Monday 29 September 2014

Movie Review: The Boxtrolls


Previous Review: The Equalizer
Next Review: Dracula Untold


First and foremost, don't judge a film by its appearance. Don't let the creepy designs of the boxtrolls discourage you from watching this film. The film may look like it has a darker and gloomy tone to it but don't let it deceive you.


For those who haven't seen the past two Laika productions, Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012), it might take you quite a while to get used to the character designs and styles shown in the film. However, despite its weird and unappealing nature, The Boxtrolls is actually a surprisingly fun, charming, heartwarming adventure for people of all ages.


The Boxtrolls is a captivating mix of stop-motion and CG (computer graphics) animation that has a distinctive look that stands out from many of the recently released animations out there. We're living in an age where most animation studios have opted to use CG for their main releases, it's quite rare nowadays to find companies willing to go through the painstaking effort and a great amount of time to slowly move clay figures bit by bit, in very small movements each time to make a film.


Just try to let yourself be submerged in the world before judging it. I believe you'll find it fascinating soon enough. If you pay attention to the film, you'll notice the intense detailing that the animators put into the film. Despite their 'ugliness', the Boxtrolls are actually harmless, shy, good-natured, intelligent and adorable little creatures that roam the streets at night to look for junks to repair or create something new out of them. They fear the humans as much as the humans fear them.


Although the plot is rather straightforward, the film contains some rather complex, mature themes (by children's standards of course). Thankfully, they're expressed in a subtle manner throughout the story instead of becoming hard hitting moral lessons to be learned by the end of the film. Basically, the film tries to encourage children to be independent and stand up on their feet in a world full of adults. It teaches kids that sometimes things are just not what it seems on the outside. We should not judge a book by its cover or lose sight of what's right and wrong. Moreover, the film also shows that sometimes the life we always wanted is not really the life we truly need.


Overall, The Boxtrolls is great. It's one of the best animated films of the year. It has a unique and refreshing look that's different compared with many other animation out there. Just give it a chance.



Rating: 8/10

Note: Please wait for the mid-credit scene. Mr. Trout and Mr. Pickles will have something to say about the nature of the world around them.


"A good stop-motion animator will average about 40 frames a day on his shot. That is about one and a half seconds of film. So, maybe he gets four or five seconds done a week. Most shots are not very long. If all the animators are working, you get four or five minutes done a week. And at the end of 18 months, you have a 90-minute film." 
- Information taken from: http://xfinity.comcast.net/blogs/movies/2014/09/25/the-boxtrolls-directors-reveal-the-secrets-of-stop-motion-magic/



Previous Review: The Equalizer
Next Review: Dracula Untold


Sunday 28 September 2014

Movie Review: The Equalizer

Previous Article: 

Previous Review: A Walk Among the Tombstones
Next Review: The Boxtrolls


"...Brick by brick, dollar by dollar, body by body, I promised I wouldn't go back to being that person...But for you, I'm going to make an exception..." This is what Denzel, being an absolute badass, says that to his enemy in a key scene of the film. Just when you think Liam Neeson was great as a lone-wolf action hero in Taken (2008), here comes Denzel Washington, upping the ante as McCall, the Equalizer. Yeah, I was completely sold by his performance.


Based on the 1985 TV series of the same name, Denzel stars as McCall, a retired man with a shady past, armed with a formidable set of skills like no other, chose to work at a Home Depot hardware store and lives a quiet, peaceful life. However, he soon discovers all the injustice that are happening around the neighbourhood and decides to take matters into his own hands to 'equalize' the situation by helping the helpless.


First and foremost, I couldn't provide any comparisons with the old TV series as I've never watched any of the episodes before. Similar to Taken (2008) or Man On Fire (2004), I don't deny the fact that the film has a preposterous premise. One guy against the entire mob? Seriously? However, despite its silliness, Denzel Washington - a two-time Academy Award winner with numerous bad-ass roles in the past such as Man on Fire (2004), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), The Book of Eli (2010) and Unstoppable (2010), managed to deliver a strong, convincing performance with some very catchy, powerful punchlines that actually makes the viewers believe that he's the guy who is really capable of taking down the entire Russian mafia on his own. He owns the character and makes the character come to life on screen.

Aside from that, we get to know him just from his expressions when his personal background is briefly mentioned in the film. Although the film relies on a few plot contrivances for it to work (typical issue for most action thrillers) and it also includes the much overused 'walk-away' explosion scene again, but Denzel just look so bad-ass whenever he fights on screen that I willing to overlook some of its flaws.


On the other hand, Marton Csokas did a great job in his portrayal of Teddy/Nikolai, the intimidating and menacing Russian mob fixer who's sent by the mob to deal with the situation. There's one particular disturbing scene in which he slowly circles a terror-stricken prostitute while comforting and reassuring her that it's going to be okay before leading her to an inevitable fate. Chloë Grace Moretz did a fine job as Teri as well. It's such a shame that she was taken off screen rather early in the film, only to reappear again in the final moments.


