A little trouble understanding exactly what was going on during the last act of Inception? Click through and maybe this  infographic can help clarify. I would say “SPOILERS” but if you didn’t see the movie you have no idea what you’re looking at.
via blastr
Here’s another infographic that people might find interesting. It gives credit to Cobb as having a 4th dream state slightly above limbo, among other things.
(I do not think this is more accurate necessarily, I only post for interest)
http://th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2010/204/1/a/Inception_Infographic_by_dehahs.jpg
I would really like that infograph as a poster. My view was that the questions over whether Cobb has actually made it out or not are kind of swallowed by the sheer awesomeness of the whole film. That said, I reckon that the ‘was the top going to fall?’ was even better than ‘did magneto move the chess piece?’ The existential question was better left unanswered in the end but I saw reality (?) and limbo as two opposites, with the dream states in between. The two dimensions mirror each other and it is possible to believe just as strongly in either.
@Kyle – Exactly
The entire thing was a dream… The top wasn’t Cobb’s at all, it was Mal’s – which means that he would never have anything that grounded him to reality.
In my belief, he was trapped the whole time and that the only way he might have escaped was to have jumped off the building with Mal.
Wasn’t the whole point of the “being drugged” bit to let the audience know that killing themselves wouldn’t work anymore since they’re too heavily sedated? I figured the “Reality” at the end of the dream was purely Cobb’s subconscious desires. He sees his children, but they’re no older than they were in his memory. And Saito touches the top in Limbo, which they say negates the value of it as a token.
Really, I haven’t understood all this need to explain what happened in Inception. I thought the story was rather straightforward, and the costuming, set design and cinematography helped create distinctions between the various dream worlds.
So, what you’re sayin is Bruce Willis is a ghost and the planet he thinks he’s on is actually Earth in the future!?!?! MY GOD!!
Well Mal and Cobb put themselves into limbo, while Saito falls into limbo. Maybe, Saito, just need to remember that he was there to get himself out. One thing i still question is why is Cobb young and Saito old. I have ideas on that but can’t quite work them out.
Well, what I took away from the movie is that the twist is that there is no twist, Cobb wasn’t dreaming it all and he made it out in the end. Lets face it the “Is this real?, Am I dreaming?, Reality is not reality” angle in these types of films is done to death.
that last part confused me….
i need to see this movie again…
^.^
I think since Cobb and Mal were able to kick right back into consciousness from limbo by killing themselves, that establishes that Saito and Cobb would be able to do the same and not have to ride each kick.
I gotta go see this thing again. Fer serious.
************Spoiler Warning************
Do Saito and Cobb actually shoot themselves, would that even work. Seeing as they are in that fifth level (limbo) because they died (Saito from the 2nd level gunshot, and Cobb being in Fischer Jr. dream after he was shot in the 4th level) I don’t think killing them selves would work. Wouldn’t They have to ride each individual kick back up like Ariande and Fischer Jr. did?