the kick is designed to jolt them out of their sleep. That's what Arthur was referring to when he said, but if it's too late, I won't be able to drop us. For the kick to work from the hotel, all of their bodies including Arthur's, have to be dropped to create that jolt to wake them up

First Ariadne asks if he uses a timer to drop them. He said no, he does it by his own judgment. While they're asleep in 528, he waits for Yusuf's kick. He knows when the kick will be from when he starts hearing Yusuf's music cue, that Arthur suggested that apparently Ariadne was daydreaming through

But also remember the kick will be from the van. The kick will be when the van drives off a bridge into the water. The time that it's airborne counts for the time of the kick. So, on level one in the van Yusuf is driving, their bodies will be falling. What Arthur basically explained was how he had to time it to perfection, because he has to make their bodies in level two at the hotel fall to activate the kick, while they're still without gravity on level one while the van is falling

Get it? If not, think of it like this. Remember earlier during Saito's audition, when Dom got the kick by being dunked in the bathtub in level one of the dream in Saito's fake apartment? Arthur's plight was that he had to figure out how to dunk Dom in the bathtub in that scenario, but it would have been difficult to dunk him into the tub since his body would be floating, because in the real-world where he was dreaming, he was in a car that was falling so Dom's body temporarily has no gravity. It's tough for Arthur to drop the bodies for the kick while they're simultaneously floating from the fall on level one

Make sense?

Next up, Dom and Fischer exit the elevator on the fifth floor. After taking a few steps, Fischer spots Ariadne and Arthur walking toward them and freezes

Dom: They're with me. Go on

Dom walks down the hallway behind Fischer like he's a cop protecting a material witness. Fischer is checking all of the room numbers to see which number sounds familiar that he gave shakeup Dom and Arthur. He stops at room 528 and signals to Dom that's the one

Dom hilariously (though probably only to me) goes to listen to the door to see if he can hear anyone he knows damn well ain't there. It's all to put on a show for Fischer. Dom then gives a look to Arthur who gets in on the rouse. He rushes over to the door where Dom is standing and draws his gun. Simultaneously, Dom draws his gun and steps back from the door. Suddenly, they turn into Starsky and Hutch infiltrating a crack house lmao. Dom even kicked the door open and everything. But again, I must stress, if I'm in Fischer's position I believe it all too. The shit was convincing. The audience knows it's bullshit, but Fischer doesn't and he's the one they need to believe it

Dom and Arthur burst into the room like two cops having each other's back, pointing their gun everywhere in the room they walk. Fischer and Ariadne follow. While in the bathroom pointing his gun at nothing, Arthur "finds" that same damn silver briefcase that reminds me of that little black box on a plane. That damn thing takes a licking and keeps on ticking

Arthur (holding the briefcase up): Mr Charles

Dom: Do you know what that is, Mr Fischer?

Fischer: Yeah, I-I think so. Yeah

Dom: They were trying to put you under

Fischer: I'm already under

Dom: Under again

Fischer: What do you mean, a dream within a dream?

We cut to Saito walking in the hotel lobby. He spots Browning

Saito: Hey. I see you've changed (thinking it was Eames masquerading as Browning)

Browning: I'm sorry?

Eames turns the corner and sees the exchange. He signals Saito to cut the conversation. He wasn't impersonating Browning at that point. He was just tailing him

Saito: Oh, I'm sorry. I mistook you for a friend (chuckles nervously)

Browning: Well (Et Tu Browning), good-looking fellow, I'm sure

Eames walks up and gets to Saito almost exactly as soon as Browning leaves

Eames: No, no, no, no. That's Fischer's projection of Browning. Let's follow him and see how he behaves (um, did I mention I fucking love this mov--)

Saito: Why?

Eames: Because how he acts will tell us if Fischer is starting to suspect his motives the way we want him to

(insert heart eyes emoji right here)

We then head back to 528

Arthur: Shh!

They hear something in the hall. Dom draws his gun and points it at the door. Arthur walks over to greet the person walking in with a gun. The door opens and it's...

Fischer's projection of his Uncle Peter, who was just talking to Saito downstairs. Now, this is actually interesting, because we know that Eames isn't impersonating him here. So how did he know about 528 and have a key?

He walks into the room with his head down, and Arthur Lee disarms his key card and drops him to his knee, while holding his gun on him

Fischer: Uncle Peter?

Ohh shit. So, Fischer wasn't expecting him either. Seriously, how did he know about 528?

Dom snatches the key card from Projection Uncle Peter

Dom (to Fischer): You said you were kidnapped together?

Fischer: Well, not exactly. They -- They already had him. They were torturing him

Dom: And you saw them torture him?

Fischer, breathing heavily, ever so slightly shakes his head. Then he takes a long look at his uncle, figuring some shit out

Fischer (to Browning): The kidnappers are working for you?

Browning: Oh Robert

Fischer: You're trying to get that safe open? To get the alternate will?

Browning: Fischer Morrow has been my entire life. I can't let you destroy it

INTERESTING!!!! So, Browning as it turns out wants to protect the Fischer legacy. Buuuuuut, we can't forget that this is not the actual Browning. This is Fischer's projection of Browning. Here's where the film ever so slightly tips its hand and rewards us for paying attention. And we're also still only on the second level of the dream with one more to go. Here is where the team has begun to plant the idea for Fischer to want to break up his father's empire. But not right now. That's why I say it was very slight. At this point, Fischer is still on board with keeping his father's empire intact, as evidenced by what he said next. But the seed has most definitely been planted

Fischer: I'm not gonna throw away my inheritance! Why would I?!

Browning: I couldn't let you rise to your father's last taunt

Fischer: What taunt?

Browning: The will, Robert. That will? That's his last insult. A challenge for you to build something for yourself by telling you you're not worthy of his accomplishments

Fischer walks to the other side of the room to reset. Then walks back to Browning

Fischer: What, but that -- that he was, um, disappointed? Hmm?

Browning: I'm sorry. But...he's wrong. You can build a better company than he ever did

So now Browning is gaslighting him in order to make him think. So to me (and this is admittedly argumentative), this Browning is only pretending to want him to keep his father's empire

Dom: Mr Fischer? He's lying

Fischer: How do you know?

Dom: Trust me, it's what I do. He's hiding something, and we need to find out what that is

Eames enters the room followed by Saito

Dom (cont): I need you to do the same thing to him that he was going to do to you

The guys begin to prep Browning to go to sleep

Dom (cont): We'll enter his subconscious and find out what he doesn't want you to know

Fischer (looking determined): All right

Fan-fucking-tastic. Dom is so good and so far into Fischer's mind, that Robert didn't even notice Dom never provided him with how he knew Browning was lying, or what he said that made him suspicious. He provided absolutely no fucking information other than to say, "trust me, it's what I do". But that makes sense, considering that everyone has been super convincing. I mean, I knew the truth and I was convinced that maybe I got it wrong!!

Dom leads Fischer over to the bed and has him sit while he preps him for sleep. He and Browning get put to sleep in seconds

Dom: He's out

Ariadne: Wait. Whose subconscious are we going into exactly?

Dom: We're going into Fischer's, but I told him it was Browning's so he'd come be a part of our team (Ha, fucking brilliant)

Arthur: He's gonna help us break into his own subconscious

Dom: That's right

Eames (getting prepped to sleep on the floor by Arthur): Secuity's gonna run you down hard

Arthur: And I will lead them on a merry chase

Eames: Just be back before the kick

Arthur: Go to sleep, Mr Eames

Aww they do love each other

Dom grabs a spot beside the bed on the floor and gets ready to go to sleep. He looks out the open window and the curtains are blowing like they were in the hotel suite the day Mal died. He pauses

Arthur (to Dom): You good? Hey, you ready?

Dom snaps out of it

Dom: Yes, yes. I'm -- Im fine. I'm -- I'm ready

He continues to stare out the window for a second, and it changes to a bright white flash. Then we're transported...

Finally, The Dream - Level 3 of 3

The setting changes to a snowy backdrop, with our team wearing all white to easily identify them. We open with a closeup of Dom looking through the scope of a weapon designed for long distance sniping. Through the scope, he's looking at compounds of an unknown assailant, equipped with guards patrolling the outside. The guards are wearing white clothes as well, but they have black headgear and boots to separate them from our crew

Ariadne: Cobb? Cobb. What's down there?

Dom: Hopefully, the truth we want Fischer to learn

Ariadne: I mean, what's down there for you?

He puts the scope down and looks at her but doesn't say anything

Meanwhile, we go back to Arthur on level 2. He's standing in the middle of the hotel room where the team sleeps around him. He looks around, feels a massive shaking and looks up

We jump back to level 1 and Yusuf in the van. The shaking Arthur felt was something hitting the van. Now Yusuf is being chased by a motorcycle with two people on it, and the one in the back has a shotgun. The motorcycle pulls up to the left side of the van and the back person begins firing at it. They shoot out the window to the left of Yusuf causing it to break into his face, and for him to let out a yell

Then we go back to Arthur, who is dramatically removing the sports coat of his suit. He closes the silver briefcase, as the serum in it has already been distributed. He then exits the room and begins walking down the hall. As he approaches the end of the hall, there's an elevator there that begins to open, revealing another suited projection. Arthur tries to lower his head and go on about his business, but of course the projection follows him

Then back to Yusuf still taking gunfire to the van as he speeds away. The motorcycle pulls right up to Yusuf's window, and the gunperson points the shotgun at Yusuf with that window already been shot out. Yusuf yells and frantically grabs the shotgun, pulling it toward him and with that, pulling the gunperson nearly in the van, with their helmeted head clearing the window

Then Yusuf turns the wheel to the right, separating him from the motorcycle. This caused the gunperson to fall to the ground, rolling several times. The motorcycle and van continue on without them. Yusuf then takes his whole head and sticks it out the window, turning it back to where he just came from looking to see what happened with the gunperson and keeps driving

Arthur has walked about halfway down the hallway now, with the projection still on his ass. This starts the beginning of the scene I mentioned earlier, one of my all-time favorite scenes in cinematic history. Arthur puts a little pep in his step, then ducks over behind an extended wall and draws his gun. The projection walks over to where he is and immediately attacks with what looks like trained martial arts

While Arthur is fighting this projection, another Terry Crews looking projection muhfucka joins the party at the end of the hall. He pulls his gun and starts firing at Arthur

Then we jump back to Yusuf. The driver of the same motorcycle was apparently armed too and begins firing at Yusuf speeding his way down the street. We see another projection load up into a car and presumably start speeding toward Yusuf. Meanwhile, the motorcycle driver bombards Yusuf's van with gun shots. The projection that we saw load up into the car then starts speeding straight for Yusuf

Showing that brilliance the whole team is known for, Yusuf slams on the brakes. This causes the car that was speeding toward Yusuf with the intention of ramming him from the side to run over the motorcyclist instead

Then we jump back to Arthur's fight, without a chance to catch our breath. Arthur's fight has taken a turn with all of these maneuvers Yusuf is doing; slamming on the brakes, hard turns, all of this is causing Arthur (and for reasons I don't fully understand since they're not in the van too, the projections) to toss and turn around the hallway accordingly

Terry Crews struggles to hold on to the wall as the hallway tips and turns according to Yusuf's necessary unsafe driving. Arthur successfully tosses the martial artists down the hallway as it's turning from the van. But with the way it was positioned, it was more like a free fall down the hall for the projection, who lands on his back on the elevator. Hard

Ironically, we finally make it to level 3 and the first few minutes are spent on level 1 and 2 lol. I wonder if the Nolan bros are fucking with us. WELL, probably

Arthur tries to climb up onto the wall as the hallway continues to spin. Terry Crews still struggles to make his way down the hallway, but his gun slides back to him as Arthur successfully climbs and begins running down the hall again

Now Yusuf is being side swiped into the center divider by a Benz. This makes Yusuf begin to scream as the van gets run off the road and begins falling down a small hill by flipping over several times. As the van is spinning, so begins the walls of the hotel hallway where Arthur is still fighting. The hallway fight scene defies gravity because of what's going on one level above. So fucking cool!!! Ok ok, that's the nerd in me. Apologies

Arthur's fight with Terry Crews continues all up and down the walls and even the fucking ceiling of the hallway. Their fight moves into one of the rooms while the whole world on level 2 continues spinning. Arthur and Terry Crews have to be more like Spidermen in their fight at this part

The van continues flipping in slow motion as we cut to and from Arthur's fight. All the sleeping bodies in the van have on their seatbelt, but with it flipping all over the place, their bodies are experiencing weightlessness in the van. Finally, as the van completes its final flip and returns upright, the gun that Arthur and TC were trying to get that kept moving all over the place like they were, slides its way into Arthur's hands, allowing him to shoot TC as he lunged at him

Whew! Let's catch our fucking breath for a second

After shooting TC, Arthur checks the gun and realizes it's out of ammo and tosses it on the floor. Then we cut back to Yusuf, who's still shaken up after all the shit he just went through. Then when he realized he's okay, he laughs to himself like any of us would do once we realize we survived some crazy shit. Hilariously (and also like we'd all do), he instinctively turned to the sleeping bodies in the back of the van and asked if they saw that lol. Then he had a look of, "oh yeah, that was just dumb" before continuing to drive on lmao

Arthur quickly exits the room he shot TC in and hurries up the hall to the stairs outside of the Fire Door

Then we randomly cut back to the gang in the snow on level 3. Oh shit, I forgot all about them. Fucking random. The crew now are all wearing skis and convene in the middle of the snow

Dom: Eames, this is your dream. I need you to draw the security away from the complex. You understand?

