Inception: What a movie!(Spoilers!)

Let me start off by saying i've been feeling like im living a dream world for quite some time now. That haunting speech by morpheus to Neo is basically the feeling i've had for quite some time now. I can't describe it, but i know other people feel it too. Maybe its not like the Matrix, exactly, but something to that effect.

Inception is basically the Matrix except instead of robots and machines using us for batteries, its ourselves being locked inside of our own dreams. Apparently you can fry your brain and get locked into a constant never-ending dream state. The idea is, if this is even possible.. how do you know that your own reality isn't a dream in and of itself?

You can have a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream... imagine how scary that is...

and each dream within a dream compounds time. Meaning, at the first dream time is basically 5 minutes = 1 hour, but the second dream within a dream 5 minutes = 2 hours, and then a dream within a dream 5 minutes = 4 hours.

You could have been dreaming your entire life to age 50, only to wake up and realize your 22 and have been dreaming that your 50. But then, how do you know that your waking up being 22 isnt a dream in and of itself?

When does it end?

Does it end?


" Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad."

Sounds like an good movie, interesting concepts too. Reminds me of the discussion we're having in another thread about death(the one where the OP talks about a near death experience and a hallow feeling). Also reminds me of something, (which I hope doesn't violate the TOS because it is not personal) - people who take ridiculously high doses of '___' (google "'___' thumbprint" for background) report living multiple, sometimes hundreds, of alternate lives before coming back to reality. I wonder if there really is one "real" reality at all...

Inception was breathtaking. I went and saw it the first chance I got.

When the movie was over, I felt like I'd been there for days. It was uncannily similar to how it feels when waking from a long dream.

The idea that the 2nd dream within a dream, or 3rd, lasts longer exponentially is incorrect in my experience. There is an understandable illusion that you can "dream within a dream." It is an illusion and more or less all of it has been scientifically proven to be such.

Of course they can't test the anamolous experiences that do occur, not in a lab, not feasibly.

In other words if you happen to have a dream that seems to last a year +, it's up to you to figure it out.

There were tons of fallacies as far as dreaming goes in this movie. If they were lucid, they could have healed the bullet wound (or never been bothered by it) or telepathically defeated all of their foes, no contest. The dream idea was used to great effect to provide layers to the story. That by itself did wonders, and they only tapped into a tiny portion of what dreaming is all about!

It doesn't end, but you based that whole last part on the movie's idea on time getting exponetially longer as you go deeper into dreams within a dream.

Ok, I'm alright with people saying there is a such thing as a dream within a dream - even though I think it's really just false awakenings where you wake into the place your mind expects based on what happened before. But I have had "dreams within a dream" as they are put, and time did not dilate or slow down.

It's great that this is opening your mind, but let me offer some balance maybe? That energy you are tapping into is not about you finding something new, it's about you finding inspiration.

Ordered my IMAX tickets, yesterday! Seeing it on Tues - can't wait.

The movie was crazy, and it was resonating 9/11 everywhere.

I found it to be an amazing movie.

reply to post by Novise


yeah except they didnt have control over the dream because they were in someone elses dream.

Yes I can defeat anything in my dream, but if you were in my dream, you couldn't do whatever you wanted, its my dream.

So they couldn't heal the bullet, none of them were his dream, nor their dream.

Insane movie

reply to post by Myendica


Well that does help the movie to make more sense, but at the beginning when the guy said, "It's my dream." He still didn't do anything supernatural, he just got jumped by the guards.

In all real accounts of shared dreaming - it's nobody's dream. It's shared. All parties involved can do their normal lucid abilities, even when they are supposedly in someone else's "space". Sometimes they report others being non-lucid in the shared dream.

Not saying I necessarily believe in shared dreaming, but if you are willing to play along with the idea, there are reports of it on the net, and people who claim to do it together regularly. Not once have I heard of anyone losing their abilities by being in another's dream. Usually the people that do shared dreaming are so skilled that they can do basically anything, if you believe their reports that is.

The movie basically made up it's own rules on dreaming. Falling through the air at the first depth would not make the dreamspace 0 gravity in the second LOL. Even if it gave the tendency for that, it would be up to the dreamer's belief about gravity. Though the dream can be effected by outside environment, belief trumps everything in a dream.

What an amazing movie. I felt it too! Everyone was in awe when it ended and walked out in a daze it seemed. It was strange, when the girl was hit by the wind I felt a cold breeze. I've never been so INTO a movie before! The acting was excellent, I know the director had been working on the screenplay for about ten years.

reply to post by kalinda


I agree! Everyone walked out in a daze. The staff asked us if it was a good movie and I was the only one that could answer lol. The movie really sucks you in, it's because there are 3 things going on at once I think, but for whatever reason.. awesome! Funny when it was over, it felt like it feels when a long dream ends, that thick feeling and heavy relaxation.

Wow!

I don't even know where to begin!

