Movies with Maricor: Inception - This Movie Literally Mind Scrambles You

Written Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

By Maricor Capulong

I came into this movie not knowing what it was about; I came out still not knowing. Its not that it is a bad thing to be baffled quite the contrary actually. I was just speechless walking out of the movie, not because I didn’t understand the movie; I was quiet because I was doing a run down of the movie scene by scene just to grasp why that spinning top did or did not fall. I guess my friends were doing the same, as we just stood outside the theater in silence. The silence was broken five minutes later when a debate erupted. Did you think it fell? I think it did. So what does that make me Mr. Nolan? Am I a glass half full kind of girl? Does this movie pose a judgment of who has a positive or a negative outlook in life? Hahahah here we go….



The story is about a group of expert information extractors, who steal valuable information from people of importance. Through deep sleep they are able to infiltrate the deepest precipice of the person’s mind and collect the secret. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, the leader of the group and the lead character of the film. Cobb had mastered the art of extraction though his own trips into lucid dreaming with his wife Mal (played by Marion Cotillard.). During these trips, he and his wife once got stuck in Limbo; there they had the opportunity to create their own world. The rest of the team consists of Arthur, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cobb’s right hand man who is the Braun of the team. Ellen Page plays Ariadne, an architect student recruited for her ability to design the dream world. Eams played by Tom Hardy (who by the way will be playing the next Mad Max in the new remake) is the forger, a person who can manipulate their own appearance in the dream world.

The side story to all this is that Cobb’s wife committed suicide, being a confused “beyotch” that she became to be, she made sure Cobb was pinned for her murder so he too will commit suicide. Mal believed that their true life was the lucid dream they woke up from, and that the real world they woke up into is the dream they need to wake up from. Ugh… are you confused yet? I am doing the best that I can here… Mal wanted both of them to come back to sleeping and continue their lives dreaming. Now she comes into Cobb’s missions intent on sabotaging them because she is a bitter hag (she is now just a representation of Cobb’s guilt over her death.) All the while, Cobb left the country and had no way of coming back.

Hired by Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, Cobb is given a chance to redeem himself for his children, by doing this mission he can finally come home to his children. Saito's company is about to go under, due to a competing company who is about to change management. Cillian Murphy plays Robert Fischer Jr. the Scion of the other company, ready to take the helm from his dying father. Saito believes that by inspiring Fischer Jr. to discontinue his father's company, his own business will flourish.

Prepare for more confusion…

In order for them to pull this off, they must get to the third stage of sleep; the deeper they get into his subconscious the easier to ingrain an idea into Fischer Jr.'s mind. In the first stage of sleep, they had to capture Fischer and make it seem as though it is a kidnapping. They then again put themselves to sleep to get to the second stage of sleep (I really don’t know if these stages refer to REM sleep or anything.) In the second stage, they gain Fischer Jr.'s confidence by tricking him into thinking that an organization is trying to steal secrets from his mind, and in turn he must trust Cobb to protect his secrets. When Cobb finally gets Fischer Jr. to trust him, they again put themselves to sleep to get to the third stage. Confused yet?

This movie goes deeper than the matrix does, if the matrix robots/machines knew about using sedatives and limbo, I think they would have had a longer use for humans as batteries don’t you think?

So, after seeing the movie and having at least a day or two to reflect on what I just saw. I just want to see what other viewers thought of this movie and post a question to you all......

Do you think that this mission was just for Cobb to get over his wife?

My friends and I were thinking, since the movie focused more on Cobb's side story about his wife, was this mission done to get him out of the rut he put himself into? Was Saito just a Government agent sent to help Cobb clear his name? Why did Saito have a huge influence on U.S airline customs?

It would be funny if at the end of the movie, the camera pans out to reveal that - the movie about a dream, within a dream, that is a dream- is just a movie being watched by a person who fell asleep in his chair; Or a scene where a baby is seen playing with a ball-model of the world.

Also, if I was in deep sleep in a van and being chased down, shot at with a hail of bullets, I think I have a pretty high chance of being shot. I would probably want to put on a suit of armor before I go into another sleep stage. I would want the “Terminator” to protect me while I was sleeping.

This movie literally mind scrambles you. I liked it very much, but it puts too many suggestions to confuse people. Then again the movie’s point was all about suggestions, so I guess if you don’t think much about it, inception was also done on you, the viewer.

I give it 4 out of 5 hearts. Simply because I am still thinking about it until now. Maybe until I get to rent the DVD I can re-watch it over and over, until I can organize it in my brain. But then risk being mind raped again? Hhhhhmmmm……