Eames: Who guides Fischer in?

Dom: Not me. If I know the route, everything could be compromised (you see how he works around his issues, Ariadne? He knows he's fallible to Mal, so he doesn't get involved in parts of the job that he doesn't have to)

Ariadne: I-I designed the place

Dom: No, you're with me

Saito: I could do it (remember, Dom said the lower they got the pain would be less intense. Now they're two levels below where he got shot)

Dom: All right. (to Eames) You brief him on the route into the complex

Eames nods

Dom (cont): Fischer, you'll be going with him

Fischer: All right. What about you? (to Dom, while Saito coughs up blood into the snow in the background. The pain is less intense, but he's still shot)

Dom: You keep this live (hands him a walkie talkie). I'll be listening in the whole time. The windows on that upper floor are big enough for me to cover you from that South Tower, you see it?

Fischer: Yeah. You're not coming in?

Dom: In order to find out the truth about your father, you're gonna need to break into Browning's mind on your own

Fischer takes a deep breath while slightly nodding

Eames: Come on Fischer

The gang goes their separate ways

Meanwhile, we cut back to Yusuf on level 1, racing the busted ass white van up a bridge with an alarm buzzing. Yusuf glances at his watch. Then another security projection comes up behind him with its vehicle already busted up in the front, indicating this is someone that Yusuf already lost once who has found him again

Yusuf notices him and speeds up a little. Then these spikes raise up out the ground as Yusuf runs over them, causing the back two tires of the car chasing him to FLY THE FUCK OFF!

Yusuf slams on his brakes as we see the bridge is lifting a few feet in front of him. This is where he will initiate the kick. Or so I thought

Then we return to level 3. Eames fires a flare gun near the complex to draw the guards away, just as Dom instructed him to do. Security spots the flare, load up and all begin to rush toward the area it came from. SOUND THE ALARM! one of em says twice before they're off

Back to Yusuf, the projection in the car with the fucked up two back tires gets out of the car and starts shooting at Yusuf. Yusuf fires back. The projection begins to walk closer while continuing to fire. Yusuf stops firing and gets up and runs toward the back of the van. As he starts running, he says something I don't understand

Yusuf: Sod it!

I don't know what that means. He runs up to Arthur's sleeping body and places headphones on his ears (Remember, Dom said that on the second level in the hotel, they're in Arthur's dream. So, Yusuf only needed to put the headphones on the dreamer, but since they're sharing the dream with Yusuf's compound, they can all hear the music). Yusuf then goes to check Saito and notices the shot is worse and the amount of blood has increased. He looks in horror while the projection continues to fire at the van. He then rushes back to the front seat

Yusuf: I hope you're ready

He presses a button on a music player and the same song they rehearsed with begins playing

We cut to Arthur still running down the stairs of the hotel. He stops running and looks around because he thinks he hears something. It's Yusuf's music

Arthur: No, it's too soon

We head back to level 3, and these muthafuckas Saito and Fischer are matter-of-factly climbing a fucking mountain! Dom hears music faintly playing. So does Eames

Eames: Cobb, do you hear that? I first noticed it 20 minutes ago. I thought it was the wind up here

Dom: Yeah, I hear it. It's music

Eames: So, what do we do?

Dom: We move fast (oh, he's good)

Eames notices a part of the security army passing him. Then one of them seems to spot him and the truck backs up with a dude standing behind the gun attached to the truck

Dom (cont): Yusuf is 10 seconds from the jump (jumping the van off the bridge initiating the kick)

Cut to Yusuf speeding somewhere again. I thought he was about to do the kick at the spot he stopped but I guess not. This part always confuses me when I watch it even today. I've got nothing. I can't figure out why he's now speeding down the street again after he was already on the bridge dealing with a dude shooting at him, when he had to start playing the music. We're never told what happens from there or how he got away from that shooter

Back to level 3

Dom (cont): Which gives Arthur three minutes

Cut to level 2, Arthur going into one of the doors leading him into another hallway of the hotel. But this one has two security projections standing a few feet from the door

Arthur: Hey! (then he starts running)

One of the guards: That's him!

One of the guards points his gun in the direction Arthur ran. The other runs up the hall away from the action

Back to level 3

Dom: Which gives us what?

Ariadne: 60 minutes

Dom: Can they (Fischer and Saito climbing the mountain) make that route in under an hour?

Ariadne: They still have to climb down to the middle terrace (aye real quick side note, isn't 'climb down' an oxymoron?)

Dom: Well, then, they need a new route, a more direct route (another audible)

The man behind the gun on the truck begins firing at Eames. Eames starts quickly skiing down a mountain like Tony Hawk on ice. A few of them chase him in a snowmobile and on skis, while the initial truck with the guy firing from it follows

Ariadne (to Dom): It's designed as a labyrinth

Dom: There must be access routes that cut through the maze, right? (turns to his walkie talkie) Eames?

Eames is still speeding down the mountain trying to avoid his chasers that have now added firing a gun at him to the threat. Eames turns around (apparently an expert professional skier) while quickly speeding down the hill and fires his weapon back at one of the skiers who just fired at him. Eames shots hit and we see his victim go down in a snow wave, while his fellow skier cohorts zoom past him chasing Eames

Dom (after having waited for Eames and realized he's not going to answer, he turns back to Ariadne): Did Eames add anything?

Ariadne: I don't think I should tell you. If Mal finds out, then--

Dom: We don't have time for this! Did he add anything?

Ariadne: He added an air-duct system that can cut through the maze

Dom: Good. Explain it to them

We cut to Saito, mountain climbing while shot n shit

Ariadne (on the walkie talkie): Saito?

Saito: Go ahead

Cut back to Eames quickly fleeing in the snow with his chasers on his ass, and even some now firing at him. Eames hilariously perfectly throws a rope around a tree while swoopin' 'bout a shmoove 42 mph. He strategically skis around the trees to create a rope barrier that the snowmobile and at least one of the projections on skis runs right into, causing their involvement in the chase to come to a sudden stop

Then back to Yusuf on level uno. He again parks the van on a bridge while a projection continues to fire at him from a distance

Then back to Arthur on level two (you're fucking exhausted, aren't you? The sign of a great fucking movie right there). He bursts through a door and back into the stairwell, this time descending (or climbing down, right Ariadne?). The projection on his ass burst through the door seconds after Arthur and begins firing down toward him

Ok, so let's pause here for a second. One, to catch our breath, and two, to explain what happens next. To do so requires us to go back in the movie for a second

After Ariadne throws her initial temper tantrum and Dom correctly predicts she'll be back, the next scene when she does come back, we see Arthur show her some shit in a dream. One of the first things she learns is about the Penrose(?) (I don't remember if that's the word he used and I don't feel like rewinding this shit to look it up) loop, showing a practical example with a staircase, as the architect can literally make the stairs move to make them loop

Arthur uses this very maneuver in his fight in the stairway. The projection began firing down the stairs where Arthur was running. All Arthur did was use the penloop interface (nigga I don't know), bringing the stairs to the same level as the projection. Now he's on the same level as the dude and runs up behind him. And as if fate wanted it to happen this way (or maybe it was intentional with the Nolan bros, who the fuck knows), I happen to pause the movie in my viewing to write this at the exact right spot for the perfect visual to what Arthur did

Once Arthur catches up to him, the stairs begin to drop. Now suddenly, Arthur is holding him by the neck several stories up

Arthur: Paradox

Then...

Who knew ole stick up the ass Arthur was a goddamn gangsta? This is the movie that just keeps the fuck on giving

After disposing of the projection, we quickly see Arthur begin to run upstairs before cutting back to Yusuf. Dude is still firing at him, as apparently a really fun thing about shared dreaming is unlimited ammo. Yusuf begins backing the van up and as he comes within eyesight of his shooter, smiles and flips him the middle finger (lmao, oh yeah that's right, I remember why I like his weird ass now)

Back to Arthur, who is now doing the whole white man sprint down the hall thing I thought was only reserved for Tom Cruise

When Yusuf started backing up before flipping dude off, he was backing up to back off the bridge backward. I'm not sure the fact that it was backward was any significance. I'm thinking it wasn't. I mean, they had to pick one of em, right? Yusuf backs off the bridge breaking the barrier, careening toward the water

As the van breaks the barrier, the gravity shift begins, catapulting white man running Arthur a couple of feet off the floor, and several feet down the hall

On level three in the snow, the gravity shift manifested in a different way. By way of a massive avalanche. Several of the guys are now climbing a different mountain (via the more direct route Ariadne told to Saito) and, yeah well ...they, uh, notice the avalanche

Eames, Fischer and Saito are climbing, and because our team is all dressed alike and blending in with the snow, I can't tell for sure who it is - I think it's Eames - but one of them cuts the rope they're on. They begin falling only merely maybe hundreds of feet below the avalanche, if that much. They hit the snow and begin tumbling down the little hill, with the avalanche still on their asses. Finally, they're able to tumble their way off to the side, out of the path of the avalanche as it passes them by

Ariadne (to Dom, away from the avalanche madness): What was that?

Dom: The kick

Eames (on the walkie talkie): Cobb! Cobb, did we miss it?

Dom: Yeah, we missed it

Fischer (to Saito as they both rise to their feet from the avalanche): Man. Couldn't someone have dreamt of a goddamn beach?!

Lmao, Fischer represents all of us if we were in that moment. Of course it was funny, as I'm sure it was meant to be. But it's also technically non-sensical when you think about it. Well - since that's y'alls favorite word - if you were on a beach Fischer, when the van that you were told by "Mr Charles" you're in the back of broke the barrier, all that avalanche snow would have been replaced with water, chief. And call me cray cray but IIIII don't think you'll be able to just roll the fuck off to the side to get away from that

Eames (to Dom in the walkie talkie): What the hell do we do now?

AUDIBLE!!!!!

Dom: We finish the job before the next kick

Eames: What next kick?

Dom: When the van hits the water

Ahh, the Nolan's threw in a lifeline here. Up to this point, it's been preached at length the importance of timing the kick perfectly. Even Arthur began panicking when he heard the music in the stairwell, stating it's too soon. No one but apparently Dom knew about the second kick. But that does make sense, doesn't it? The first kick is the fall that is meant to jolt you out of your sleep. But when the van hits the water and forms that crash, that's another thing that can jolt them out of their sleep. So, this buys the team some more time

With the van now airborne, Arthur is forced to float through the hotel hallway now as if he was on the I.S.S. and floats his ass back to 528. Once inside the room, we're all treated to an unforgettable sight. All of the sleeping bodies, including Browning who is not on the van with them, are floating. Ok, so I think I get it. Because projections are in the mind of one of the dreamers, their projections experience everything they experience because they are in the mind of the person on the van

The wires they are all connected to are also floating, as are some of the furniture and items in the room. Ariadne is floating face down, while someone near the bathroom is floating face up. It's so fucking cool! Have I mentioned I lo--

Arthur surveys the room and thinks aloud

Arthur: How do I drop you without gravity?