The film gives a satisfying climax and the action is well choreographed. Another notable mention is that the film contains a lot of bloody and gory violence. If some viewers feel uncomfortable with on-screen gruesome violent fights, then in that case it's probably not advisable to watch this film. However, please keep in mind that these people (the mafia characters the actors portrayed) are not considered as humans, but merciless scumbags. They treat women as nothing other than sexual objects for money, willing to kill anyone without hesitation or remorse, thinking they're high and mighty and forcibly exert authority and influence over others. In the film, McCall gave them a choice beforehand, but they choose to belittle him instead. So, violence was necessary and they've got exactly what they deserve. To be honest, I don't feel sorry for them at all.


Overall, the film exceeds all my expectations. The film delivers, in spades. I expect Denzel Washington to kick some criminal ass and I've gotten more than I bargained for. Gruesome and brutal, but highly rewarding. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Highly recommended! 



Rating: 8.5/10



"One day someone does something unspeakable to someone you hardly knew, so you do something about it because no one else is going to...Because you can." 


Previous Article: 

Previous Review: A Walk Among the Tombstones
Next Review: The Boxtrolls


Saturday 27 September 2014

Everything you need to know about Inception (2010) Explained - Part 5


SPOILER ALERT: This article is mainly about the film Inception (2010). Please do not read this article if you haven’t watched the film and if you do not wish to know the specific details of the film. It contains heavy spoilers which will certainly affect your viewing of the film. If you haven’t seen Inception yet, please stop reading and watch it, because it's a great film. 

The purpose of this article is to provide detailed explanations about the terms, various interpretations for one of my top favourite films, Inception (2010) that's written, directed, produced by Christopher Nolan so that people can have a greater understanding of this unusually complex yet fascinating film.

Note: The following explanations are provided based on my personal understanding of the film and what I learned after watching it 5 times in the cinema 4 years ago. (Believe it or not, I wrote this myself 4 years ago!If there are any mistakes found in these articles, please kindly provide any feedback comments below so I can rectify it. 
Q & A for Inception - Part 3

There are total of 44 questions with answers provided for each of them. Brace yourselves.

Some Questions are added by me and some are taken from the following sites:

Note: Some answers are modified or changed completely according to my own views about the film. Answers with ‘A:’ are left unchanged from the sites.


30. How do Cobb and Saito survive limbo for such an extended period of time? Isn't your mind supposed to burn out in there?

A: The film never actually says your mind will burn out there, merely suggest that you'll become lost there and be unable to find your way out. The real obstacle to getting out of limbo seems to be realizing that you're in limbo. At the end of the film, it takes an appearance by Cobb to remind Saito that the world he's in isn't real, and once he realizes Saito reaches for a gun and shoots himself in order to escape. It could be that your brain only actually is damaged out if you stay in Limbo for the full term, or if you stay there after the machine connection powering the dream is disconnected.

31. Was Ariadne somehow aware of the numbers Fischer would come up with or did she change the hotel's floor plan so that 491 would be below 528?

Cobb told Arthur by phone that it’s 5th floor. Since Arthur is the Dreamer, all he need to do is to change the room number.

32. Why did dying wake dreamers up early in the movie, but later in the movie it sent them to Limbo?

A: The film explains this as being due to the types of sedatives used on the dreamers during the final sequence. When normal sedatives are used, death wakes you up. But in order to go three dream levels deep, heavier sedatives must be used, causing this unwanted side-effect.

33. Why didn't Arthur wake up when the van drove off the bridge?

Earlier in the movie Arthur tells Ariadne that if Yusuf kicks too early then they won't wake up. While normally in order to wake up you must receive a Kick from the level above (as shown in earlier Extraction scene in the film when Cobb is pushed to a bathtub), this isn't true when using a strong sedative. It requires two synchronized Kicks. Arthur didn't have the second Kick ready when the van drove off the bridge, so he wasn't awakened by the van falling off the bridge.

34. When Arthur plans his Kick, why is it important for everyone to wake up at the same time?

A: We're not entirely sure it is. It's more important that he wake them up quickly when it comes time for the Kick, to time it to occur at the same time as the Kick in the level above. By putting them in the elevator he can give them a Kick all at once, and synchronize it with the other Kicks.

35. How do the never-ending staircases work, and how was Arthur able to use one without Ariadne, as the architect, there to alter the architecture? 

A: The never-ending staircases are paradoxes (design technique used by Architect to disguise the boundaries of the Dreamer’s dream space by designing it to be a complex maze, creating endless loops to keep projections of anyone from interfering). Ariadne designed the levels and probably designed the staircase, but Arthur is the level 2 Dreamer, so he can change the designs if he wants to. Similar shortcuts were worked in, in advance, to the snow dream by Eames. Ariadne tells Cobb about them when they need a faster route to the fortress.


