Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discussion

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I'd have to agree with the earlier post that says these characters were no more than chess pieces. Nolan spends so much time explaining the mechanics of his arbitrary dream-world rules that no one gets a chance to be a fully fleshed out, living, breathing person. And after about the fifth or sixth infodump I kind of checked out mentally -- I just didn't care enough about these people to make sense of what they were trying to do.

I laughed out loud at that moment where Leo goes "oh by the way, if you die in this dream, you go into limbo". It was just so random and stupid. Shouldn't all the dream-exploring professionals involved have KNOWN this already? And if they didn't, shouldn't Leo have told them, I don't know, BEFORE they entered the dream where they had a chance of ending up in endless limbo?

I think the thing I dislike the most about Nolan's films is they're so damn self-serious and self-important, to the point of being completely joyless. He doesn't seem to have any interest in injecting actual FUN into his movies. I thought this was a deliberate choice in Batman Begins, to avoid comparisons to the campy Schumacher films, but it appears this is just the way his movies are.

Also, you know you're in trouble when a character has an overly symbolic name like "Ariadne". I guess her parents knew when she was born that she would grow up to get a gig having to do with labyrinths/mazes.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

They planted the dream boxes into the dreams when they made the levels. It's that simple. You aren't going to make a dream box a cat or an orange.

And who cares how the thing works, he just needed to create some way to enter a dream world, and that's done. Your wrist isn't connected to your brain?

I just assumed that the dream boxes contained the sedative, and the timing allowed them all to enter the dreamworld together.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I laughed out loud at that moment where Leo goes "oh by the way, if you die in this dream, you go into limbo". It was just so random and stupid. Shouldn't all the dream-exploring professionals involved have KNOWN this already? And if they didn't, shouldn't Leo have told them, I don't know, BEFORE they entered the dream where they had a chance of ending up in endless limbo?

Cob was talking specifically for that dream because of the sedatives (in normal dreams, when someone dies they just wake up) and everyone else, particularly Eames, were upset that he didn't tell them prior to entering Fischer's dream.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

The movie didn't need to explain the dreambox, there is a dreambox and that's all there needs to be. People didn't question why the LOST island did what it did, they questioned why we didn't get any answers to questions. Almost no one questions the dream boxes because there is no needed to, the movie isn't about the dream box, it's about the human mind.

It should at least make superficial sense. Having the dream box be this light, cheesy prop that hooks up to someone's wrist makes as much sense as using defibrillator pads on someone's shins or the bottoms of their feet.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

Not if the dream box is injecting them with drugs. The wrist/forearm is exactly where it should be. It's like an IV.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

Sorry, not buying it. But it's not nearly as problematic as using artificial or projected dreamboxes to he same effect as using real ones.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I don't understand how it's problematic. If your brain knows how the dream boxes are supposed to work, you would react to them in the dream the same way you'd react to them in real life. Your brain makes the dream real.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

but they aren't actually working. Even if I know how a clock works, and I can see numbers on a clock in my dream, it's still not a real clock no matter how close it resembles one

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

No, but in the dream state you'd still respond to the clock, subconsciously, as if it was real.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

True, but in order for the film to work, the dreamboxes within a dream really have to work.. and not just seem to work.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I honestly don't see the difference.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

because even if know how a clock works, and even if my "dream" clock seems to work, it will not be accurate, and could change at my subconscious' whim. The dreamboxes are more complex then the clock, and they have to work in order for the logic of the film to work

 

[Trippy]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I think if all the participants believe the dreamboxes are real, they are real.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

They do work because they've been built into the dream by the dreamer. The dreamer knows what they're supposed to do, so they do it. It's probably one reason Cobb didn't build any of the dreams; his subconscious is unreliable because of his wife. These dreams aren't normal. They aren't random and chaotic. They are built intentionally and follow rules. One of the rules is that the dream boxes work.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

ok. You know how a clock works, and generally a clock in your dreams will work much like a real clock, save for the fact that it is not real. I mean, do you know all the inner workings and circuitry of the clock? Even if you did, would your subconscious pay it any mind. If your dream wanted a particular time to show up on the clock, it will show up, regardless of whether or not it was supposed to.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

In a normal dream, yes, but these aren't normal dreams. They have a frickin architect!

 

[bigdaddy]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I think if all the participants believe the dreamboxes are real, they are real.

Duh!

I'm sorry, but isn't that the whole fucking point of the movie?!?! You don't know what is a dream and isn't a dream after awhile.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. They aren't real dream boxes, they would be as unreliable as anything else in a dream If I dreamed of a computer hooked up to the internet, and I was on the computer Googling something, I'm not actually on Google.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

Fine. Don't buy it. I'm not here to convince you. It just seems pretty basic to me.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Re: Inception (Christopher Nolan, Leonardo DiCaprio) Grading & Discuss

I laughed out loud at that moment where Leo goes "oh by the way, if you die in this dream, you go into limbo". It was just so random and stupid. Shouldn't all the dream-exploring professionals involved have KNOWN this already? And if they didn't, shouldn't Leo have told them, I don't know, BEFORE they entered the dream where they had a chance of ending up in endless limbo?

Cob was talking specifically for that dream because of the sedatives (in normal dreams, when someone dies they just wake up) and everyone else, particularly Eames, were upset that he didn't tell them prior to entering Fischer's dream.

Exactly. And he didn't tell them because had he did, they might have not gone on the journey/mission with him, and he desperately needed to do this so he could complete the mission for Saito and return home for his children. He was willing to not only endanger his life but the lives of others because that's how completely and utterly desperate he was to see his children again. That makes a lot of sense to me.