re: Official "Inception" Thread (***SPOILERS***)

I've seen this movie twice already in theaters and I think its one of the most incredible movies I've seen. Extremely thought provoking.

The discussion on this board has been pretty helpful as well, but after reading all of this one question still looms for me. Maybe one of you guys who seem to understand the movie pretty well can help me out here.

The idea of the architect: Throughout the beginning of the movie it seems to me that it is well established the person who is dreaming is the one who sets up the landscape of the dream (or level). The first dream sequence where Dom tries to extract information from Saito, Nash (original architect) is the dreamer and the one who creates the first. When Dom is training Ariadne on how to build dream levels, she is the dreamer and is able to manipulate the landscape how she wants.

However, my big question is when they get to the Fischer job. Ariadne is the one who is enlisted to create the 3 levels they will be navigating through, and I get it through the first two levels where Yusuf and Arthur are the dreamers. I understand that she taught the levels she created to them. However how does the last level in which Fischer is the dreamer work? How do they know how that level is designed if Fischer is the one who should create it. How do they know about the air vent that cuts through the building, which Mal later takes advantage of?

If anyone has an answer here that would be great. I'm sure its something obvious, but it seems to be the only question I have left.

O ok well I guess that makes sense then. I just thought I remember Dom saying when they hooked everyone up in the 2nd level it was going to be Fischer's dream instead of Browning's like Fischer thought.

Yea you're probably right. Thanks

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but Fischer's subconscious manifests itself as the vault within that dream.

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I think the vault was part of the design, as they wanted Fischer's subconscious to fill it naturally based on what it was "told" in the previous two levels - specifically with the alternate will, and with the pinwheel from the photograph with his father (thereby "convincing" himself that his father really did love him all along).

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The first dream sequence where Dom tries to extract information from Saito, Nash (original architect) is the dreamer and the one who creates the first.

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Actually, Cobb was the dreamer in the first dream and Nash was the dreamer in the apartment.

Muppet properly answered your question already.

I've got two questions I have been thinking about. I've read through this thread, but it is possible that I missed the answers/discussion.

1. There was zero gravity in the 2nd level of the dream while the van fell. Why did they have gravity in the 3rd level of the dream?

2. Fischer had training on how to protect his secrets from people attempting extraction. Wouldn't he have a vivid memory of the dream he just came out of when he woke up on the plane? Wouldn't he understand what just happened since he was prepared to stop it? Or should we assume that because he didn't have as extensive training as the crew that he would forget the dream just like any other dream he has?

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1. There was zero gravity in the 2nd level of the dream while the van fell. Why did they have gravity in the 3rd level of the dream?

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Good question, especially since we know that they felt things through multiple levels. At some point, they felt a shutter and one of the team members asked if it was turbulence from the airplane. Another answered that it was too close and must be Yusef's driving.

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2. Fischer had training on how to protect his secrets from people attempting extraction. Wouldn't he have a vivid memory of the dream he just came out of when he woke up on the plane? Wouldn't he understand what just happened since he was prepared to stop it? Or should we assume that because he didn't have as extensive training as the crew that he would forget the dream just like any other dream he has?

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Waking up on an airplane with a bunch of people who were in the dream had to be a bit weird. Perhaps because of the heavy sedation, he couldn't consciously remember the dream. Maybe the subject had a different injection from the machine than the others so that they could control how much was remembered by the subject. We know that Saito was tipped off and remembered who tried to extract from him.

I'm just brainstorming, and frankly don't know the answer to either of your questions.
As I said before, in a movie with this many copmplexities, there will always be some imperfections that you have to live with.

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If it were a dream he could only see them as he remembered them.

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I'll play devil's advocate here and say that this is incorrect... he'll see them as he projects them... meaning if in his mind he sees them as what he thinks they'll be as older children and wearing different clothes - then that's what they'll be.

A couple of questions about Inception:

In Fischer's first dream, one of the guys poses as Fischer's godfather. How did he get to look and sound like Fischer's godfather?

Second, when Cobb and Adriane first meet, they go into one of Adriane's dreams. However, it is populated by some of Cobb's subconcious. Can anyone help me understand why Cobb's subconcious would alter her dream? And why would the people in ther dreams attack the dreamer and not the other people in her dream?

A poster on IMDB brought something to my attention.
Why doesn't Fischer, the heir to a fortune and one of the most powerful companies in the world, have any security with him on the plane?

It kind of bugs me, but then again I don't expect every movie to be perfect. The Dark Knight had several of these instances where things would be done differently in real life, but it doesn't damper the movie's value to me at all.

I really love the ambiguity that Nolan provides with this movie. It is really one of the best movies I have seen in a while and expect nothing but great things from Nolan in the future.