So, as he explained to Ariadne who slept through the creation of the plan, he needs to time the kick perfectly to drop the sleeping bodies on the hotel level (level 2). And I explained how he explained (yeah, this movie is complex, so it requires a lotta 'splainin, deal with it lol) how it would be difficult when he knew the bodies would be floating while the van is falling, and making floating bodies drop is a mathematical fucking headache. His rhetorical question was just reemphasizing that, except now it's not a hypothetical. The kick has already passed, and he has to figure this shit out about five minutes ago

When Dom revealed the second kick, I said it bought the team more time. How much time?

Dom: Arthur has a couple of minutes, and we have about 20

Ariadne nods in agreement

Saito and Fischer make it closer to Fischer's destination as Saito coughs in the background. Saito spots an entrance through a small tunnel, but it has bars on it. Saito motions for Fischer to come closer while continuing to cough. Fisher walks over and turns around. Saito pulls an explosive out of the backpack on Fischer. They duck off to the side after he places the explosives and hits the detonator, blowing the bars off, allowing both Saito and Fischer to crawl through

Once inside, Saito continues violently coughing, causing Fischer to ask the dumbest question of this movie of genius'

Fischer: You okay?

Saito rightfully points him to go where the fuck he needs to go and don't worry about him, asking dumb ass questions

We then head back to Eames hiding in the snow with gunfire landing around him

Projection (to his team): Run! Turn Around! Move to Base

Eames looks on, surprised of course at them all now retreating

Eames (to Dom, into the walkie talkie): There's something wrong. They're heading your way like they know something

Dom quickly surveys his surroundings

Dom: Just -- Just buy us more time, all right? Come on

Eames: On my way

Eames runs over and knocks one of the projections on skis in the face with an object I couldn't identify. Then he holds on to the back of the snowmobile, climbs up on it and knocks its driver off into the snow, now taking over control of it. On the snowmobile, Eames continues racing in the direction it was already heading (retreating)

Dom and Ariadne are now running toward the building they were just scoping from a distance a few minutes ago. Dom shoots a projection and Ariadne follows him, both sprinting toward the building

Cut back to levitating ass Arthur, still floating his ass through the hallways tryna figure out how to drop the peeps without gravity. As he floats through the hall, he moves furniture out of his way that impedes his progress to the other end of the hall. When he moves a chair out the way, it reveals a suited projection was hiding behind it and he lifts his gun to shoot at Arthur

Arthur takes the same chair he just moved to reveal the dude and smashes it into the dude's hand just before he takes the shot. Then they begin fighting while floating in the air. Yeah man, seriously. This is one of only a handful of films I can think of that I not only legit never get tired of watching (even watching it repeatedly and pausing and writing this for weeks at a time still never got old to me), but it has to be the movie I've watched most in my life and I'm STILL noticing shit I never did before. AND the shit that I loved about it has continued to hold up 15 years and counting later. As I've said several times, these Arthur in the hallway fight scenes are among my favorite scenes in cinematic history. It was also spectacular to see on the big screen. I hope Inception gets a theatrical rerelease, even if temporarily. If that happens, the movie theater might as well just give me my own fucking parking spot

To continue to advance the story I won't provide a play by play of Arthur's fight. You need to see that shit for yourself anyway. But here's the spoiler, Arthur doesn't die

We cut to a quick shot of Saito and Fischer climbing stairs what looks like underground

Then to Eames speeding on the snowmobile. Eames has to shoot him a muthafucka too. When he does though, he speeds off

Cut to a quick shot of the van falling off the bridge in slow motion, just barely clearing the bridge with its front tire. This is of course not arbitrary. We know the next kick is when the van hits the water. Since the van is still up near the bridge, this means the team still has time. Nolan cuts to this shot periodically to let us know how much time they have left

Back to Arthur who has made his way back down to 491. He grabs one of the explosives he placed on the ceiling earlier when he was explaining his job to Ariadne, and a floating backpack

Ok, so next up we see Saito and Fischer on the top level of the compound, surrounded by projections that Saito's shot ass is shooting. It's when I watch this scene that it dawned on me recently why I light up at this scene

I'ma take y'all back to around the turn of the century, and a new video game system I had at the time called Playstation 2. Now, I'm not a big fan of video game consoles after like the Super Nintendo, except for (surprise, surprise) the Nintendo consoles that have been released since (Wii, Switch, etc, although the one Nintendo product I've never owned is a DS). And I love all things Mario, especially the worldly adventure games. Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch is not only the best Mario game I've played (and they've almost all been hits to me), but it is HANDS DOWN the single best game I have ever played in my life, period, in my personal opinion, which is the only one that matters for MY video game preference. I did like other functions on the other non-Nintendo devices, and that's about the only reason I'd own those non-Nintendo systems. Playstation 3 playing Blu-Ray movies was a very big fucking deal, and Xbox had a movie trivia game equipped with four individual buzzers, and showing actual movie clips and then asking questions about it that my family and I loved, called Scene It

But I rarely played games other than sports games on my PS and Xbox. The graphics were good and all, but my gripe with all non-Nintendo consoles after the Super Nintendo; their controllers have too many fucking buttons!! When I was a kid, I had a regular Nintendo (bitch that shit wasn't even super yet!), and the controller had the four arrows on the left, A, B, Start, and Select. THAT'S IT!!

Now these MFs got A, B, X, Y, AA, BB, XY, YX, ZZ, LL, and up to four, COUNT'EM FOUR little joysticks. Bitch why!!!!! Do you know how many hours of fun I spent with them simple ass controllers? Then I play these new games and the shits not fun to me. I have to think about the right button to use and by then it's too fucking late. Do you know how many times I got killed in action RPG's because somebody pulled a gun out on me, and I pulled out a flashlight? That shit is not fun to me!

But, as with most things in life, there are exceptions. When I had a PS2, there is only one action game that I got addicted to. They didn't use all the buttons on the controller for every level for one, so you know that shit was right up my alley. And I really loved the gameplay, as it was how I prefer my games but outside of the Mario games can never seem to find, easy to control and play but challenging to figure out. If I can't even figure out the controller configuration, you know I can't figure out none of that other shit you have to in video games. To this day, it remains THE ONLY non-Mario game that I have ever finished

It was a game called

Playstation 2 Game - 007: Agent Under Fire

Let me tell you how into this game I was. Not only could I not wait to get home after work to play it (yeah, I became THAT guy), but I even bought one of those nerd books that I didn't even know existed, giving you hints and cheats that I would only use on areas I got stuck on for more than a day or two. It was part shooting, part combat, part exploration with use of a whole buncha gadgets, and everything else you can think of. Some levels you walked the land or the building. In other levels, you'd drive his sports car and have to still pick up things on the way and sometimes shoot at enemies in the car in front of you that are shooting at you. It was just a simple, yet challenging, addictive, fun ass game. The kind of game where you have to collect a device from behind a trash can and use it like two screens and a bunch of enemies later to open up a door. I love shit like that and that's why I have always loved the Mario games. After that hit I excitedly tried all of the 007 games after that, and to the surprise of no one, none of the games after AUF even came close

Anyway, I said all of that to say, one of the final levels of the game (it may have even been THE final) and one of my favorites, was a level that took place in an environment identical to this level 3 scene in the movie. It was snowy and as 007 you had to infiltrate compounds that looked very much like the ones in the movie. This game was circa 2002 or 2003 and Inception came out in 2010. I'm not saying that the Nolan brothers...let me stop

But that's really a fun level in the game that I remember took me quite some time to pass. I remember when I saw Saito strategically shooting projections while protecting Fischer, it reminded me of all those hours I played that level in the game. In fact, as I was watching the movie I remember thinking, "that's one video game I would love to play right there" (the same thing I thought when I watched the first John Wick). Then I was like, oh shit, I have played that game. That's why I light up whenever I watch it. It made me see if I could find Agent Under Fire now to play it again. But not only is it literally like $50 - $150 on Ebay, but I have a PS4 and the last time I heard, Agent Under Fire wasn't one of the backwards compatible games. I doubt that's changed. So, sadly, Agent Under Fire can only exist in my memory (and y'all know I get hiiiiiiiigh) and whenever I watch this scene in Inception

We head back to Ariadne and Dom, who have just finished climbing stairs and are now in what looks like a tower room. Dom opens a nearby window and begins cocking his sniper weapon we saw him looking through when they first hit the third level

Ariadne: That's the antechamber outside the strong room

Dom: Does the strong room have any windows?

Ariadne: No, I mean, it wouldn't be very strong if it did

(lol I don't care who you are and how I feel about you, I am ALWAYS a fan of smart ass-ness)

Dom: Well, let's hope Fischer likes what he finds in there

One of the guards begins running along a platform in the distance. Dom lifts the gun, looking through the lens, and quickly fires at and drops the guard

Ariadne: Are those projections just a part of his subconscious?

Dom: Yes (as he continues to aim through the scope, he fires and drops another one)

Ariadne: Are you destroying those parts of his mind? (ya know, it's one thing to be a judgmental ass bitch. It's another thing to be a fucking clueless judgmental ass bitch...looking at you oh mother o' mine)

Dom: No, no. They're just projections (lol, seriously, how has this bitch not been paying attention to the movie she's in? Looks like she's been sleeping in parts of this movie she ain't got no business dreaming in)

We then head back to Arthur, who has made his way back up to 528. He begins gathering all of the floating sleeping bodies into one pile. Saito's sleeping body has blood coming out of his mouth

Back to the third level, Fischer is now helping Saito basically crawl his way around now. Saito lays down and Fischer kneels beside him holding a gun

Fischer (into his comm on his jacket): We're here

Dom (still looking through the scope of his gun): You're clear, but hurry. There's an entire army headed your way

Cut to the entire army headed Fischer's way. This was Nolan saying, "I'm the cleverest of the clever of clevers"

Arthur, still floating, pulls some cord out of an outlet and begins using it to wrap the pile of sleeping bodies. He's figured out how's he going to drop everyone without gravity

Fischer climbs up through another duct of some sort

Fischer (into his comm on his jacket and whispering): I'm in

The army headed toward Fischer spots Eames on the snowmobile. Eames runs through the group on the 'mobile, breaking the wires connecting the group to one another. Then Eames throws an explosive into the hands of one of the guys behind the gun on the back of a truck, and hilariously gives him the thumb up as he speeds off

And, well, you know what explosives do

At the hotel, Arthur begins moving the Lasso'd floating pile of sleeping bodies down the hallway as quickly as he can, which is to say not very quickly at all. But they are moving

Fischer opens the railing to the room at the top level he elevated and climbs through. When he climbs out, he arrives to a giant safe

Ok, so remember earlier when Ariadne was talking to Dom about the mazes, she said she was making one of the levels a hospital so Fischer will bring (his projection of) his father? Also, earlier when Dom was showing Ariadne the dream world, he said they create a safe or something similar so that the projections will lock their secrets inside it, and that's when people like him can go into the safe and steal it (Dom's initial skill set is that of an extractor, not an inceptor). This is the safe in his father's office Shakeup Dom and Arthur were pretending to try to enter

Fischer slowly approaches the safe while Dom watches his back through the scope of the rifle. As Fischer continues to slowly approach the safe, we see someone begin to drop from the ceiling behind him

Dom: There's someone else in there

Ariadne (into her comm): Fischer, it's a trap. Get out!

(lol, so again ironically, both of my all-time favorite movies have that exact same line! - Although in the Matrix of course they didn't say Fischer - This shit is getting eerie)

Fischer doesn't hear Ariadne despite his communication with Dom being crystal clear only seconds ago

Dom: Come on. Come on, a little lower

The person finishes lowering into the room. The person is revealed to be Mal. She begins approaching Fischer from behind. Dom pauses

Ariadne: Cobb. No. She -- She is not real

Dom: How do you know that?