36. Aren't you supposed to be alone in limbo? Why Cobb's projections of his wife and kids are there?

Limbo is an infinite dream place of shared consciousness. It only contains things you've built in it or what you intended there to be, which could explain why limbo has so few projections. When you’re there too long, the mind starts to think it's real. That's why it's dangerous.

Cobb said before: “Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places.

Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

 (The machine allows you to share dream space with others, but since only Cobb and Mal been to there, so the place is filled with things created by both of them. Ariadne is new, so there's none of her projections in there.)  The projection of his wife is something he tells Mal at the end that he’s tried to recreate over time (by storing memories of her in his mind), so they could still be together in dreams. Therefore, it could be that she’s actually an intentional creation of his, out of love and guilt. Similarly, Saito could have created the guards which populate his limbo. The projection of his kids could be that he misses them so much and wanted to see them again since he didn't see his kids one last time before he left.

37. How does one wake up from limbo?

Most importantly, the person needs to be fully aware that he's in limbo. Under heavy sedation and the time machine is still in countdown, one needs to produce 2 synchronized kicks to return the level above or needs to synchronize the Kick that person performs in Limbo with all kicks on the level above to level 1 dream, then return to reality. Under normal sedation, just by killing themselves or performing a Kick on each level would do (doesn't need to be synchronized since a slight disturbance can cause dreams to collapse).

38. What did Cobb putting a spinning top inside the safe mean?

A: The safe is a creation of the subconscious that Cobb exploits, in this case Mal. The safes are constructed so that the Target believes that it is a safe place for them to store their secrets. The top is actually Mal's totem, which she uses to determine whether she's in a dream. If it never stops spinning, which tells Mal that she's in a dream. By placing a constantly spinning totem in the safe, Cobb is placing a very simple idea (“The world is not real”) inside her subconscious. It's not that she saw the totem spinning, but that it was always spinning in her subconscious mind. This is why she thought she was trapped in the dream world.

39. What significance did the numbers on the piece of paper that Eames gives Fischer have?

These numbers (“528491”) were the same ones that Fischer randomly came up with for the team when he was being held hostage. Since a safe designed by an Architect in the dream is filled with the Target’s secrets, the safe must be set to unlock with the Target’s own numbers. By taking Fischer to second level of the dream and reminding him about the numbers (by Eames disguising as a blonde woman, his subconscious is able to trace the numbers that was "random" on the first and interpret it as being significant on the second and finally the actual combination for the safe on the third. Cobb further forces Fischer to remember the number by telling him the numbers could be what the Extractor trying to get (Cobb pulled ‘Mr. Charles’ on Fischer) and level 2 dream is a hotel, asking him what are the numbers to figure out which room to search for the Extractor.

40. Arthur blows up the elevator to create ‘gravity’. How does that work?

To those in the lift, the force of the lift pushing them is equivalent to gravity. They experience the feeling of falling that wakes them, but it is not gravity providing the force of motion, it is the explosives. The result is the same as the inner ear only detects the acceleration due to force acting on the body.

41. Why did Ariadne jump off the building in limbo if Eames was going to wake her up with his Kick in the level above? 

A: Because of the sedative, it requires two synchronized Kicks in two levels to wake her up to the level above, instead of the single Kick normally used. The first three Kicks upward - from Eames's dream up to Arthur's up to Yusuf's - were planned ahead of time, but Cobb and Ariadne's trip to Limbo was not. In order to be Kicked upwards from Eames's level up to Arthur's up to Yusuf's, Ariadne had to Kick herself up from Limbo to Eames's level in order for Arthur's Kick to be effective. It shows that in dreams, many times when something wakes you up in reality, something in the dream also causes you to wake up, simultaneously.

In the Extraction mission, Cobb in level 2 dream being awoken by the water in the bathtub on level 1. It can be seen that water is pouring in at the same time in level 2.

42. After he's shot and killed, they resuscitate Fisher. Why couldn't they save Saito in the same way?

Saito is shot on the first level of the dream, but dies on the third level and enters limbo minutes before Ariadne leaves Limbo. Therefore, there isn't enough time to find Saito and Kick his consciousness back to level 3 for Eames to resuscitate him.

Even if they manage to resuscitate him on the third level, the Kick on third level would bring him back to the second where he was still dying, and if he survived that, the Kick on the second level would still bring him back to the first where he was dying the fastest anyway. In the end, he still goes back to Limbo.

Meanwhile, since Fischer was shot on the third level and sent to Limbo, his "bodies" on the other two levels were totally fine. Ariadne pushed him off the building in Limbo (level 4) to Kick his consciousness back to Eames dream (level 3) so the defibrillator could resuscitate Fischer back to life (hence, a ‘jolt’) in level 3 dream to complete the mission. If she had just shot him again down in Limbo, he will end up in Limbo again.

