Inception Ponderings (Spoiler warning)

[Hammerskjold]

Don't forget that Fischer represents the audience, for whom the entire production is being put together.

Ah yes, good point. I think it was either in the CHUD article or somewhere else, where it makes a similar case of Fischer=audience concerning his story arc. Although he knows the snow fortress is not real, the emotional journey he takes is real. Ie: just like when we watch a movie that interests us, it can hook us in etc.

I find most interesting the contrast between the last scene with the top and a similar, earlier scene where Cobb is testing whether he's dreaming with his totem. In the earlier scene, he waits, gun in hand, ready to kill himself to escape if he is indeed in a dream. At the end, however, he doesn't even bother to watch the totem before going to see his children.

I personally think that the top fell down, but that Cobb doesn't care either way, as he's finally back with his kids.

Yeah, I think that was the most important part if we just focus on the emotional part of Cobb's journey.

Whether or not the top falling down means he isn't dreaming is up for debate. When Mal was trying to convince Cobb that he was dreaming by enumerating the inconsistencies of his reality, such as faceless corporations hunting him across the globe, it really struck me that the film itself makes dream-sense. As long as it's going, it's perfectly understandable and coherent, but once you're looking back on it, there are a few points that are never really explained: examples of fridge logic.

Yeah, absolutely. The popular opinions that I've seen so far ranges from:

-Cobb entered the dream world when he sampled Yusuf's super sedative, and never woke up from that point on. (The top he spun was interrupted by Saito coming in iirc.)

-The Mumbasa scene, the walls squeezing in, the faceless corp thug, Saito rescuing Cobb just in the nick of time, can mean that it's dream world, but can also mean that's when Cobb shows us he's aware at some level something isn't right. Which means he actually entered dream world earlier.

My personal interpretation at the moment at least, is Mal's projection is voicing his doubt but really expressing his eroding ability to keep it together.

The following is a bit of a stretch here I know but I'm a visual pun kinda guy. The train out of nowhere= train of thoughts running out of control.
(aside from the other significance of the train revealed later near the end with Mal)

Is Cobb actually a corporate spy? Would this career really result in a price on his head?

Assuming everything else of the technology and their world we saw was true, I'd say yeah. Cobb can definitely earn a price on his head, aside from the false murder charge. Industrial espionage\theft\sabotage at that high a stake, sure.

Is Saito truly powerful enough to clear Cobb's name with a single phone call?

There's one interesting theory I read. Saito is the one hired by Mal's father (Michael Caine) to incept the idea in Cobb's mind, to wake up and face reality. Cobb in limbo all this time (what were seing on screen) to escape his guilt of Mal's suicide.

Interesting, but personally I find it way too left field and a bit too forced.

It's possible that Saito was bluffing, considering if he is that powerful, Tom Berringer's character (Fischer's god father\right hand man\second in command only to Fischer jr. etc) should have recognized him in that lobby scene. Assuming that the monopoly they were after deals with that high of a power level, the players should at least have some sort of passing knowledge of their rivals. Kinda doubtful that they could get to that level of power without knowing the competition.

But again, it's possible Saito was bluffing. IIRC he did say near the beginning to Cobb he's not offering a guarantee.

edited addition:

Have you seen this one? Kinda humourous.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-incep...hat,43814/