(awww shit, now Dom seems to have lost his grip on reality)

Ariadne: She's just a projection

Ya know, the same shit you just explained to her about Fischer's projections, Dom? Fuck is wrong with you bro? Booy pussy is a helluva drug

Ariadne (cont): Fischer. Fischer is real!

Dom considers for a moment as Mal gets closer to Fischer and is holding a gun

Jump to Saito writhing in pain on the floor in the same spot Fischer left him

Then back to Mal behind Fischer

Mal: Hello

Fischer turns around and Mal shoots him

That was what Dom needed to see to finally shoot her. Better late than never, right? And even then he only shot her in the arm

Ariadne (into the comm): Eames! Eames! Get to the antechamber now!

Eames is still racing on the snowmobile. While it's still racing, he does a tuck and roll off the 'mobile and begins running with his weapon in his hand

Arthur and the pile of sleeping bodies continue to float down the hall. They get to the end of the hallway and here is where Arthur is able to set his plan into motion. They get to the elevator and the doors open. That hot new singing group, Arthur and the Floating Bodies, enter the elevator. They say they're a real sleeper group (hey, my daughter and I may not be in each other's lives anymore, but I was still a damn fine dad to that little girl for the first 13 years of her life - no matter what any of that family's lying muhfucking asses say - and I've earned the right to tell dad jokes, thank you very fucking much)

Eames arrives at the antechamber and rushes inside. He finds Saito, nearly unconscious on the floor where Fischer left him. Eames checks Saito for a pulse. He doesn't indicate if he feels one or not, but he continues running indicating he must have. Then again maybe not. I mean, if he didn't feel a pulse what the fuck was he gone do? The show must go on

He gets to a first aid station built into the walls (fortunately again for the team), grabs the kit, and kneels down next to Fischer, now unconscious on the floor from Mal's gunshot

Ariadne and Dom make their way to the same room in time to see Eames doing CPR on Fischer

Eames: What happened?

Ariadne: Mal killed Fischer

Dom walks in slowly and sees Mal laid on the floor

Dom: I couldn't shoot her. Look, there's no use in reviving him (Fischer). His mind's already trapped down there. It's all over

Eames: So that's it, then? We failed?

Dom: We're done. I'm sorry

Eames: Well, it's not me that doesn't get back to my family, is it? (In response to Dom apologizing). It's a shame. I really wanted to know what was gonna happen in there (looking at the safe). I swear we had this one

I thought this was a little odd when I first saw it, and every time I've ever seen it since. Dom seemed like he gave up way too easily for someone so hell bent on getting back to his children at all cost. It's a sad damn day when Ariadne becomes the voice of reason

Dom: Let's set the charges

Ariadne: No, there's still another way

AUDIBLE!!!!!!

The guys don't even pause, clearly not taking her seriously. Fortunately, she doesn't let that deter her

Ariadne (cont): We just have to follow Fischer down there

Eames: Not enough time

Ariadne: No, but there will be enough time down there

Dom looks up at Ariadne. Eames follows

Ariadne (cont): And we will find him. Okay, as soon as Arthur's music kicks in, just use the defibrillator to revive him. We can give him his own kick down below

The guys are fully paying attention now

Ariadne (cont): Look, you get him in there (points toward the safe). As soon as the music ends, you blow up the hospital, and we all ride the kick back up the layers

Eames: Well, it's worth a shot, if Saito can hold the guards off while I set the charges

Dom: Saito will never make it, will he?

Eames scoffs and shakes his head

Ariadne: Cobb, come on. We've gotta try this

Eames: Go for it. But if you are not back before the kick, I am gone with or without you

Dom: She's right. She's right (well that was easy)

Dom rises to his feet and Ariadne begins walking over a few feet. Dom joins her

Ariadne: Can I trust you to do what needs to happen here? I mean, Mal's gonna be down there

Dom: I know where to find her. She'll have Fischer

Ariadne: How do you know? (Don't worry 'bout it bitch! Dammit that was me again, my bad)

Dom: Because...she wants me to come after him. She wants me back down there with her

He lays down on the floor and preps to fall asleep. He and Ariadne quickly fall asleep

Bro....the fuck just happened?!!

I know, I know. I got you

We know at this point that unlike normal circumstances in this world, if any of our team gets K.I.A., they will drop off into limbo instead of waking up. We also know that Mal and Dom spent about 50 years in that same limbo

When Mal shot Fischer and killed him, she sent him to limbo. Saito may also be dead. Because Fischer is now in limbo, Dom says there's no use in trying to revive him because his brain is already fucked up in limbo. It's all over

But Ariadne says, 'nah, hold up bitch'. Let's follow Fischer down into limbo. Eames said there's not enough time (smh, all of the members of our team had at least one wtf moment). Ariadne says there will be enough time down there (we know time works differently on each level, and the lower they go down the slower time moves. So, I'm sorry, but that was a really stupid argument from Eames. He's still my favorite character though. As I said, they each were entitled to one wtf moment)

So, this new audible is causing them to go down to a fourth level of the dream. Now that Ariadne has been brought up to speed about the kicks from her many questions, she's figured out how this works on her own. She uses that newfound logic to suggest this audible, where once they get Fischer in limbo, they can use the defibrillator to give Fischer his own kick to jolt him awake. Doesn't seem too tricky to the point where Dom couldn't figure this out. But maybe he's not thinking clearly since Mal is involved. Actually, obviously he's not thinking clearly since Mal is involved

Eames says it can work if Saito (so he's obviously still alive at this point) can hold off the guards while he sets the charges. Eames is setting the charges to blow up the dream, providing another kick opportunity. But he warns them if they are not back in time, he's gone either way

From there, both Dom and Ariadne go to sleep on level 3 to head down to limbo to get Fischer

Alllllright, now that we're all in one accord, let's continue shall we?

Dom and Ariadne wake up on the beach in limbo. Ariadne notices a shipwreck off the beach to her left as Dom approaches to her right. He helps her up out of the water

Dom: You all right?

She slowly nods while looking around. She notices a crumbling physical structure just off the beach

Ariadne: This is your world?

Dom: It was. This is where she'll be. Come on

It's revealed the rest of the beach is lined up with those giant, crumbling structures

We cut back to the van still falling, but it looks like it's about halfway to the water now

Back on the level 2 hotel elevator, Arthur punches the ceiling opening the hatches. He quickly floats up and out the elevator and begins exploring

Meanwhile, the security projections make their way to and surround the room Eames, Saito and Fischer's body are in. Eames drags Saito across the floor and picks him up as Saito groans. The projections get in place, climbing on the outside of the building for better position

They begin firing at Saito and Eames

Eames: Saito

Saito is clearly out of it

Eames (lightly slapping his face): Saito. (He pulls a handgun out of his pocket and hands it to Saito) I need you -- I need you to take care of Fischer (his body still lying there after Mal shot him) while I go set some charges, okay?

Eames also hands Saito a grenade, then runs over to Fischer's body. He lifts his shirt and prepares him to get defibrillated. Then he takes a backpack and a gun and begins running down some stairs

Back to limbo with Ariadne and Dom. Mal and Dom built some odd shit while they were down there, and he and Ariadne pass a lot of it. Their dream city looks like it's abandoned in ruins

Ariadne: You built all this? This is incredible

(I mean, that's one way to describe it)

Dom: We built for years. Then we started in on the memories

They continue to walk down these strange ass limbo streets. Then Dom has another vision of his kids. This time though, he begins walking toward them as if he's using them for directions to find Mal

Dom: This way

Arthur places an explosive on the emergency brake of the elevator and sets the charger. Then, using the elevator shafts, he climbs up a little out of the way of the explosive's impact and then hits the detonator causing an explosion

Dom and Ariadne continue to make their way down the limbo streets and pass the DWP building mentioned a couple of times here. Dom sees his kids again as they run off

Dom: This was our neighborhood. Places from our past. (Points to a building on the left) That was our first apartment. Then we moved to that building right there (to the right of their first apartment). After Mal became pregnant, that became our home (points to a rundown home on the opposite side of the street)

Ariadne: You reconstructed all of this from memory?

Dom: Like I told you, we had lots of time

Ariadne: What is that? (a condemned house on the left)

Dom: That's the house Mal grew up in

Ariadne: Well, will she be in there?

Dom (pauses for a second): No. Come on

This part appears to hint that Mal experienced some sort of abuse. That woman had a pretty rough life

They walk into what I assume is meant to be the interior of the DWP building (of course changed to not look like the interior of the DWP building). The DWP building is clearly a commercial building

Dom: We both wanted to live in a house, but we loved this type of building. In the real world, we'd have to choose, but not here

They enter and head up an elevator

Eames, meanwhile, burst out of some doors and begins attacking projections

Arthur climbs down the elevator shaft. Once he gets to his destination, he places and activates another charger. He climbs a few feet over and places and activates another one. Then a third one

In the elevator with Dom and Ariadne

Ariadne: How are we gonna bring Fischer back?

Dom: We're gonna have to come up with some kind of kick

Alright, so those of you who are astute may have noticed this appears to be redundant conversation, as Ariadne already told him how he they can bring Fischer back before they fell asleep on level 3. But I think that's the point. With that information being come up with on level 3 of the dream, they probably don't remember the previous level's content (although it's probably in their head somewhere like inception)

Ariadne: What?

Dom (as he cocks a handgun): I'm gonna improvise

AUDIBLE!!!!!!

Dom (cont): Listen, there's something you should know about me. About inception

Ok, pay close attention because we're about to get the final piece of Dom's backstory

They get off the elevator and this time, they head down the exact same hallway of Mal and Dom's house they went down after getting off the Driving Miss Daisy elevator in Dom's dream

Dom: An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious (the exact same words he said to Saito at the beginning of the audition dream). And the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define...or destroy you

He raises his handgun as they continue to walk down the hall. They get to the kitchen where Mal is sitting alone at the table

Mal: The smallest idea, such as..."your world is not real". Simple little thought that changes everything. (She's playing with that knife again although there's no tomatoes this time. She abruptly turns toward them although there's no unnecessarily dramatic music this time either). So certain of your world. Of what's real

Dom hands the gun to Ariadne

Mal (cont): Do you think he is? Or do you think he's as lost as I was?

Dom: I know what's real, Mal

Mal: No creeping doubts? Not feeling persecuted, Dom? Chased around the globe by anonymous corporations and police forces? The way the projections persecute the dreamer? Admit it. You don't believe in one reality anymore. So choose. Choose to be here. Choose me

Back to Eames fighting many projections on his own. One of them flips him over a railing in the snow, and jumps off the rail to join him. But after Eames fell he was able to retrieve his gun that the projection threw over the rail and shoot him

Meanwhile Arthur keeps float climbing the stories. He makes his way back to the elevator where the sleeping bodies are bundled. He notices Saito's gunshot wound now getting worse

Then we jump to Saito on level 3, out of it, still holding the gun Eames gave him. He begins coughing again

We cut to the van continuing to fall. Then back to Dom and Mal

Dom: You know what I have to do. I have to get back to our children because you left them. Because you left us

Mal: You're wrong

Dom: I'm not wrong

Mal: You're confused. Our children are here. And you'd like to see their faces again, wouldn't you?

Dom: Yes. But I'm gonna see them up above, Mal

Eames continues fighting and successfully set and activates a charger. Saito lets out a cough and glances over at Fischer's body, probably figuring he's on his way to the same fate

Then cut back to Mal and Dom

Mal: "Up above"? Listen to yourself (lol). These are our children. Watch. James? Phillipa?

The kids start to turn their heads and Dom looks away

Dom: Don't do this, Mal. Please. Those aren't my children

Mal: You keep telling yourself that, but you don't believe it

Dom: No, I know it

Mal: And what if you're wrong? What if I'm what's real? You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe? What do you feel?

Dom: Guilt. I feel guilt, Mal. And no matter what I do, no -- No matter how hopeless I am, no matter how confused, that guilt is always there, reminding me of the truth

Mal: What truth?

