Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe
Running Time: 148 minutes
Premise: Dom Cobb is a professional thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance of redemption as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
Written by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe
Running Time: 148 minutes
Premise: Dom Cobb is a professional thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance of redemption as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
Plot Synopsis
Dominick "Dom" Cobb and business partner Arthur are "extractors", people who perform corporate espionage using an experimental military technology to infiltrate the subconscious of their targets and extract information while experiencing shared dreaming. Their latest target is Japanese businessman Saito. The extraction from Saito fails when sabotaged by a memory of Cobb's deceased wife Mal. After Cobb's and Arthur's associate sells them out, Saito reveals that he was actually auditioning the team to perform the difficult act of "inception": planting an idea in a person's subconscious. In order to break up the energy conglomerate of ailing competitor Maurice Fischer, Saito wants Cobb to plant the idea of dissolving the company into the mind of Fischer's heir, son Robert Fischer. Should Cobb succeed, Saito tells Cobb he will use his influence to clear Cobb of a murder charge, which will allow Cobb to return home and to his children. Cobb accepts Saito's offer. Cobb sets about assembling his team: Eames, a conman and identity forger; Yusuf, a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative for a stable "dream within a dream" strategy; Ariadne , an architecture student tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes; and Arthur. Saito insists on accompanying the team to verify the team's success.
When the elder Fischer dies in Sydney, Robert Fischer accompanies the body on a flight back to Los Angeles, which the team uses as an opportunity to isolate Fischer. Cobb sedates him, bringing him into a shared dream with the extractors. Using a "dream within a dream" strategy, at each level in the layered dreaming, the person generating the dream stays behind to set up a "kick" that will be used to awaken the other sleeping team members who have entered another dream layer deeper. Due to the effects of heavy sedation and multi-layered dreaming, death during the mission will result in entering Limbo, an expanse of infinite raw subconscious. Limbo is a space not dreamed by any one individual, but is shared space where one mind can make drastic alterations of any kind.
In the first level, Yusuf's rainy downtown dream, the team abducts Fischer; however, Fischer's trained subconscious projections attack, wounding Saito severely. Eames temporarily takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather, Peter Browning, to suggest Fischer reconsider his father's will. Yusuf drives the team in a van as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Here, the extractors recruit Fischer, convincing him that his kidnapping was orchestrated by Browning and that they are Fischer's subconscious dependency. In the third level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames, Fischer is told they are in Browning's subconscious, but they are really going deeper into Fischer's. Yusuf, under assault in the first level, initiates his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, removing the gravity of Arthur's dream world and causing an avalanche in Eames' dream, a kick which all missed. Arthur improvises a new kick using an elevator that will be synchronized with the van hitting the water, while the team in Eames' dream races to finish the job before the new round of kicks.
Saito succumbs to his wounds, and Cobb's projection of Mal sabotages the entire plan by killing Fischer, sending them both into Limbo. Cobb and Ariadne enter Limbo to find Fischer and Saito, while Eames remains on his dream level to set up a kick by rigging the fortress with explosives. Cobb reveals to Ariadne that he spent "50 years" with Mal in Limbo constructing a world from their shared memories while seemingly growing old together. Returning to the waking world, Cobb and Mal found less than three hours had passed. Convinced she was still dreaming, Mal committed suicide and tried to persuade Cobb to do so too, by incriminating him in her death. Facing a murder charge Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind, ostensibly in the shared care of his mother- and father-in-law, Prof. Stephen Miles.
Through his confession, Cobb attains catharsis and chooses to remain in Limbo to search for Saito. Ariadne pushes Fischer off a balcony, resuscitating him at the mountain fortress, where he enters a safe room to discover and accept the planted idea: that his father wishes him to be his "own man", and that splitting up the conglomerate might not be a radical notion. All team members other than Cobb and Saito ride the synchronized kicks back to reality: Ariadne jumps off a balcony in Limbo, Eames detonates the explosives in the fortress, Arthur blasts an elevator containing the team's sleeping bodies up an elevator shaft, and the van in Yusuf's dream hits the water. Cobb eventually finds an aged Saito in Limbo and the two remember their arrangement, presumably shooting themselves and waking to outer-world reality back on the airplane, where the entire team and Robert Fischer have awakened.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb successfully passes through U.S. customs to his waiting father-in-law, who reunites him with his children. Cobb attempts to determine if he is dreaming or awake by spinning a top, but ignores its outcome to instead happily greet his family.
