it's all about the way you perceive it.
The movie was amazing. However, I wasn't as "mindfucked" as I expected to be. Everyone was talking about it being thoroughly mindfucking, and I've found it doesn't live up to the thoroughly mindfucking hype if you come in the theater prepared to be mindfucked. I didn't know what the movie was about prior to watching, just that it was "mindfucking".
The ending was predictable. I knew it was going to end with a question and not an answer, and his totem would be spinning and not stopping at the end. When Cobb talked to his father-in-law for the first time, I suspected how it would end. When they explained the totems and how Cobb's (ONLY Cobb's) totem functions, I knew the movie would end with the totem spinning. When Saito got shot and Cobb explained Limbo, I knew it would end with him in Limbo. There a lot of other hints dropped along the way, like his conversations with Ariadne in the cafe, in the warehouse and with Mal. The minute Cobb woke up on the plane without a seen 'kick', I knew he was in Limbo, along with Saito. I believe the others woke up, as I'll explain later.
I also believe the ending was written precisely this way for viewers to come up and be satisfied with their own understanding of what happened (my aunt thinks they all woke up, I'm inclined to believe that Cobb and Saito remain in Limbo while the rest woke up) and generate debate which will lead to publicity. The most obvious marker is the spinning totem at the end of the movie. It's supposed to stop spinning if they were in Reality, and it never did. The second one would be Cobb's explanation of what happens if they kill Saito during the first level of the dream. The amount of sedatives and the maze they built up wouldn't wake Saito as the norm, but instead kill him and send him to Limbo. He also said that the pain would lessen every time they entered a new level. He obviously lied--because while the physical wound didn't appear in the second and third levels of the dream, Saito's insides were very much compromised. He was coughing blood, losing stamina, etc. And then he died, which sent his dream self into Limbo.
Because of the heavy sedation, a 'kick' was required to get them out of each level--jumping off buildings, blowing up the fortress, using the momentum of an explosion to make the elevator move while in freefall (that was really smart by the way, since Arthur had to improvise the original plan). All the others were shown doing measures to ensure a 'kick' to get them out of every level. They were all shown waking up from each level, up until the first dream level in the van. And then they simply had to wait for the timer to go off to wake up in Reality.
Cobb and Saito were never shown actually pulling the trigger of the gun they had at the end, whereas everybody else was shown waking up.
My aunt uses Ariadne's line that she believes Cobb will pull through as proof that they all really woke up.
It's all about the way you perceive it. There are hints that would back-up both endings; I just think the one ending with Cobb in Limbo are stronger.
The concept of time, while being very different in the dream world and in Reality (5 mins in Reality is an hour in dream world), was very vague in their Reality. Cobb never gave the amount of years he was away from his children (just that it's been "a long time"). It could be just me, but "a long time" usually signifies things changing and people growing older. Especially since one of his children is a toddler, while the other I suppose is barely seven. His children are in the ages where even just a year or half a year would already make significant changes physically and mentally.
His children, in terms of height and weight, looked exactly the same as he left them "a long time ago". Were they stuck in Neverland while their father was off in Dreamland?
Of course, this is just the way the script is written. There aren't any answers because if they gave out the answers (Was it all in Cobb's mind? Did Cobb got stuck in Limbo at the end? Or did everybody really wake up? Or has Cobb been replaying his personal Limbo all along?), the movie wouldn't be as mindblowing and as amazing as it is. If all the answers were given, some wouldn't like the movie and would call it a cop-out. The way it ends right now, is perfect. Because it keeps you wondering, keeps you thinking. I bet even the writers don't know the answers to the ending.
Now a question. How does Ariadne's totem work? We know for sure how Cobb's does, and I assume that Arthur's die would roll a certain number to ensure he's in Reality. But a Knight chess piece? Expliquez, s'il vous plait?
And now, I shall fangirl.
I've never really seen what it is about Joseph Gordon-Levitt (since he always seems to play the tortured in love nerd/normal guy screwed by a beautiful girl like in 10 Things I Hate About You and 500 Days of Summer), but he was fucking amazing in this movie. He had the smart guy down to a T, and HE HAD A FIGHT SCENE AND HE WAS HARNESSED HE WAS SUSPENDED IN NO-GRAVITY AND HE WAS JUST REALLY ATTRACTIVE IN THIS MOVIE.
ALSO! There is Arthur/Eames UST, yes? BECAUSE I SWEAR THERE TOTALLY WAS. That scene with Eames and Cobb mentioning Arthur, Eames constanstly making fun of Arthur, Arthur and Eames sitting a chair away from each other and 'talking' and basically heightening the sexual tension, Arthur shooting the subconscious at Dream Level 1 and missing several times only for Eames to take the gun and blow them all up because "YOU MUSN'T BE AFRAID TO DREAM A LITTLE BIGGER, DARLING". kaljaadlfk OKAY I NEED FIC. LIKE. I NEED FIC.
Marion Cotillard. WAS FUCKING AMAZING. SHE WAS SO CREEPY. I haven't been scared of something in a movie since The Ring (Japanese version of course) and that was in first year high school 7 years ago, and omg. SHE WAS SO CREEPY. I will have nightmares about her stabbing me.
The only thing wrong with this movie is that there were 4 Caucasian people, (5 if you count Fischer) and IT WAS THE JAPANESE GUY WHO DIED. Not amused, Hollywood. Why must Ken Watanabe's characters always die? Even though technically he didn't die (just sleeping and losing his mind from the ending I believe in), he was shot and didn't get much action scenes :(
It was an amazing movie. WATCH IT.
Also, I totally fangirled when the HP trailer came on. RON HERMIONE SCENES FTW. So worth it not watching the trailer on Youtube and seeing the thing on the big screen for the first time ♥ THIS IS IRRELEPHANT.