Dom: That the idea that caused you to question your reality came from me

OH SHIT! THIS IS BIG! LISTEN CAREFULY

Mal: You planted the idea in my mind?

Ariadne: What is she talking about?

Dom: The reason I knew inception was possible was because I...I did it to her first. I did it to my own wife

Ariadne: Why?

Dom: We were lost in here. I knew we needed to escape, but she wouldn't accept it. (He repeats words he said earlier but now after having revealed much more context to the story). She had locked something away, something deep inside. That truth that she had once known but chose to forget (we flashback to her again locking her totem in her safe). And she couldn't break free. So I decided to search for it. I went deep into the recess of her mind and found that secret place. And I broke in...(we see him break open Mal's safe and retrieve her totem. Remember, extracting your secrets from a safe is what he does)...and I planted an idea. A simple little idea that would change everything...(He begins spinning her totem in limbo and it continues to spin eternally)...that her world wasn't real (the exact same words she said at the beginning of this scene)

Dom closes the safe this time with the totem spinning in perpetuity. We then see them in the flashback in limbo walking to a train track (there it is again) where they stop and hold hands. Back in the current limbo timeline

Mal: That death was the only escape

Back in the limbo flashback, Mal lays her head on the train track. Dom lays his head on the track next to her, and they lock hands. Then they begin some words that should sound very familiar to you at this point

Dom: You're waiting for a train. A train that'll take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you. (The train approaches quickly causing the rumbling to intensify. Dom has to begin shouting). But you can't know for sure! Yet it doesn't matter! Now, tell me why!

Mal: Because you'll be together

The train runs over her head a second after she finishes her line (though we of course don't see it). It cuts to her waking up on the floor of their home as she did when Dom told us the story earlier. She again sits up uneasily

Dom (voiceover): But I never knew that that idea would grow in her mind like a cancer, that even after she woke...that even after you came back to reality...that you'd continue to believe your world wasn't real

We see a lot of the same flashbacks we already saw, but this new information is a bombshell that changes our entire perspective of those scenes upon a second watch

Dom: That death was the only escape

Mal (now crying): You infected my mind

Dom: I was trying to save you

Mal: You betrayed me. But you can make amends. You can still keep your promise (she really loved her some Dom). We can still be together, right here, in the world we built together

Cut to the van falling in slow mo, probably about 3/4 of its descent at this point

Then back to coughing ass Saito. A couple of projections make their way into the room with him and begin firing. He haphazardly fires back

Cut to Eames outside throwing a grenade into the distance and jumping on top of a rail to set another charger. Perhaps sensing weakness in him, more projections make their way into the room with Saito. As he realizes this, Saito takes the pin out of the grenade Eames handed him (which wasn't easy with his injury). He turns and tosses the grenade into the little hatch that Fischer opened to enter the room. It explodes killing all the projections climbing and right outside of the little tunnel

Doing all of that shit worked in getting rid of the projections, but it fucked Saito all the way up with his already existent gunshot wound. It was too much for his mind to handle. Saito takes his last breath and joins Fischer in a different part of limbo (where we first met an old ass Saito at the beginning of the movie)

Outside, Eames continues to throw bombs, run and fight. He then makes his way into the room with the now two dead bodies of Fischer and Saito. He notices Saito and pauses for a second

Cut to Arthur on level 2. We know from his conversation with Dom in the snow that Eames is the dreamer on the third level. So Arthur places the headphones on Eames' head in the elevator, same as Yusuf did to Arthur in the van, and hits play starting their cue song in French (the name of the song is 'Non Je Ne Regrette Rien' btw, wmhich translates to No Regrets)

Arthur ducks down in the corner of the elevator with his explosive's detonator in his hand

On level 3, Eames hears the music. As soon as he hears it, he rushes over to Fischer's body to give him the defibrillator kick. At the exact same time he administers the first defibrillator shock to Fischer's body, Ariadne notices lightning in the sky in limbo. She knows what that means, especially since it was her plan in the first place

Ariadne: (gasping) Cobb, we need to get Fischer

Mal: You can't have him

Dom: If I stay here, will you let him go?

(God Dom is brilliant. Pay close attention to the way he worded that)

Ariadne: What are you talking about?

Mal (very slightly nodding and even more slightly smiling while never taking her eyes off her husband): Fischer is on the porch

Dom (while also never taking his eyes off his wife): Go check he's alive, Ariadne

Ariadne: Cobb, you can't do this

Dom: Go check he's alive right now. Do it

She rushes to the back porch and finds Fischer. He's tied and gagged but he's still breathing

Cut to the falling van just above the water. Time is all but out

Arthur is still in the corner on the elevator. It looks like he's just looking scared but he's not. He already told us by way of telling Ariadne he had to time it by ear and perfectly. That's exactly what he's doing in the corner. But remember, Eames didn't want any parts of that shit because the math is complicated. He also told Ariadne about each of his "unmistakable" cues, and the whole team understands exactly how much time they have left for each part of the plan, meticulously calculated on each level

Seriously, y'all. Tell me a better movie than this. What, The Devil Wears Prada? Shut yo ass....

On level 3, Eames issues another defib shock to Fischer

In Limbo, Ariadne helps Fischer - who is severely out of it - up out on the porch. She notices the second bout of lightning from Eames second shock to Fischer

Ariadne (struggling to lift Fischer's heavy body to her): He's here! And it's time, but you have to come now!

(This was the part of the plan where she said they would ride the kick up the different levels from limbo once Eames revives Fischer with the defib)

Dom (he and Mal still staring into each other's eyes): Take Fischer with you, alright?

Mal smiles

Ariadne: You can't stay here to be with her

Dom (still staring in Mal's eyes, drops a bomb about his true intention): I'm not. Mal's smile disappears with the quickness...I wanted you to pay attention to how he worded it because he never said he would stay. He just asked her a hypothetical question and that was all she needed to reveal Fischer's location. Dom is always three steps ahead of everyone in this film Saito's dead by now notice it wasn't a question, but a statement of fact brilliantly deduced based on time calculations). That means he's down here somewhere. (He takes his eyes off Mal for the first time and turns his neck slightly to the right toward Ariadne standing behind him That means I have to find him

AUDIBLE!!!

Thunder rumbles in limbo again perhaps seeming innocuous, but it's absolutely not! Lightning is represented in limbo as the defib shocks to Fischer on level 3. What comes after lightning?

Dom (cont): I can't stay with her anymore because she doesn't exist

Mal: I'm the only thing you do believe in anymore

Dom: (exhales deeply) I wish. I wish more than anything, but...I can't imagine you with all your complexity, all your perfection, all your imperfection

Cut to the back porch. Ariadne lowers the gag out of Fischer's mouth

Ariadne: You alright?

Fischer: (barely audible but so grateful for subtitles) Yeah

Dom (to Mal, now looking at her with disgust): Look at you. You're just a shade. You're just a shade of my real wife

Mal begins rubbing that knife she just can't stay away from again

Dom (cont): And you were the best that I could do, but...I'm sorry, you're just not good enough

Ohhhh, ok. So Dom is basically just a fucking dick. Got it. Ok so lots has happened since our last recap, so let's pause here as the next second of the film starts that intensity again

So, it turns out the last part of Dom's secret to his backstory, was that among his many questionable acts he's committed, the reason he knew inception was even possible was because he did it to his wife first. But before we go further into that obviousness, let's shine a light on a not-so-obvious part you may not have thought of (this is what the fuck I do, y'all, I tried to tell you)

One of judgmental ass Ariadne's main points has been that the crew is unaware of Dom's backstory and what he's hiding. That was probably her main point for why she felt entitled to delve into his backstory despite his objections. But as it turns out, that's actually not true at all. There have been two scenes earlier in the film that disproves Ariadne's theory on that

The first one was when Ariadne noticed Yusuf overseeing a sleeping Dom. Yusuf also creates compounds. He may have even designed the very compound Dom was using to hold on to his family. When Yusuf noticed Ariadne, he said 'bitch this is none of your goddamn business in any way, shape or form', by instead simply using the actual words, "good night"

Now that you know that Dom performed inception on his wife to get out of limbo, we can reveal the second one. Back on level 1 after Saito got shot, and Dom revealed to the group that if you were killed on the sedation they're on, you'd drop into limbo, you'll recall after attacking Dom, Arthur turned his wrath onto Yusuf

Yusuf said among other things, "...besides, he said he'd done it (inception) before"

To which Arthur replies, "He did it to who? To Mal? Cuz that worked so good?"

Ohhh, so obviously Arthur knew what Dom had done to Mal AND he knew about the fallout. And we know that all of our team, but Arthur, Dom and Eames in particular, are experts at keeping their hand played closely from the chest and letting you or forcing you to believe anything they want you to. Dom let Ariadne be as judgmental and think what she wants. Why? Because of what he's said repeatedly, he only cares about getting back to his kids. He genuinely doesn't care what anyone thinks, including the two Ar's

Dom didn't DISPUTE Eames when he called Arthur a stick in the mud. He said, 'he's good at what he does'. For all we know, Arthur and Dom can't stand one another. But they respect each other's work and that's all that matters in this life. No one needs to know anything about your personal biz, but these people are so brilliant, they probably know more than you tell them anyway

Now, back to Dom performing inception on Mal. We now know why Dom felt so guilty. And it also takes me back to that unfortunate line, "it just became impossible FOR ME to live like this". And we even know why Dom was able to figure out inception despite his expertise being extraction, and why he froze in the helicopter when Saito first mentioned inception

It's also why I said you can't really call Mal the villain. If she is, it's only in the wake of Ultron in that the evil was created by our hero. Arthur even said "she was lovely" in real life. We also understand why Dom is and has his team so adamant about being sticklers to their totem. All of this was learned through his experience with Mal

Dom has made many mistakes up to this point, I will admit. Beginning with his miscalculations in limbo, with his very insistence of going deeper. While Fischer is the team's current unsuspecting victim, Mal was actually Dom's first. Because HE decided it was impossible to live like this, he decided for both of them that it was impossible. That's not cool, bro

Yeah she did decide to leave you and the kids. But how you gone act like that wasn't because of the shit you did to her? Then to tell her she's not good enough for you anymore. After YOU infected her mind once YOU decided YOU couldn't live in limbo anymore, where you both were only present for so long because YOU miscalculated. What the fuck bro? First of all, Mal you'll ALWAYS be good enough for me, so if you're over Dom...see, there I go again

My point is, he was unnecessarily cruel to her. He made her the villain in his mind (maybe the point?) but she was created out of his own incompetence. How the fuck is Dom going to use his own wife as a scapegoat?

Well :), fortunately for people like me, Mal wasn't having it. After hearing the man she loves with a passion break her heart for the last time, Mal grabs that knife she's been fucking with and quickly stabs Dom in the chest

Mal: Does this feel real?

Dom (feeling the stab): Aah!

A gunshot rings out from across the room

It's Ariadne. She's just shot Mal

Dom: What are you doing?

Ariadne: Improvising

AUDIBLE!!!!

She kicks Fischer off the porch, which due to the design of the commercial building he and Mal liked and wanted to live in, is high above a skyscraper. Fischer falls to his death (not just from the fall but from Eames' shocks, as Fischer wakes up on level 3 from his death from Mal's gunshot)

Mal isn't dead. Ariadne turns her gun and points it at Mal. Dom is kneeling over Mal and notices Ariadne point the gun at his wife

Dom: No, no! No!

Ariadne drops the gun. SHIIIIT!!! Dom got me again!!! He didn't mean any of that shit he just said to his wife. Damn this guy is fucking good

AUDIBLE!!!!