43. How does Professor Miles know Cobb will be arriving at the airport?

The flight from Paris to L.A. takes about 11 hours. From the phone call between Cobb and his kids, it is shown that his mother is not fond of him as she refused to speak with him. It could be that she thinks he's a criminal and the murderer of his own wife. Since Miles is Cobb's mentor and father-in-law, Cobb made a call before the flight starts (he believes that he'll complete the mission and Saito will honor their agreement) as he needs Miles to convince his mum that he's not what she thinks he is and let him sees his kids. As Cobb walks out from the airport, Miles said: “You're Welcome.

44. How does Cobb’s team fall asleep so fast?

The machine used to enter dreams is connected to the dreamers via intravenous therapy. It can be assumed that there is a mild sedative (or strong to perform Inception) or sleep-aid introduced while triggering the machine which causes the team to fall asleep immediately.












Everything you need to know about Inception (2010) Explained - Part 4


SPOILER ALERT: This article is mainly about the film Inception (2010). Please do not read this article if you haven’t watched the film and if you do not wish to know the specific details of the film. It contains heavy spoilers which will certainly affect your viewing of the film. If you haven’t seen Inception yet, please stop reading and watch it, because it's a great film. 

The purpose of this article is to provide detailed explanations about the terms, various interpretations for one of my top favourite films, Inception (2010) that's written, directed, produced by Christopher Nolan so that people can have a greater understanding of this unusually complex yet fascinating film.

Note: The following explanations are provided based on my personal understanding of the film and what I learned after watching it 5 times in the cinema 4 years ago. (Believe it or not, I wrote this myself 4 years ago!If there are any mistakes found in these articles, please kindly provide any feedback comments below so I can rectify it. 
Q & A for Inception - Part 2

There are total of 44 questions with answers provided for each of them. Brace yourselves.

Some Questions are added by me and some are taken from the following sites:

Note: Some answers are modified or changed completely according to my own views about the film. Answers with ‘A:’ are left unchanged from the sites.


15. While entering a new dream level, how do the characters in the shared dream know they're in a dream? How do they know what they are supposed to do?

A: It is made apparent throughout the film that the people who create and operate in the dream are fully aware of what they're doing because they've trained ahead of time. Imagine, if you will, that you could predict what dream you were going to have tonight and you could prepare for it, when you arrived in the dream you would be aware what it was because you have prepared yourself for it. Throughout the film Cobb's team prepares thoroughly for the Inception job; they study Ariadne's models, they go through the scenarios, etc. By the time they are actually ready to enter the dreams, they have fully prepared their minds for what they're about to experience and their minds can thus recognize the reality that they are in a dream while Fischer, on the other hand, has not had any prior knowledge of this and can thus be fooled by the illusion.

16. Both Saito and Fischer are powerful men in the same energy industry, why Fischer is unable to recognize Saito?

Saito never actually met face-to-face with Fischer in the real world throughout the film, only in the dream. A dream isn't real and remembering what’s happening in reality before entering a dream is important. Fischer doesn't know that he’s dreaming and can be easily fooled by illusions in the dream. It could also be that Fischer did recognize Cobb’s team on the plane but he perhaps thought it’s just a normal dream.

It’s the same as why:
  • Cobb managed to pull a ‘Mr. Charles’ on Fischer.
  • Eames, as Browning, changes back to himself in front of Fischer and he didn't even realize it.
  • Fischer doesn't even seem to recognize Cobb when they’re collecting their baggage at the airport near the end of the film. 

17. Is Mal in the window after Cobb wakes up from Yusuf's sedation test?

Yes. But this is probably a hallucination due to the fact that he just woke up from dreaming about he and Mal spent time at Limbo together during Yusuf's sedation test. There’s a close-up shot of Mal sitting on the ledge of the hotel room where she committed suicide too. It could have been his haunted memories (memories he regrets/want to forget).

18. When Mal commits suicide and jumps off the ledge, is the room behind her trashed?

No. The room behind her is fine. She deliberately lures Cobb to the wrong room so she can talk and try to convince him to die with her without letting him have any chance of stopping her. That's why she gets a room across from the one he's in.

19. Assuming that the ending is real, why the police investigation regarding Mal’s case puts all the blame on Cobb and thinks that he killed her?

Mal told Cobb her plan to incriminate him if he won’t jump with her. Mal went to 3 different psychologists to prove that she’s mentally sane, then sent a letter to their attorney that Cobb is trying to kill her and papers indicating her mental state. Considering that Mal had deliberately staged a struggle in the hotel room before she jumped off the ledge of the opposite room, this is why the police refuse to listen to Cobb’s explanation that she’s mentally unstable and conclude that he killed her.