"Inception" is Christopher Nolan's magnum opus. I loved this film from start to finish. For me, it truly turned the notion of what a summer "blockbuster" should look and feel like on it's head. It's total lack of the use of gratuitous sex scenes, naked bodies and insipid, rancid dialogue that permeates most summer fare was a incredibly welcome relief. After one viewing (of many, I'm sure), for me, this is already one of the best sci-fi-noir (if I may use the term) films I've ever seen. To be sure, it draws on inspiration from The Matrix (a perennial favourite here on ATS!) and, to some degree, themes from one of Nolan's previous films, "Memento", only on a much grander scale. Half way into "Inception", I had the feeling that I was watching the birth of a classic. Lets' just say that I rarely (and I mean RARELY) get that feeling for a movie upon the first viewing; especially a movie with so many layers, fast moving dialogue and plot subtleties.

For those of you into the entire numerology thing, there was even a few scenes involving repeating numbers. How many of you caught it? Personally, I caught it by about the 3rd reference, and spent the rest of the movie (which even at 2.5 hours, flew by for me) watching for it. I wasn't disappointed. I'm still trying to figure out the significance of 528-491, but either way, considering the content we regularly discuss here on ATS, it was intriguing, to say the least.

Anyway, enough of my gushing! Go see it and please post your thoughts.

It's truly right up our alley!

Star and flag for you, OP. You beat me to it (shakes fist!), but as long as it's being discussed, I'm happy!

~Nyteskye

Just after I posted my last reply, I came across this link - originally posted on the Coast to Coast AM website. Considering the dream theme of Inception, it's fascinating!

How the Blind Dream

It turns out that if they went completely blind before around the age of 5-7 years old, they will typically dream without any visual experiences. In the very few cases where some report having visual experiences in their dreams, these experiences are more in the abstract sense where they feel like they were seeing something, even though they couldn’t actually recollect or describe when they woke up what the thing looked liked that they saw. This is similar to how occasionally in dreams you can just “know” something, even though there is nothing specifically that you are experiencing in the dream which should indicate what you know.

Yes a must see!

The week before i saw this movie i had a dream within a dream. I was aware i was dreaming and after witnessing the brutal automobile death/beheading of our daughter on the scene, to save both me and my wife from the horror and pain i thought i would wake her up by killing her. Well it backfired, after strangling her to near death her head changed into the shape of a demon and scared the crap right out of me....waking me up.

Was i actually awake....no i awoke in a dream, sitting up in my bed in pitch black........only to slowly wake up, in reality, clutching my wife in bed(not by the throatlol), sweating, heart racing. I then hugged my wife and went to go check on my daughter continually thinking...WTH

May be a bit off topic, but i have not had a nightmare in years never mind a dream with in a dream. The scary thing is both my wife and my daughter had nightmares they could not explain that night.

any dream speacialists out there?



[edit on 21-7-2010 by The Great Day]

Were can I watch this online free

Allthough I think this is a mnidcontrol brainwashing film.

ASS some people on here sayed I walked out in a daze it lasted forever
It was like I was in a dream. hmmm MINDCONTROL.

Mabe I will need some protection to watch this mmm

[edit on 24/09/2008 by ufosbri]

Just got back from the theater...feels like someone cracked open my head, stirred up my brains, and sealed it back up. What a great film! Maybe I'll have more comments after i get some sleep!

Originally posted by Nyteskye
...I wasn't disappointed. I'm still trying to figure out the significance of 528-491...
~Nyteskye

I came up with this, might fit into your 'ones' theme:
5+2+8=15
4+9+1=14
so 15-14=1
just playing with the numbers, could be many ways to try to crack it!

Another movie that offers in abstraction some hints on the Wizard of Oz's capabilities like the Matrix,Dark City,Vanilla Sky and others.

I went earlier in the week and saw it. I had hyped this movie big time in my head and went in with the highest of expectations. I think it met them, but deep down I was hoping it would exceed them. Not to take away from the film, but I let my expectations of it get out of hand.

It was a bit of a mind bender, although I think they missed the boat about how this really could have messed with the audience more.

The intent of the team was to complete inception with Fisher. They should have had Fisher as the CEO of a current company today or something very similar today so that it was more relevant. Had they scripted this so that it could alter the world that we're living in today, it just would have grabbed the audience that much more.

Think of the jaw dropper it would have been if Fisher was overseeing a major company that's running today or if it was something with a major political impact on something we know today. It would have to be generic enough so that it is still gonna be relevant in years down the road but you can see where I'm going with this.

I think Nolan could have done this right had he attempted it.

It's listed as #3 on IMDb currently, however it does have a 9.3 ranking which would place it first. I don't think that is an accurate ranking.

8.4-8.6 I think would be more suited, which still ranks it among some of the best.

That's true it could have gotten the audience more into it by bringing in modern day political factors and stakes. I just loved it for the way it sucked you in, I've never seen a movie do that. There are epics like lord of the rings that will still not do that. The way the story was layered alone and played out was brilliant. Sort of like a brilliant writer can write about anything, and you will be enthralled by the way they descriptively write.

I think this set the standard for modelling a movie - have several things happening at once that connect in a way that build upon eachother and make the audience think (some came away feeling "played" to no end, but if you can enjoy it for what it is, it's great). Some said you couldn't connect to the characters, I think the main characters love story was something everyone could relate to and the stakes were so high for his team, you just felt he had to be at his best and come through.