On level 3, Eames points a revived Fischer, who is gasping for air, toward the safe he went down there to enter in the first place

Eames: In there, now. Go. Go, go, go

Fischer gets up as quickly as he can and heads to the safe

We then cut to the slo-mo van, that is now maybe less than 10 feet from the water and quickly approaching it

Arthur is still in the corner of the elevator, calculating as the sleeping bodies float on the elevator. It turns out, blowing up the elevator is the way Arthur figured out to drop the sleeping bodies (god I love this fucking movie). Arthur gets to his final count in his head and detonates the explosives

The explosion causes the elevator to drop, and immediately the floating, sleeping bodies drop to the floor, exactly as Arthur wanted, as he holds on tightly to the rail slightly above him in the corner. The elevator continues to drop

Meanwhile, Fischer approaches the safe. Real quick, remember this was the same safe Shakeup Dom and Arthur pretended to want the code from Fischer. This is as good a time as any to also remind you, the ultimate plan is to plant an idea in Fischer's head, not extract anything

Ok, so Fischer approaches the safe. He takes a deep breath and presses one button on the safe code box (it looks like he pressed 1). As he prepared to hit the second number, the safe unlocks, startling him. The doors of the safe then open on their own

Those of us who have been paying attention already know what we were going to see. When Ariadne told us, by way of telling Dom, that she built a hospital in the safe so Fischer would bring his father there. When the safe opens, we see Maurice alone in a dream version of his hospital room, lying in his hospital bed. Fischer walks in

Earlier, when Eames masquerading as Browning was held captive with Fischer, Fischer mentioned his dad managing to tell him he was 'disappointed'. In the safe, as soon as Fischer gets close enough to his father to hear his voice, his ailing father begins attempting to finish that conversation

Maurice: I was dis... I was dis-- Disa...

Fischer: I know, dad

Maurice: Disa...

Fischer walks closer to his dad and kneels beside the bed

Fischer: I know you were disappointed I couldn't be you

Maurice: No. No, no, no. I was disappointed...that you tried

MMM. Fischer stares at his dad like he wants to cry

Cut back to the elevator on level 2 still falling, and all of the sleeping bodies still tied to the floor thanks to Arthur's self-made gravity

Then to Eames who walks up to the safe and enters the code. The door opens. He sees Fischer talking to his dad and grabs and activates the detonator for all of the explosives he just planted

Maurice then manages to slowly point to another smaller safe by his bed (but not after Fischer hilariously thought his dad was trying to hold his hand, before he had to shake his finger and point to the safe lol). Fischer notices the safe and presses the Enter button

Eames, looking on, quietly begins to encourage Fischer on, as this is all part of the plan

Eames (quietly to himself): Come on, come on, come on

The elevator on level 2 is still falling. More importantly, so is the van, that the back of has just touched down into the water, explaining Eames' sense of urgency

Meanwhile, Fischer instinctively enters the code to the small safe beside his dad's bed. The code? 528491

The safe opens. Inside is a document labeled, "Last Will and Testament". Fischer can no longer hold back the tears, as below the will he notices and grabs his homemade paper flower wheel, the same one he's playing with in the photo of him and his dad from back in the day. Fischer is deeply touched by this. He looks up at his father with loving eyes...

But Maurice ain't moving. His eyes are open and he's staring in one place with his mouth open. We all know what that means

Fischer grabs his dad's hand and begins crying hard. Eames looks on nodding, somewhat pleased. Everything is going according to plan. He presses the button on the detonator and...

The entire compounds around them begin to explode. Almost simultaneously, Arthur and the sleeping bodies reach the bottom level of the elevator, and Arthur and the bodies resume floating

Pause here for another related side note I can't figure out. Arthur and the sleeping bodies are floating on level 2 because the van is falling on level 1. So why are they not floating on level 3? I get them not floating in limbo but shouldn't level 3 still have no gravity?

The van splashes further into the water. The hospital room in the safe begins rattling as the explosions get closer

In limbo, Dom is cradling his wife's head and notices the building outside of their home begin to blow away piece by piece, starting from the top. He knows what that means. He quickly turns to Ariadne

Dom: That's the kick, Ariadne! You have to go now!

Then while Fischer is still sobbing by his father's bed side, still holding his hand, the explosion reaches the safe. Fischer dies first in limbo, because he was the first one to open his eyes on the elevator, followed by Eames

Back in limbo, Ariadne is barely holding on, but manages to try to be all deep with Dom before they part

Ariadne: Don't lose yourself! Find Saito and bring him back!

Dom: I will

Ariadne let's go and free falls the several stories to her death in limbo. As soon as she hits the ground she wakes up on the floor in level 3, just in time to see it all crumbling. When she dies in the compounds on level 3, she's the next to open her eyes on the elevator, uh, just in time to see that crash and her die yet again. We see the entire pile of bodies on the elevator float to their death when the elevator crashes. Ariadne is the first one to open her eyes on the van, that is now quickly taking on water the more of it is submerged. After just a few seconds, the van is completely under water and the kick is over

Back in limbo with Dom who chose to stay with Mal, he holds her as she pants in his arms

Mal (straining, she says more words you should be familiar with): You remember when you asked me to marry you?

Dom: Yes

Mal: You said you dreamt that we'd grow old together

Dom: (after pausing for a moment) But we did. We did

Cut to flashback of them walking and holding hands in limbo as an old couple

Dom (cont): You don't remember?

Then we cut to them holding hands again on the train tracks before they kill themselves in limbo, but this time the hands holding each other are that of their senior citizen selves

Dom (cont): I miss you more than I can bear, but...we had our time together. And I have to let you go. I have to let you go

He kisses her forehead, and she takes her last breath in his arms

We head back to the van that is now completely submerged in the water as it continues to descend deeper to the seabed. Fischer is the next one to wake up and removes the hood from his head (from when he was being shaken up at the warehouse) and climbs out to swim to safety. But not before grabbing his hooded Uncle Peter, that he doesn't know is actually Eames

Fischer and Eames Browning swim up to the surface and out of the water, grabbing a seat on a nearby muddy beach

Eames Browning: I'm sorry, Robert

Back to the van under water, Arthur and Ariadne are awake and taking turns getting oxygen from masks in the van. After Arthur gets his fix, he swims a few inches to where Dom is still asleep and checks on him. Ariadne heads to the surface

Then Yusuf is awake and is taking swigs of his own oxygen mask, before pushing the door open, climbing out and swimming up. Arthur figures out Dom isn't waking up, sooooo he uhh, leaves him and heads to the surface. With his seatbelt on and everything. Aight then

Back on the beach

Fischer: You know the will means that dad wanted me to be my own man Disappointed that you tried. Not just to live for him. That's what I'm gonna do, Uncle Peter

As Fischer comes to these revelations, the camera pans around his right shoulder. When the camera started in front, Browning (really Eames) was shown next to him. As the camera pans around and goes behind him, Eames has turned back into himself, but Fischer still thinks he's talking to his Uncle Peter. He has officially been Inceptionized ;)

Arthur climbs out of the water with Yusuf by his side. Ariadne was already sitting on a nearby rock

Arthur (to Ariadne): What happened?

Ariadne: Cobb stayed

Arthur: With Mal?

Ariadne: No, to find Saito

Arthur: He'll be lost

We get a quick glimpse of Dom still in the van under water with his seatbelt on. Seems to me if Arthur was so concerned about him being lost, he would have grabbed his goddamn body from out the water. Told you they may not like each other outside of work lol. But then again now that I think about it, Arthur couldn't move him because he didn't know why he was still asleep in the first place. Taking him out of the water may have woken him up from limbo before he found Saito

Ariadne: No, he'll be alright (oh noooooow she finally gets it)

The next scene brings us full circle to the opening scene of the movie, with Dom washing up on a beach in limbo with Saito's security projections finding him, and with Saito asking Dom the questions he asked in the first dialogue of the movie, but now with it making a whole buncha lotta more sense

Old Ass Saito in Limbo: I'm waiting for someone

Dom (finishing his next line for him because he knows he's old as fuck): Someone from a half-remembered dream

Old Ass Saito: Cobb? (scoffs) Impossible. We were young men together. I'm an old man

Dom: Filled with regret

Old Ass Saito: Waiting to die alone

Dom: I've come back for you. To remind you of something. Something you once knew. That this world is not real

Cut to Dom's/Mal's totem infinitely spinning on the table in front of them

Old Ass Saito: To convince me to honor our arrangement?

(Interesting! Cobb said he wasn't going to remember they even had an arrangement)

Dom: To take a leap of faith, yes....come back...so we can be young men together again. Come back with me

Saito slowly begins reaching for the pistol sitting on the table next to the spinning totem

Dom: Come back

Then...

Dom is the first one we see wake up on the plane back in the real world. He looks like we all probably look after waking up from a crazy ass dream, looking around trying to remember how the hell he got on the plane. A flight attendant comes up to him. When he fell asleep on the plane, they were headed to Fischer's father's funeral, 10 hours away. They are now landing, still technically for Fischer's father's funeral, but with all of this having happened on the way

Stewardess (to Dom): Hot towel, sir? We'll be landing in Los Angeles in about 20 minutes. Do you need immigration forms?

Dom (very confused): Thank you

The lady walks one seat forward to Fischer and begins her spiel all over again. Fischer takes the immigration form and places it next to him like he gives two shits about it, then begins staring out the window

Dom, still tryna figure this shit out, begins looking around. He glances over and sees Arthur across the aisle from him. Arthur is already staring at him, smiling to himself. In front of Arthur, Ariadne has just come to, and she glances over at Dom, who also begins smiling to herself

Dom begins to relax, figuring out what's happening. Then Saito comes to and almost immediately reaches for the phone

We next see Dom off the plane, being waived over by the customs guy. This is the moment of truth. Dom nervously walks up to the guy and hands him his passport. The guy takes it, opens it, and checks Dom's face against the picture. The agent flips through Dom's passport, quite possibly causing Dom to ever so slightly piss his pants. He looks up at Dom once again. This time, something might have come out of Dom's ass. But then he stamps Dom's passport and as he's handing it back to him

Customs Agent: Welcome home, Mr Cobb

Dom looks at him incredulously. Then manages

Dom: Thank you, sir

The camera pans behind the agent where Ariadne is sitting with a different agent, but turned around watching this entire scenario with Dom unfold. She sorta smiles as he's allowed home

We then see Dom grab his luggage off the rack. As he places it on the floor and begins walking, he sees Yusuf several feet in front of him as Yusuf gives him "the nod" before turning his head. All members of the team are purposely not saying anything to Dom but still acknowledging him every step of the way

As Dom walks past Yusuf, Arthur pulls up behind Yusuf in front of Dom and looks over at him and slightly smiles as Dom walks past. A few feet up on the left, he spots Eames just standing near his luggage not doing a damn thing. He doesn't smile at Dom, but he does give him an understanding look

A couple of feet up from Eames, Dom spots Fischer on the right. Fischer looks at him as if he knows Dom from somewhere but can't quite put his finger on it as Dom passes

Dom continues to walk toward the gate, and we see Miles waiting for him standing next to a man holding a sign that says 'Fischer'. Dom gives his pass to the next Customs agent he sees, who quickly reviews it and doesn't stop Dom from walking through. Miles reaches out to grab Dom's luggage for him. Dom hands him the bag and Miles reaches out his hand to Dom

Miles: Welcome. This way

Dom is over the moon ecstatic at this

He gets back to his real-life home that Ariadne forced her way into the dream version of about two hours ago. Miles puts Dom's luggage down and heads toward the back door leading to the yard from the kitchen

Dom looks around and quickly grabs the totem out of his pocket. He starts spinning it on the kitchen table

Miles: James? Phillipa? Look who's here

You'll recall a big part of Dom's backstory is that he thought about calling out to his kids to see their face one last time. Since he didn't, every time we've seen his kids they've had their backs to him, and it was a very big deal that he couldn't see their faces again, and why he quickly turned his head in limbo when Mal was about to call his projection children over. But after their grandpops tells them to look who's here, first we finally see Phillipa

Then James

Dom (upon seeing his children's faces again, the only thing he wanted throughout all of this): Hey! Hey, guys!

James: Daddy!

Dom (running out to meet them): Hey! How are you?

He picks Phillipa up

James: Daddy!

Dom: How are you?