However, one could argue that the police should be able to know the location where Mal jumped out from the forensics, records that Mal rented 2 hotel rooms and there should be fingerprints on the ledges of the window. It is uncertain whether Cobb did inform the police that she jumped from the other side of the room or not. No one knows what actually happened after the incident.

20. It is mentioned in the film that 10 hrs = (1 week in level 1 dream) = (6 months in level 2 dream) = (10 years in level 3 dream) while in heavy sedation. However, it seems that not even a day has passed in level 1 dream throughout the whole mission. Why so?

That’s the original Inception plan. However, due to unforeseen circumstances such as Fischer’s subconscious is trained (heavily armed and capable of finding the intruders quickly) and Saito is hurt and dying, their mission needs to be completed as quickly as possible.

This is one of the weaknesses of the film, however. The "reverse time dilation" effect slows the van drop down greatly, but it is not clear that the appropriate lengths of time pass in the lower levels. For example, if the stated time slowing occurred as predicted, the team would have spent much longer in the snow fort than shown - days instead of the at-most hours indicated. One can only guess that the location of the snowy mountains could be in places like Alaska where there's continual daylight during the summer.

21. How did Cobb and Mal end up in Limbo in the first place?

The movie suggests that it was an accident. Cobb and Mal took a normal sedative (otherwise he would need a Chemist) and entered a shared dream from their living room, exploring the concept of dream within a dream. Cobb was curious and wanted to keep going deeper. So he went in deeper with Mal by intentionally killing themselves or through another dream machine on that dream level, just to see what would happen and ended up in limbo (although they realized it, but they lost sight of what was real after they built ‘their world’ in limbo) and grew old together until Cobb can’t take it anymore. So, it’s old Mal that puts the top in the safe and old Cobb that spins the top in the safe.

Cobb:”We lost sight of what was real. We created; we built the world for ourselves. We did that for years. We built our own world…it wasn't so bad at first, feeling like ours. The problem was lonely and none of it was real. Eventually it just became impossible for me to live like that…”



22. If Mal and Cobb grew old together in Limbo, and we see them as an elderly couple, why are they young when at the end of the time in limbo they kill themselves on the railroad tracks?

The first time we see Cobb envisioning them killed by the train, they're young. (There's a close up shot of their young hands as well) This could be from the dream that Cobb had during Yusuf's sedation test.

The scenes where the young Mal put the top in the safe and young Cobb spins the top in the safe when Cobb explains to Ariadne on the first dream level, the younger versions of them killed by the train near the end of the film could be from the memories that Cobb regretted/wanted to forget (memories constructed by Cobb that Ariadne visited) since this is where his guilt comes from, as these scenes are shown when Cobb reveals that he performed an inception on Mal near the end of the film.

Later at the end when Cobb tells the real story of how they escaped limbo, we see their older and wrinkled hands hold firmly on each other on the rail tracks. We also see the older Cobb and Mal walking through the city while Cobb talks about them growing old together. As Cobb finally gets over of his wife's death and guilt at the end, he finally manage to forget the memories of the younger versions of them killed by the train and we finally get to see the truth.

Dreams seem real when we're in them. Therefore, remembering what happened exactly in dreams takes years of experience.


23. Why is Saito so much older than Cobb in the final dream level (limbo)?

Saito dies in Eames' dream and enters limbo minutes before Ariadne leaves Cobb's dream level with Mal. This could mean that Saito has been within limbo for quite some time. By the time Cobb found him, he’s become as old as we saw from the film. It could be that Cobb knows he's in limbo and this keeps him from aging visibly. Saito on the other hand seems to have forgotten where he isunable to perceive reality and so time in the dream (which could have been centuries and Saito died countless times since time runs faster the deeper you go) has more of an effect on him. Similarly, the first time Cobb and Mal end up in limbo they aged because they've lost, forgotten where they really are and accepted it as their reality.


24. What causes the loss of gravity in the hotel dream world? 

A: As it is in real life, the dreamer's dream can be affected by things happening outside the dream. If it gets cold while you’re sleeping, sometimes people dream of ice or snow. If a person falls out of bed, sometimes they’ll dream of skydiving or falling in their dream. So when the van in the dream level above the hotel falls off the bridge, the motion of those inside the van is thrown off, and that feeling of falling carries over into the dream, making it as though there’s no gravity in the hotel level below the van.


25. If the dreamer's body's sense of gravity changes and it alters the gravity in their dream, why then does the van's free fall only alter Arthur's gravity in the hotel? Shouldn't the rest of the team suddenly become weightless in the snow covered mountainside (and below)?

In the film, it shows that Saito shows less pain (as mentioned by Cobb) and was able to walk in deeper levels of dreaming, albeit still capable of bleeding and die at the third level of dreaming. It shows the perception of physical sensation is harder to reach when there’s a level in between. It only affects the level that’s directly below the level where the van falls off the bridge. Cobb and the rest are three levels down, so the imagined van’s free fall has no effect on them.