-from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception
Dominick "Dom" Cobb and business partner Arthur are "extractors", people who perform corporate espionage using an experimental military technology to infiltrate the subconscious of their targets and extract information while experiencing shared dreaming. Their latest target is Japanese businessman Saito. The extraction from Saito fails when sabotaged by a memory of Cobb's deceased wife Mal. After Cobb's and Arthur's associate sells them out, Saito reveals that he was actually auditioning the team to perform the difficult act of "inception": planting an idea in a person's subconscious. In order to break up the energy conglomerate of ailing competitor Maurice Fischer, Saito wants Cobb to plant the idea of dissolving the company into the mind of Fischer's heir, son Robert Fischer. Should Cobb succeed, Saito tells Cobb he will use his influence to clear Cobb of a murder charge, which will allow Cobb to return home and to his children. Cobb accepts Saito's offer. Cobb sets about assembling his team: Eames, a conman and identity forger; Yusuf, a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative for a stable "dream within a dream" strategy; Ariadne , an architecture student tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes; and Arthur. Saito insists on accompanying the team to verify the team's success.
When the elder Fischer dies in Sydney, Robert Fischer accompanies the body on a flight back to Los Angeles, which the team uses as an opportunity to isolate Fischer. Cobb sedates him, bringing him into a shared dream with the extractors. Using a "dream within a dream" strategy, at each level in the layered dreaming, the person generating the dream stays behind to set up a "kick" that will be used to awaken the other sleeping team members who have entered another dream layer deeper. Due to the effects of heavy sedation and multi-layered dreaming, death during the mission will result in entering Limbo, an expanse of infinite raw subconscious. Limbo is a space not dreamed by any one individual, but is shared space where one mind can make drastic alterations of any kind.
In the first level, Yusuf's rainy downtown dream, the team abducts Fischer; however, Fischer's trained subconscious projections attack, wounding Saito severely. Eames temporarily takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather, Peter Browning, to suggest Fischer reconsider his father's will. Yusuf drives the team in a van as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Here, the extractors recruit Fischer, convincing him that his kidnapping was orchestrated by Browning and that they are Fischer's subconscious dependency. In the third level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames, Fischer is told they are in Browning's subconscious, but they are really going deeper into Fischer's. Yusuf, under assault in the first level, initiates his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, removing the gravity of Arthur's dream world and causing an avalanche in Eames' dream, a kick which all missed. Arthur improvises a new kick using an elevator that will be synchronized with the van hitting the water, while the team in Eames' dream races to finish the job before the new round of kicks.
Saito succumbs to his wounds, and Cobb's projection of Mal sabotages the entire plan by killing Fischer, sending them both into Limbo. Cobb and Ariadne enter Limbo to find Fischer and Saito, while Eames remains on his dream level to set up a kick by rigging the fortress with explosives. Cobb reveals to Ariadne that he spent "50 years" with Mal in Limbo constructing a world from their shared memories while seemingly growing old together. Returning to the waking world, Cobb and Mal found less than three hours had passed. Convinced she was still dreaming, Mal committed suicide and tried to persuade Cobb to do so too, by incriminating him in her death. Facing a murder charge Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind, ostensibly in the shared care of his mother- and father-in-law, Prof. Stephen Miles.
Through his confession, Cobb attains catharsis and chooses to remain in Limbo to search for Saito. Ariadne pushes Fischer off a balcony, resuscitating him at the mountain fortress, where he enters a safe room to discover and accept the planted idea: that his father wishes him to be his "own man", and that splitting up the conglomerate might not be a radical notion. All team members other than Cobb and Saito ride the synchronized kicks back to reality: Ariadne jumps off a balcony in Limbo, Eames detonates the explosives in the fortress, Arthur blasts an elevator containing the team's sleeping bodies up an elevator shaft, and the van in Yusuf's dream hits the water. Cobb eventually finds an aged Saito in Limbo and the two remember their arrangement, presumably shooting themselves and waking to outer-world reality back on the airplane, where the entire team and Robert Fischer have awakened.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb successfully passes through U.S. customs to his waiting father-in-law, who reunites him with his children. Cobb attempts to determine if he is dreaming or awake by spinning a top, but ignores its outcome to instead happily greet his family.