Around this time, I noticed a couple of things that I don't know if they are arbitrary or intentional. While I believe this movie has been very careful to not show anything arbitrary, I do know that continuity errors and technical mistakes still happen even in the hands of the best directors in Hollywood

First thing I noticed, when Dom throws the back screen door open to get to his children, Miles is off to the side. He grabs the screen door when Dom threw it opened, and you see him open the door a little bit more. The next shot shows a close-up of Miles, and the door that he just flew all the way open is now only about halfway open as Miles walks in

Then, when Dom threw the door open and got to his kids, he first picks up Phillipa using both arms. The camera then zooms in on Miles for the close-up mentioned in the previous paragraph. But then after the camera zooms back out, Dom is suddenly holding James in his right arm, while Phillipa is on the ground hugging him from his left side. And I checked multiple times and couldn't definitely confirm this, but it looked to me like Phillipa's hair was different by the time she was hugging him from when he picked her up. The time they zoomed in on Miles wasn't enough time for Dom to put Phillipa down and pick James up in a different arm. Because five minutes in the real world is supposed to be....five minutes in the real fucking world. Are either of these relevant? I'm honestly not sure

James: Look what I've been building?

Dom: What are you building?

James: We're building a house on the cliff!

LOL awww shit. That cannot be a coincidence either!!

Dom: On the cliff?

Around this time the camera begins to slowly pan back to the totem Dom began spinning before he went out to greet his children

Dom (to James in the background): Come on, I want you to show me

We slowly continue to zoom in on the totem, still spinning. It arguably looks like it's about to stop wobbling as it spins and...

Cut to black

Film Over

When the Film Ended, That's When the Conversations Began

Because everyone had a different interpretation of not only the ending, but the entire film. And what's great about those conversations is because of the complexity of the film, you can't say that anyone is necessarily wrong in their final take on it. But it does seem like everyone who picked it apart did watch it multiple times

One of the best things that Nolan did was never doing a sequel to this film. I think that's as smart as the characters were in this movie. If a sequel were to be released, it would negate the "discussability" of this film, because it would give it a definitive ending ultimately turning everyone's viewpoint of it either right or wrong. The fun is in the discussion

What I tried to do was break the film down and attempt to explain every scene of relevance. But I didn't want you to see the film as I saw it, because you won't see it the same way. That's the beauty of it. You can watch it and form your own opinion. I absolutely love this movie but I never said you had to

So, to conclude this write-up, I'd like to include this article from a gentleman named Jon Negroni. This is a perfect example of how two people can watch the same film and not notice the same things, especially when it comes to a complex film such as this

Everything You Missed When You Watched 'Inception'

First of all, I'm not mad at Jon Negroni because we are both superfans of the same movie, but I HATE these kinds of headlines. "10 things you never knew about...", "Everything you missed when watching...", BITCH HOW YOU KNOW WHAT I NEVER KNEW AND WHAT I MISSED?!!

Inception is rapidly becoming my favorite movie of all time. I first saw it during the midnight premiere back in 2010, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. I remember being mesmerized by its originality and unrelenting assault on my mind’s stamina. Yep, same here. The originality and assault on our mind's part. I am 46 years old and to this day, I have never watched a movie at midnight in my fucking life!

It took another dozen viewings of the film, however, to persuade me that this is one of the best films of my lifetime, and the first truly great film of the 21st Century. I'm still with you so far, even though your dozen viewings is a bit on the low side chief. I damn near topped that in the first two weeks after the movie was released on video

Let me explain.

For me, a truly great film isn’t really like a masterpiece. A masterpiece, after all, is more about critical praise and the apex of one’s career. I think I get what you're saying. You're saying a movie doesn't have to be a masterpiece in the traditional sense of the word for it to be great. Agreed Inception is great in a different way. It’s just smart. It didn’t receive universal, critical praise (though it got some) because it completely went over the heads of almost everyone. Well, a lot of people. I don't know about almost everyone

For all of you who think you “get” the movie, I sincerely doubt that more than a handful actually caught everything that was going on in the story. Haha Jon's ass is pretty full of himself like Yusuf. Jon's the cleverest of the clever of clevers. But I'm still with you, my man

Here’s a test to see if you did: do you think the ending was a cliffhanger? Because if you did, you are dead wrong. While I didn't think it was a cliffhanger, you can't say anyone is 'dead wrong' for anything they thought about this movie. Calm it the fuck down Negroni

Let me be clear about something. I’ve seen this movie backward and forward (so what... many of us have, what does that mean? Your word is law on this movie? Stop it!), so what I’m about to get into is just a summary of what I’ve personally discovered, combined with some great insights provided by the research of others. Uh why the fuck you couldn't just say you got a lot of this shit from the trivia section of IMDB is a mystery to me. Almost seems like plagiarism if you ask yours truly handsomeness, as you stated, "provided by the research of others", but don't mention IMDB anywhere in your article. Should I even be linking his plagiarized shit to my--

Spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading this and get that taken care of

I believe the entire movie was a dream, and we are supposed to arrive at that conclusion starting to lose me Jon, tighten this shit up bro Nolan implants countless clues that point to this, but he works to make sure that even the clues themselves are ambiguous. Soooo, I'm not sure Negroni here knows the meaning of the word ambiguous. That might have been his vocabulary word of the week he was just dying to use in a sentence. He states that "Nolan implants countless clues that point to this" (that we are SUPPOSED to arrive at his conclusion that the entire movie was a dream), and then points out that the clues are ambiguous, which means open to having several different interpretations. How the fuck can the clues be open to interpretation for a CONCLUSION that according to you, we're all supposed to arrive to???!!! A conclusion is finality, correct? How can you arrive to a solid conclusion about anything ambiguous? Dude, you're now bordering on YOUR interpretation being the only correct one, and I strongly despise that type of thinking

The first clue? To catch it, you have to watch the movie at least twice. There is a line in the movie when Cobb points out that our dreams always start in the middle of something, but not really the beginning. We never think about “how we got there” as he puts it. I remember it

Inception begins in the middle of Cobb’s story, as well as the middle of a dream heist. We aren’t introduced to Cobb, Arthur, or Saito. We are given a brief look at the end of the story, and then the movie just shifts seamlessly into the dream heist. I understand what you're saying, but I don't think you can relegate that to just this film. Many movies that have nothing to do with dreaming show us the ending first and then picks up in the middle of the action (Fight Club, for example, and more recently, Sinners), because that's how the story is being told. I don't see this as a definitive action proving they're dreaming

What does that remind you of? When we recall a dream, we typically start at the end (Cobb and “old” Saito) and try to remember how it actually started, but we can’t remember how it really started and just start somewhere in the middle. Ok, but later in the movie, when Fischer is getting frustrated with himself in the bathroom about not being able to remember the dream, Dom told him, "It's like trying to remember a dream after you've woken up...it takes years of practice." I get the impression that everyone on the team except for Ariadne and maybe Saito had years of practice of recalling dreams. And if that's true, it's not a problem for this advanced team to begin in the middle. Don't forget how advanced this team is

So, let’s say you buy that. The whole movie was a dream. I don't Doesn’t that make you mad? Even if I bought that, no, it wouldn't make me mad at all Well here’s Nolan’s genius: that shouldn’t matter. We get mad that the movie was just a dream and say, “Why bother watching a movie that didn’t really happen–” and then you realize that the movie is fiction anyway. Dude, you are really coming across as the official spokesperson Mayor of Inception. Nah man, not all of us reacted to this movie the same way you did. THAT'S the true genius of the movie and Mr. Nolan

That is just one example of why this movie is so amazing. It has scores of themes you didn’t even think were possible to associate with the film. And it takes work to sort this all out. I agree with that. I associated Mal's backstory with mental health

Back to the first statement that everything was a dream. Maybe you’re not convinced? Nope, I'm not I’ll give you more clues. The basis for the “It’s a dream” theory is based on how limbo works. When the “kick” happens, namely suicide here, you go one level up in the multi-level dreams.

Cobb explains to Ariadne that he and Mal, his wife, ended up in their world-building limbo because they were experimenting with multi-dreams and Cobb pushed them too deep. He says they grew “old” together and eventually committed suicide on the train tracks to go back to reality. But here’s the thing…that would have sent them only one level up.

Cobb believes inception is the reason Mal went insane and killed herself, but it was actually true. If they died in limbo, it would be impossible for them to return to reality again unless they died again and again. I don't know if I agree with that. They weren't in limbo for the same reason Saito was. They got lost in limbo whereas (nigga did I just say 'whereas'?) Saito died. For you to say something is "impossible" would mean it would have had to be explained, and they didn't explain the difference between escaping limbo when you got there from death vs from accidentally roaming into that muthafucka. Totems mean nothing here oooooh dis-uh-gree. In fact, the totem concept is why I don't think the whole thing was a dream...more on that later because the totem Cobb used was Mal’s, yes it was and he even broke the rules and explained how it works to Ariadne, compromising its purpose. Wait, what? I didn't catch that part at all! When did they say explaining how the totem works compromised its purpose? I know someone else can't TOUCH your totem but explaining it doesn't compromise its purpose from what I saw. The totem had to be explained so that Ariadne could get one after Dom clearly said to Arthur, "she'll need a totem" (Talking about the totems alone would take up this entire article by the way) On that part we do agree, but that's another argument why you can't say "totems mean nothing here"

Another clue that they were in a dream when Mal killed herself: She trashes the hotel room to make it look like Cobb killed her so that he will eventually join her, but when he approaches the window, she’s across the road in another hotel room. If you look closely, it’s the same hotel room, plus it would make no sense for her to go to the other side. Cobb even proves that he doesn’t catch how that’s odd when he tells her to come inside and motions for her to come into the window he’s currently at, even though she’s across the street.

Ok, you told me to "look closely" at a claim you make about my favorite movie that I never noticed, so guess what I did, Jon? And you might not be happy that I did. I pulled up my all-time favorite movie and followed Jon's instructions. Then I paused. Then I rewound. Then paused. And I would repeat this no less than 10 times. Then I thought, unlike Negroni's plagiarizing ass, let's provide the snapshot evidence for all fans of the movie to see. And I would like to first point out the chandeliers in each room

Hey, what gives Negroni? Those two items in the "same hotel room" don't match. Also, you can kinda see the layout of Mal's room behind her. Compare that to what's behind Dom

Yeah, I'ma go 'head and say the rooms ain't the same, bro. You know what I think was more likely? His motioning to come inside was the simplest way of asking her to come over to their room to talk. Think about it. It was much easier than saying, "sweetheart, please go inside, out the door, get on the elevator, take it down to the ground floor, walk across the stre-- come on man. Oh, and don't forget when he stepped on the glass, he found Mal's totem on the floor not spinning, and we know what that means

And lastly, when you really stop and think about it, my plagiarizing friend, it actually does make all the sense in the world for her to be in the separate hotel room she rented across the street - and probably requested (the window in their shared suite leading to Mal on the other side was, arguably, intentionally left open)...don't forget, this was the end of her genius, fail-proof masterplan (meticulously planned to the point it included getting herself declared legally sane by three different doctors, making it "impossible" for Dom to claim she was insane), and Dom told Ariadne they spent every anniversary in that same suite -, because of what she would eventually do in that room 'cross the street sir. If she was in the same room as Dom, he could have potentially stopped her from jumping to her death, fucking up her fail-proof, meticulously planned plan. But to use your word again, it would have been "impossible" for him to stop her from across the street

One of the characteristics of a dream is that weird things happen that we don’t catch. When the dream was happening, strange things happened that we didn’t realize were major “plot holes” or illogical until we woke up and actually thought about it. Agreed, but the beauty of this movie is that your illogical plot holes may not be the same as mine. I think those were, ahem, ambiguous, and that's again where the true genius of this film lies

The entire movie is like this. The fast (and sloppy) editing argumentative, the one-dimensional characters all revolving around Cobb who are you referring to, the rest of the team or the projections? If the rest of the team, I could not disagree more, the walls closing in on Cobb for no reason during the chase scene in Mombasa if the entire film is a dream as you stated, why did the walls only close in on him in one scene?, bodyguards coming out of nowhere to attack him, Saito showing up just in time to save Cobb argumentative as to this showing definitive proof that it's a dream, and so many more examples list em bro, those of us who love this movie will pick it apart like you all lead the diligent audience to believe that this is really just a dream. Smh

After all, do we really believe that an energy tycoon that is smart about money would actually buy an entire airline just for the heck of it? What, because YOU wouldn't do it, no one would? The key word in that phrase is 'tycoon'. Wealthy businessmen would be willing to buy anything to help them get ahead. And remember the passion when he said, "the world needs Robert Fischer to change his mind"? This whole plan is set in motion by Saito, so I ABSOLUTELY believe he would buy the entire airline. Not for the heck of it, as you said, but because he saw this as an important part of getting Fischer to break up his father's empire. You see they were struggling to come up with a 10 hour window before that, weren't they? And finally, we're not given any information on Saito's backstory, so how can you say what he wouldn't do? You don't know what that man would do because you don't know much about him And then said tycoon would risk his life in order to take part in the mission? Said tycoon was almost as arrogant as your write-up of this movie in parts. With him obviously being passionate about this group performing inception (and the why they're performing inception in the first place, which you seemed to forget about when mentioning him buying an airline 'for the heck of it'), he may have not seen it as risking his life, especially since he stayed ducked down in the car the whole time. OR maybe he did, and it was like Cobb said about going to meet Eames in Mombasa...necessary risk It doesn’t really make sense the more you think about it.