26. How did Mal get involved in all the dream invasion stuff to begin with?

A: It’s seems pretty clear from the context of the movie that Mal and Cobb were married and engaged in legitimate dream exploration together before Mal’s death. After her death, Cobb was forced to use his knowledge of dreams to become a thief.

27. Why did Cobb perform Inception on Mal?

A: Cobb and Mal were trapped in Limbo for 50 years, unaware that their world wasn't real. Cobb eventually discovered the truth, but Mal refused to accept it. In order to get Mal to kill herself and return to the real world, Cobb performed Inception on her, planting the idea that the world wasn't real in her mind. This worked; they killed themselves and escaped Limbo. Unfortunately, the idea remained in Mal's mind and once they returned, she was unable to accept that the real world wasn't a dream.

28. Why did Cobb need to use Inception on Mal to convince her to kill herself? Couldn't he have simply snuck up on her and shot her?

Mal needs to be fully aware that she’s dreaming. It could also be Cobb, madly in love with Mal, simply couldn't bring himself to do it. Remember, he was barely able to shoot a projection of her. It might be difficult to kill the real Mal, no matter how important he thought it was to do so.

29. Arthur blows up an elevator to create a Kick in anti-gravity. How does that work?

A: Since there is no gravity, Arthur disconnects the elevator from the cables and then uses an explosion to propel it. When it hits the bottom they're shaken around, creating a Kick. Arthur uses the elevator because he needs a way to insure that the Kick occurs quickly and to everyone at once so he doesn't have to do them one at a time, in much the same way the falling van drops them together.






Everything you need to know about Inception (2010) Explained - Part 3


SPOILER ALERT: This article is mainly about the film Inception (2010). Please do not read this article if you haven’t watched the film and if you do not wish to know the specific details of the film. It contains heavy spoilers which will certainly affect your viewing of the film. If you haven’t seen Inception yet, please stop reading and watch it, because it's a great film. 

The purpose of this article is to provide detailed explanations about the terms, various interpretations for one of my top favourite films, Inception (2010) that's written, directed, produced by Christopher Nolan so that people can have a greater understanding of this unusually complex yet fascinating film.

Note: The following explanations are provided based on my personal understanding of the film and what I learned after watching it 5 times in the cinema 4 years ago. (Believe it or not, I wrote this myself 4 years ago!If there are any mistakes found in these articles, please kindly provide any feedback comments below so I can rectify it. 
Q & A for Inception - Part 1

There are total of 44 questions with answers provided for each of them. Brace yourselves.

Some Questions are written by me and some are taken from the following sites:

Note: Some answers are modified or changed completely according to my own views about the film. Answers with ‘A:’ are left unchanged from the sites.



1. The calculations of the time difference in the dream space compared with the real world:

5 min in real world = 1 hr in level 1 dream. (a factor of 12, if the people are normally sedated).
10 hrs = 1 week in level 1 dream = 6 months in level 2 dream = 10 years in level 3 dream for the people who are heavily sedated.  It is unknown how long the perception of time would be in Limbo, but according to calculations it’s 200 years. (a factor of 20)
Cobb and Mal stayed in Limbo for 50 years. Let’s assume Limbo to be level 4.
50 years, level 4 = 2.5 years in level 3 = 1.5 months in level 2 = 54 hrs in level 1 = 2 hr 42 mins in real world. (for heavy sedation)
50 years = 50 months = 125 days = 250 hrs = 20.8 hrs in real world. (for normal sedation)

2. How does the Forger work?

A: Eames is the Forger. In the real world, he can forge identities using his contacts and his ability to fake documents. In the dream world, he can alter his appearance and take on the personality of someone else he's studied, probably using much the same methods used to construct buildings.

3. Who were the dreamers for the different levels?

A: Level one, with the van, was dreamed by Yusuf (Dileep Rao). Level 2 in the hotel was dreamed by Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Level 3 with the snow fort was dreamed by Eames (Tom Hardy). The final level was Limbo and dreamed by no one, since it's a place of shared consciousness.


4. How does the Architect have control over someone else's dream?

The Architect designs the dream levels in the real world, and then teaches the level design to the Dreamer. The Dreamer then constructs the dream according to the Architect’s design.

5. When Ariadne finds Mal in the basement of Cobb’s memories, she starts to tell Mal her name but Mal cuts her off: "I know who you are." How does Mal know who Ariadne is? 

Since Mal is Cobb’s projection, if he knows her, then Mal should know her as well.

6. What’s happening in the Extraction mission at the beginning of the film?

Cobol Engineering assigned Cobb, Arthur and Nash to steal information about a secret document about Saito’s energy expansion plan from Saito’s mind. There are two levels of the dream: Dream 1: Saito’s secret hideout with his mistress, Dream 2: the palace. Cobb is the Extractor, Nash is the level 1 Dreamer and Architect while Arthur is the Point Man and level 2 Dreamer.