-from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception
Character Analysis
Dom Cobb
Cobb is the self-proclaimed “most skilled extractor”. This may seem like arrogance, but it is actually remorse because of what he did to his wife. Since he performed inception on his wife by himself, he acknowledges his talent, but he understands that it is also a curse. This experience teaches him that the most resilient parasite is an idea because it eats at your mind. He puts his skill on full display when he tries to extract information from Saito’s subconscious. Cobb keeps saying “IF this is a dream” to Saito in order to get Saito’s mind to believe that the dream is reality. Also, Cobb tries to gain his trust by offering to protect Saito’s subconscious. Although Cobb obtains the information needed, Mal exposes him and Saito wakes up to the first level. Again, Cobb attempts to make Saito believe it is reality by feigning he doesn’t have much time left.
We know that Cobb is the protagonist, but we do not know we can root for him until he calls his children. He has such a tough time talking to them because he wants to see them and physically interact with them, but he knows he cannot do that until he gets certain issues resolved. Dreams still control his reality. Prior to talking to his kids, he puts a gun to his head while his totem spins only to let out a sigh of relief after it topples. The audience will root for conflicted man that only wants to get back to his kids.
Cobb sets out to find the best team possible after Saito gives him an opportunity to get his wife back. When Cobb goes to his father-in-law to acquire an architect, we learn that Cobb was an architect. Mal’s death ruins this since her projection knows just about everything Cobb’s subconscious does. If she knows the maze (layout of the dream), then she can ruin any job. After a few attempts, Ariadne manages to impress Cobb with her maze. Subsequently, Cobb and Ariadne share dreams and Cobb warns her about creating things from memory in a dream. He does this so that she will not have to experience the agony he did. Although Ariadne leaves after Mal kills her in the dream, Cobb know she’ll be back because reality is not enough once one experiences a dream. Cobb then goes to Mombasa to get a forger, Eames. This proves Cobb’s dedication to the job because Cobol Engineering (company looking for Cobb) has numerous agents there, but Cobb risks it to get back to his children.
Cobb makes two vital pieces of information known while the team prepares for the caper. First, for an idea to grow in a person’s mind, it needs to be simple - “I will break up my father’s empire”. One cannot have an extremely complex idea just appear or else something will seem off. Also, the idea must stem from something basic - Fischer’s relationship with his father. Second, since one’s subconscious is motivated by emotion and positive emotions are more potent, Fischer must have a positive emotional reconciliation with his father.
In the first level, Fischer’s subconscious is shown to be militarized and a projection fatally shoot Saito. As Saito is dying, Cobb tells Ariadne of he and Mal’s time in Limbo which was “50 years”. Later, when Cobb interrogates Fischer about the combination, Fischer says the first numbers that come up in his mind - 528491.Fischer has planted the seed in his own mind.
In the second level, Cobb uses the alias Mr. Charles and tells Fischer that he is dreaming. As Fischer’s subconscious starts to focus on Cobb, Cobb tells him to remain calm which Fischer eventually does. Since Fischer believes Cobb is a friend (and projection), most of Fischer’s projections will not converge on Cobb. In effect, he turns Fischer against his own subconscious. Eames (disguised as a woman) leaves Fischer the six digit code - 528491 - and steals his wallet - further planting the idea that the combination is 528491.
In the third level, Cobb forces Ariadne to tell him the layout of the maze so that Fischer can get to his father quicker in order to finish in time for the kick. Once in Limbo, Cobb finally admits that he planted the idea in Mal’s mind. He does not feel guilt anymore because he and Mal spent a lifetime together and she chose to kill herself. Even though an idea can be powerful, it is up to the person on whether to act on it or not.
Back in the third level, the long-gestating idea of the combination is finally utilized by Fischer in order to help plant the “I will break up my father’s empire" idea.
