08-20-2010, 07:19 AM
(08-06-2010, 05:55 AM)Sheep Wrote: 1. When Yusuf backs the van off the bridge in the second level, the kick is supposed to wake everyone in the third level. The first kick fails, of course, because the team is not awake in the third level at that time. Why doesn't Arthur wake up and go from 3 to 2, as he doesn't have a buffer?
Actually, the kick from the van backing off the bridge isn't supposed to wake everyone up. It was supposed to be a jolt that was strong enough to feel in all the levels of dreaming. It served to give the dreamers a cue as to how long they had in their respective dream states to return to the first level of dreaming.
A few seconds of free fall in the van gives Arthur a few minutes in the hotel and the rest of the team over an hour. They explain this when developing the plan. Later, when the characters acknowledge the kick mid-dream, they remark about how much time they have before they must wake up. Arther checks his watch; once he sets up the kick for the other dreamers, he counts down in the elevator before he must blow the charges to simulate falling. IIRC correctly, the jolt at the snow fortress causes an avalanche and Cobb tells the team they have an hour to get Fischer into the vault with his father.