Cobb manages to steal the secret document but discovers that Mal has informed Saito about the Extraction. Mal threaten to torture Arthur, so Cobb shot him to wake him up. The dream collapses since the Dreamer is absent. Saito got hit by crumbling wood and Cobb got a Kick from Nash and they wake up in Saito's secret hideout. Saito reveals that he knew about the Extraction all along and changed vital information on the document but decides to go along and used it as an audition for an Inception mission. He’s impressed when he found out he’s still dreaming when he feels the floor carpet is made from the wrong material. A kid on the train (reality) informs the team with music by putting an earphone to Nash’s head as the timer reaching 0. As the timer on the dream machine reaches 0, Arthur magically disappears from the dream and return to reality. Arthur then set the machine to wake up Cobb, then Nash. The team aborts the mission, pack up everything and leave. A few minutes later (could be about 10 min), Saito wakes up.

7. What’s the original plan of the Inception mission?

Time needed in Reality: 10 hours.

In Level 1, time in the dream: 1 week.  
Idea to be planted: I will not follow my father’s footsteps.
Method: Eames disguises and impersonates Browning, Fischer’s godfather and convinces him that his father loves him and doesn’t want him to follow his footsteps. Cobb gets a random number from Fischer’s mind to set the hotel room number in level 2. Yusuf drives with everyone in the van to the bridge where they can perform the Kick.
Kick: the van hit through the barrier and off the bridge.

In Level 2, time in the dream: 6 months.
Idea to be planted: I will create something for myself.
Method: Eames reminds Fischer about the number. The team tricks Fischer by letting Fischer’s projection of Browning tells him that his father (so it seems self-generated) has an alternate will which supersedes the other and his father wants him to split his empire.
Kick: to have the floor of the hotel room with everyone (528) drop from underneath by triggering the explosives in 491 below.

In Level 3, time in the dream: 10 years.
Idea to be planted: My father doesn’t want me to be him.
Method: By now, the random number Fischer comes up will be the security code for his safe. His projection of father should appear in the vault. Eames need to come up with something to put in the safe (paper fan from the picture Fischer cherished most) to let Fischer thinks that his father doesn’t want Fischer to be him.
Kick: The Avalanche.

After all the Kicks are synchronized and Yusuf wakes up, Yusuf performs a Kick on each person in reality to wake everyone up.

8. In the film, Cobb pulled a “Mr. Charles” on Fischer due to the time constraints. What exactly is “Mr. Charles”?

"Mr. Charles" is a gambit designed to alert the Target (Fischer) to turn against his own subconscious by telling him that he’s dreaming and pointing out the strangeness of it all, gaining his trust  in order to move forward with the mission at hand as quickly as possible. Cobb impersonates as Mr. Charles, a projection of Fischer’s subconscious trained by an Extractor who comes to help him to get rid of the intruders.  This is extremely dangerous as this alerts Fischer’s trained subconscious to be well-prepared to find the intruders and kill them (Fischer’s projections in the third level down is militarized and well-armed).

9. Is Eames the Dreamer for the third level or Fischer?

Listen carefully, in the hotel room, Ellen Page asks whose subconscious we're going into, and Cobb answers, "Fischer's." The task of being the dreamer on each level requires being someone within the team so the designs for the dream space can be correctly constructed according to plan.


10. Was the city with crumbling buildings limbo or was it Cobb's dream (memories of limbo) since Ariadne and Cobb didn't die to get there?

It was Limbo. When Fischer and Saito died in Eames' dream, they both went to limbo. When you die in a dream under heavy sedation, you go to Limbo. It is often thought that it was Cobb's dream since Mal stabbed him and he could have died and went to limbo or how Cobb ended up on the beach near to Saito's palace. However, this is incorrect as Fischer wouldn't be there. One could argue that he’s just Cobb’s projection of Fischer. But projections are creations of the subconscious, which Cobb can’t control. Therefore both the city with crumbling buildings and Saito's palace must be limbo.

 11. When Cobb and Ariadne go after Fischer into limbo, do they connect the device to Fischer?

No. They do not. It is only the defibrillator that connects to Fischer and we only see them hook themselves up to the machine. The reason they end up in limbo is because they are putting themselves into sleep, going another level down, without having the architecture of the next level down created. Because it's raw and unconstructed, they can only go to limbo. Since limbo is shared by anyone in the dream, Cobb can find Saito and Fischer.


IMPORTANT:
12. Let’s say the ending is real. How Cobb and Saito managed to get back to reality (in the plane)?

The inception mission is planned to be about 10 hours in reality. So, the sedative was supposed to last "about 10 hours". The flight they were on (Sydney to L.A.) takes about 13 hours 20 minutes. The plane was getting ready to land when Cobb and Saito woke up. The stewardess was passing out immigration forms and telling the passengers to get ready for descent (this happens about 20 - 30 min before the plane lands).