In reality, Cobb goes back to his old house to see his children. He spins the totem, but leaves it to go hug his kids. The fact that he does not stare at the totem to see if it topples shows that dreams no longer control his reality.
Dom Cobb
Cobb is the self-proclaimed “most skilled extractor”. This may seem like arrogance, but it is actually remorse because of what he did to his wife. Since he performed inception on his wife by himself, he acknowledges his talent, but he understands that it is also a curse. This experience teaches him that the most resilient parasite is an idea because it eats at your mind. He puts his skill on full display when he tries to extract information from Saito’s subconscious. Cobb keeps saying “IF this is a dream” to Saito in order to get Saito’s mind to believe that the dream is reality. Also, Cobb tries to gain his trust by offering to protect Saito’s subconscious. Although Cobb obtains the information needed, Mal exposes him and Saito wakes up to the first level. Again, Cobb attempts to make Saito believe it is reality by feigning he doesn’t have much time left.
We know that Cobb is the protagonist, but we do not know we can root for him until he calls his children. He has such a tough time talking to them because he wants to see them and physically interact with them, but he knows he cannot do that until he gets certain issues resolved. Dreams still control his reality. Prior to talking to his kids, he puts a gun to his head while his totem spins only to let out a sigh of relief after it topples. The audience will root for conflicted man that only wants to get back to his kids.
Cobb sets out to find the best team possible after Saito gives him an opportunity to get his wife back. When Cobb goes to his father-in-law to acquire an architect, we learn that Cobb was an architect. Mal’s death ruins this since her projection knows just about everything Cobb’s subconscious does. If she knows the maze (layout of the dream), then she can ruin any job. After a few attempts, Ariadne manages to impress Cobb with her maze. Subsequently, Cobb and Ariadne share dreams and Cobb warns her about creating things from memory in a dream. He does this so that she will not have to experience the agony he did. Although Ariadne leaves after Mal kills her in the dream, Cobb know she’ll be back because reality is not enough once one experiences a dream. Cobb then goes to Mombasa to get a forger, Eames. This proves Cobb’s dedication to the job because Cobol Engineering (company looking for Cobb) has numerous agents there, but Cobb risks it to get back to his children.
Cobb makes two vital pieces of information known while the team prepares for the caper. First, for an idea to grow in a person’s mind, it needs to be simple - “I will break up my father’s empire”. One cannot have an extremely complex idea just appear or else something will seem off. Also, the idea must stem from something basic - Fischer’s relationship with his father. Second, since one’s subconscious is motivated by emotion and positive emotions are more potent, Fischer must have a positive emotional reconciliation with his father.
In the first level, Fischer’s subconscious is shown to be militarized and a projection fatally shoot Saito. As Saito is dying, Cobb tells Ariadne of he and Mal’s time in Limbo which was “50 years”. Later, when Cobb interrogates Fischer about the combination, Fischer says the first numbers that come up in his mind - 528491.Fischer has planted the seed in his own mind.
In the second level, Cobb uses the alias Mr. Charles and tells Fischer that he is dreaming. As Fischer’s subconscious starts to focus on Cobb, Cobb tells him to remain calm which Fischer eventually does. Since Fischer believes Cobb is a friend (and projection), most of Fischer’s projections will not converge on Cobb. In effect, he turns Fischer against his own subconscious. Eames (disguised as a woman) leaves Fischer the six digit code - 528491 - and steals his wallet - further planting the idea that the combination is 528491.
In the third level, Cobb forces Ariadne to tell him the layout of the maze so that Fischer can get to his father quicker in order to finish in time for the kick. Once in Limbo, Cobb finally admits that he planted the idea in Mal’s mind. He does not feel guilt anymore because he and Mal spent a lifetime together and she chose to kill herself. Even though an idea can be powerful, it is up to the person on whether to act on it or not.
Back in the third level, the long-gestating idea of the combination is finally utilized by Fischer in order to help plant the “I will break up my father’s empire" idea.
In reality, Cobb goes back to his old house to see his children. He spins the totem, but leaves it to go hug his kids. The fact that he does not stare at the totem to see if it topples shows that dreams no longer control his reality.