Watching the movie play out, it’s hard not to catch that it is clearly an allegory to filmmaking. When (we) watch a movie, we are watching what is essentially a dream. Plot holes and the like exist because the director is trying to explain his “dream.” Ok, I agree with that. Oh wait, scorekeeper, deduct one point. This is information Mr Negroni got off IMDB. No credit given to JN

Nolan himself has even admitted that he framed the characters around certain roles in filmmaking. Would have been nice to include a link of him saying that so we could see it chief. I looked for it myself. Couldn't find one. Know where I did find it? Ah shit, scorekeeper deduct another point. I know he's in the negative but that's his plagiarizing ass bad

Cobb is the director: he leads the whole thing.

Arthur is the producer: he organizes everything.

Eames is the actor: he changes his appearance.

Ariadne is the screenwriter: she designs everything.

Yusuf is the special effects studio: he’s behind the technology to make everything work.

Robert is the audience: he’s the person they’re trying to plant an idea into. (Placed out of order for formatting continuity purposes)

Saito is the bank-roller: he funds the project. I've never heard of a position in filmmaking called bankroller. So, I looked it up, because surely Nolan couldn't have said that, right?. Not only did he not, but my man J Negroni Esq managed to "misplagierize?" some of it. Here's what Sir (as it turns out, who knew?) Nolan actually said (ahem, watch this JN, ACCORDING TO IMDB TRIVIA)

In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", writer, producer, and director Sir Christopher Nolan explained that he based roles of the Inception team similar to roles that are used in filmmaking, Cobb is the director, Arthur is the producer, Ariadne is the production designer, Eames is the actor, Saito is the studio, and Fischer is the audience. "In trying to write a team-based creative process, I wrote the one I know", said Nolan

Where the fuck my man, J Negroni Plagiarizing Outlaw got "bankroller" is beyond me. Then he gave Yusuf what was actually Saito's job (Sir Nolan doesn't mention Yusuf in his analogy) and just totally made up some shit for Saito. And Ariadne is not the screenwriter, but the production designer, which is a completely different fucking gig JN (not to mention makes a whole lot more sense than screenwriter, as there is nothing visual about a screenplay). Booooy y'all need to take JNP's internet access away for no less than six months

Need more clues? I'm still waiting for the first ones! We’re told during the movie that elements of a person’s subconscious creep up during the dreams. That’s why Robert’s number, 528491, appears so often in the movie. He initially guesses the number is a combination to his father’s safe. Later, the number shows up on a napkin, a hotel room, and eventually his father’s safe at the snow fortress. See, this is what happens you get to plagiarizing shit instead of thinking for yourself. Yeah man, because the entire plot was to PLANT an idea in Fischer's head. An idea that Cobb said Fischer would obviously reject. In my interpretation, the number wasn't originally meant to be the combination to his father's safe. They used that after he provided what was just the first six numbers to pop into his head with a gun held to it

This carries on throughout the whole movie. As it should with a plan to implant something rather than extract, a process that Eames called, "bloody difficult" The number of the train that kills Cobb and Mal, when they are in limbo is 3502. The taxi number later on is 2305, and the hotel Mal trashes is in room 5302. This implies that Mal’s death happened during a dream. What? The numbers on the transportation means Mal's death happened in a dream? I didn't get that at all. Further, all of these examples you listed above are from scenes where we already know they're dreaming, including the first time we see the trashed hotel room. Oh and finally, (smh and sighing) scorekeeper. Hey, scorekeeper!! Wake yo ass up! Don't tell me he ain't got no mo points to lose! I pay you to keep the GODDAMN SCORE BITCH!!! Sometimes you gotta be kinda firm with staff And in the image above, you can see 3502 on the train that appeared during Robert’s dream. (the train that crashed into Ariadne and Dom before Saito got shot)

Here is the most important subconscious clue, since it has to do with the ending that ticked everyone Everyone? You are killing me Negroni off for being a supposed cliffhanger. The end scene when we watch to see if the totem will fall (and prove Cobb is in reality) is a red herring. A massive misdirection that serves to make us miss what’s going on in the background.

Remember, killing yourself only sends you one level up. We find “old” Saito and Cobb about to shoot themselves to escape limbo. If they did, then that means they would go back to the snow fortress. But wait, that was Fisher’s dream and Fischer received the “kick” already. If they went back a level up, that means there is nothing there. That means that the first person to die, Saito, would fill that dream with his subconscious, leading to the ending scene where Cobb supposedly reunites with his children. First of all, Saito was not the first person to die. Fischer was when Mal shot him (you did say you've watched this movie backward and forward, right?). But let's say what you said is true, that would mean they would be on level 3, as you stated, at the snow fortress, right? So how would Saito turn level 3 into Dom's home without Ariadne's help, and without he himself being an architect? Wouldn't it still be the snowy backdrop on level 3 Ariadne created, even if the projections were now different? And when you said, that means that the first person to die, Saito, would fill that dream with his subconscious, leading to the ending scene where Cobb supposedly reunites with his children Saito couldn't have been dreaming on level 3 because you said it was after he died. Since when do you dream when you're dead?

How am I sure? Saito says that he always wanted a “house on a cliff.” In limbo, he is an old man living in a house on a cliff. At the very end when Cobb spins the totem and greets his kids, they say that they have just built a “house on a cliff.” This points to the whole thing taking place within Saito’s subconscious. Mmm, I said that had to be relevant. I didn't remember Saito saying that he always wanted a house on a cliff. But I don't see how that definitively proves anything. I truly don't get the connection as to why Saito would project Dom's kids (including their faces that we never saw until the end, as that was a huge part of the story) on level 3 pretending it's his home with his family. I would buy that it's Dom's dream before I buy that it's Saito's, although I don't think Dom is dreaming either. And again, Saito can't be dreaming if he's dead. Oh, and scorekeeper....nevermind at this point

The beauty is how that can be a number of things. What if “house on a cliff” referred to Cobb’s subconscious being projected through Saito? That would mean Saito never existed. Whoa, that is the craziest theory I've ever heard on this movie, but as I said, all theories are acceptable in my book Honestly, there are countless ways to interpret this, but that’s not the point. Disagree again. Here I am talking about this shit 15 years later The point is that this movie was designed in a way to make us understand that movies themselves are, well, inception.

I could go on and on about this movie, honestly. There are just so many ways to interpret and find new revelations within the narrative. On that we agree That is why it is a truly great movie, yep and it pains me to see that so many people dismissed it because it went over their heads and a movie like this lost “Best Picture” to The King’s Speech.

I’ll leave you with some more crazy facts in case you’re interested: oh trust me, I am. And since my man Negroni, Texas Plagiarizer didn't credit it, all of the below points (except the book rec) can be found on IMDB's trivia page for Inception here

DREAMS: Dom, Robert, Eames, Ariadne, Mal, Saito. INTERESTING! I did not notice that! Nice one IMDB!

If you add Peter, Arthur, and Yusuf, it spells DREAMS PAY (their profession is to make money by stealing from others’ dreams). I like it. You've been on a roll IMDB

Hanz Zimmer created the entire soundtrack for this movie using only one song that is slowed down and sped up: the song used to initiate a dream is over, which is “No Regrets (translated)” by Edith Piaf. Seriously, even the blaring trombone composition is taken from that song. Also, the very last word in the song is “mal” which coincidently refers to the character Mal. Nice. Cooking with fucking grease now IMDBizzle

The running time of the movie is exactly 2 hours and 28 minutes long, which is how long the song “No Regrets” is when translated to minutes and seconds. Ok, so this one is on IMDB too, but I'm not sure I agree with it. Was this something Sir Nolan confirmed? The reason I disagree with this is because Sir Nolan didn't edit it. It was edited by a Lee Smith. If he had edited it (or if he confirmed it, if he did, please send it to me), I may have been more inclined to agree with this one

Ariadne is a mythological princess who aids Theseus in escaping the Minotaur’s labyrinth. And Ariadne said the third level of the dream was designed like a labyrinth. Nice The name is also associated with Ariadne auf Naxos which is an opera that is essentially a “play within a play.” Mmm like a dream within a dream. This was after mentioning a labyrinth. I see what you did there IMDB

The movie is based on Cobb’s mission to get home. His first name, Dom, literally means “home” in Latin (think domestic). Ok, so while these are always fun to point out on IMDB, I actually have a problem with them. I'll use an example from another movie I wrote about on this site, Encanto. In that movie, one of the characters is named Camilo, and he was named after a chameleon, because it shape-shifts and Camilo could do the same thing once he got old enough to receive his family gift. But when he was named at birth, how did they know his gift would be the ability to shape-shift? Same thing with Dom. When his hypothetical parents named him, how would they have known that he would later not be able to return domestic to see his kids?

One last thought, a lot more about this subject can be found in this book, Inception and Philosophy, by Kyle Johnson. I haven’t read it myself, but I’ve been told it goes even deeper into the movie and what it all meant. Click here to check it out.

Nice, I had never heard of this book before, but I bought it on Audible. Thanks for the rec. But based on the above I'm not sure I should credit Jon or--

Ok look. I picked this shit apart because that's what the fuck I do, especially when I love a movie. Shit, that's what the fuck I can do. But as I've stated, one of the best things about the movie is everyone had a different interpretation of it. And no one is wrong, no matter how much shit I talk. And y'all are probably going to pick apart my review above and find things you don't agree with. Again, it's what makes the movie the greatest movie ever made in my opinion

Jon Negroni is not the first person I've heard express the theory that the whole movie was a dream. But the main reason I always reject that is because if that's true, that would mean the entire rhetoric about totems was complete bullshit. If the whole thing is a dream, what difference would it make if a totem spun infinitely or not? Why would it matter if Mal lost track of reality if there was never a reality for her to lose track of in the first place? Plus, if it's all a dream like Biggie's Juicy, that would mean the whole movie is a lie. Now, THAT would piss me off more than the so-called cliffhanger ending. If the totems were all bullshit, that changes the entire movie, and I just don't believe that, especially after JN said talking about totems would take his entire article. Something that complex to be for nothing? I can't wrap my head around that one

But whatever you conclude, understand that it is due to the true brilliance of the movie. Because whatever you decide about the film, you're right (just don't tell me what to conclude). Even if I come up with a legit counter, because you can all probably come up with valid counters to my counter. How many fucking counters does it take to make an excellent goddamn movie? This film is not about us getting the interpretation to line up exactly with what Sir Nolan wanted it to be. If that were the case, he'd do a sequel

There is no movie in the history of the films I've seen that is a better conversation starter than this classic right here. And as we all, even Jon Negroni (no disrespect intended chief, my mouth was one of the things my family couldn't handle about me either), watch this film again, you'll undoubtedly continue to find things you didn't notice even years later

And that's one of the many reasons why this is the single greatest film ever made in my eyes. Thank you, Sir Nolan