Presumably, the time taken to drug Fischer (after seat belt sign is off, so 30 - 45 min), time needed for the drug to fully take effect (about 1 hour 10 - 15 min), and time needed to perform preparation work before the mission (about 10 – 15 min). Cobb drugged Fischer so they could connect him to the machine. The mission starts about 2 hours 15 – 25 min (the time it takes for the team to fall asleep after connected to the machine) after the plane takes off. Due to unforeseen circumstances (Saito is injured and dying and Fischer’s subconscious is being trained by an Extractor before), the team need to complete the mission as fast as possible.

The Inception was successful. After all the Kicks are synchronized, everyone other than Saito and Cobb woke up on the first level of the dream. Yusuf returns to reality due to the fall and performs a Kick on each person in reality to wake them up and disconnect them from the machine.

Evidence:
  • Yusuf is seen escaping from the van in the water, but he’s not seen after that. Only Fischer, Eames, Ariadne and Arthur are shown on the surface.
  • This is why we saw Ariadne, Arthur, Eames and Fischer all awake in the plane when Cobb wakes up.
  • Since Yusuf woke up instead of being killed like Arthur in the Extraction mission, the dream doesn’t collapse and looks fine. Even if the dream will collapse due to the absence of the Dreamer, the dream could still be momentarily stable due to the fact that heavy sedative is being used. In addition, it probably takes 30 – 40s for Yusuf to wake up (due to heavy sedation), which gives 10 – 14 min in level 1 dream. 
This leaves Saito and Cobb connected with the machine. The timer on the machine is still in countdown.

The team could probably hid the machine from Fischer and wait for the timer to reach 0 to unhook them from the machine (when timer is 0, it’s either they wake up or in a coma) or it could be the drug that Cobb gave to Fischer is a strong sedative that made him fall in deep sleep for a full 10 hours and woke up a few min after the timer on the machine reaches 0 but before Cobb wakes up (the dream machine is absent when Cobb wakes up and his hand is not hooked to a wire.).

When Saito finally aware that they're in limbo, There are two possibilities of what happens next:

  1. When timer is 0 and the team unhooks them from the machine, Cobb and Saito disappear from the dream (limbo) and return to reality, as Cobb remember why he’s in limbo and Saito remember their agreement and finally aware that they’re in a dream after countless deaths and return to limbo. (There’s no scene in the film that shows they kill themselves with the gun.)
  2. They shot themselves, return to reality just in time as the timer reaches 0 and the team unhooks them from the machine. (It is unknown whether Cobb and Mal return to reality from limbo when the timer is 0 or before 0. If it happens when timer is 0, it means that a person needs to be fully aware that it’s dream and kill himself/herself to return to reality from limbo, regardless of normal or heavy sedation.)
However, Cobb and Saito didn't wake up immediately since it may take some time for the heavy sedative to wear off (a few min, could be about 20 min).


13. What happens if you die in limbo before the sedative wears off?

For normal sedatives, you just go back to reality if you aware that it’s limbo. (As shown where Cobb and Mal returned to reality).

For strong sedatives, if the timer in the dream machine didn't expire, you still back in limbo, unaware the fact that you’re still in there or the awareness that it’s a dream becomes vague.

If timer on the machine reaches 0 and you've forgotten where you really are, accepts it as reality (become older like Saito and die), you’ll never go back to reality as your mind perceives that you’re dead (coma).

Evidence:

  • Cobb repeats what Saito had said at the start of the film: “Someone from my half remembered dream.”
This means the two scenes in the palace are different and Saito died and back in Limbo again and again…

  • Cobb: “I've come back for you. To remind you something…Something you once knew…”
This means that Cobb’s awareness that he’s in Limbo becomes vague. However, considering the fact that he’s still looks the same age as he was in reality, he does know that it’s a dream.

14. There are 4 levels of dream. Based on Saito’s age in the palace, it could be about 50 years has passed. (50 years in Dream 4 = 2.5 years in Dream 3 = 1.5 months in Dream 2 = 2.3 days in Dream 1 = 3 hrs in reality.) Since Cobb supposed to wake up earlier and the stewardess shouldn't be passing immigration forms. Could this mean that the ending could be a dream?

No. As the timer on the machine is still in countdown, a person can’t wake up due to the heavy sedation. For strong sedatives, if the timer in the dream machine didn't expire, you still back in limbo, unaware the fact that you’re still in there or the awareness that it’s a dream becomes vague.  Saito died many times in Limbo. Cobb needs time to find Saito in Limbo, possibly died several times as well, but still retains his awareness that it’s a dream, but becomes vague and weaker. Also, it’s stated that in Limbo a person's awareness of the passage of time may not be accurate. Minutes can seem like years and years pass by in the blink of a minute.