Corrected entry: Cobb says that he can't see the faces of his children in his dreams because the last image he saw of them in real life was from behind. This doesn't make sense because his mind could easily reproduce their faces from his numerous memories of them. If his dreams were limited to the last image he ever saw, then everyone he dreams about should only be represented exactly the way he last saw them, which would mean Mal should look dead in all his dreams.
Corrected entry: In Arthur's dream, everyone keeps making the point that there's no gravity. This is false, as even if you were a million miles from the nearest particle, gravity would still be affecting you. Technically, they are not even in free-fall, since wind resistance is still applicable. On a non-anal note: When Arthur is fighting the projection in the hotel hallway, gravity appears to shift multiple times, throwing the two against the ceiling and wall. After Arthur defeats the projection, he enters the hotel room and he is again floating.
Correction: While it may not be technically accurate, saying "no gravity" works perfectly well for the characters to explain their situation and is a reasonable statement to make.
Corrected entry: The machines which allow individuals to dream the same lucid dream are equipped with timers which wake the dreamers after a predetermined amount time without them having to receive a physical kick. So all the drama in the hotel and in the van about how to make the kicks happen was entirely superfluous since the dream machines they were hooked up to could have simply woken them at a predetermined time without needing to blow anything up, or crash any vehicles into any rivers.
Correction: It's stated that the passage of time in each level is compounded exponentially the further in the dream levels you go. For example, one week in the first level is equal to 6 months in the second level is equal to 10 years in the third level. Without being sure how long was needed at each level, a timer could wake them too early, ruining the mission. The kicks could simply be so that the people in the deeper levels don't have to endure long passages of time before finally waking up.
Corrected entry: In 1st layer of the dream, Cobb pulls over so Ariadne could leap into the car, then it gets slammed by the train. The car stops perpendicular to the street, but in next shot it gets slammed in its side.
Corrected entry: When Cobb, Saito and Eames meet Yusuf, Cobb tells him that there are five of them who will be entering the shared dream, and Saito corrects him that there will be six. The only way that either number could have been reached is by including Ariadne, and it is subsequently made clear that she was never intended as a participant, and only enters the team when Cobb refuses to tell Arthur about his own subconscious.
Corrected entry: After Cob and Arthur leave the helicopter towards the start of the movie, there is an overhead shot of a city at night. In this shot there is the Eiffel Tower implying they are in Paris. Soon after, Cob says he is going to Paris to get an Architect yet this is where he already seems to be.
Correction: It's not the Eiffel Tower: it's Tokyo Tower.
Corrected entry: Highly unlikely a man would be charged with murder just because someone tells her lawyer that she's scared of him and messed up a hotel room.
Correction: There could have been more evidence that Mal did not tell Cobb about. Even then, there would have been some evidence to put Cobb as the main suspect, and using other evidence not shown on screen, he could have been convicted. We just didn't see it.
All of what was said here applies, plus I will also add in the fact that her dead body would be in the street under the messed up hotel room. Sounds like more than enough to get a conviction.
Corrected entry: During the scene at dream level three, when the team misses the first kick of the van falling off the bridge, Cobb says that they have time till the second kick of van hitting the water. How is that possible when he is at the third level of dream and the van got in the accident at the first level, where he is in sleep and unaware of what's happening around him? How could he have known that the van went of the bridge and into the water?
Correction: Presumably, they planned the kick beforehand and Cobb knew Yusuf would drive the van off the bridge for the kick.
Correction: But they had agreed that the van would be going through the barrier as explicitly stated.
Corrected entry: When the van rides off the bridge in level 1 this creates the first shock, which would normally bring the characters back from the second level, but this doesn't happen because they are still in the third level of the dream. Cobb states: "We missed the shock, but there's a second shock when the van will hit the water." But what about Arthur (the character left behind in the second level to get them back from the third), since he was in the second level when the first shock occurred, shouldn't he have woken up in the first level? If this is true it would mean that he couldn't create the shock with the elevators, meaning the other characters would be stuck in the third (or fourth) level.
Correction: He couldn't wake up because the hotel was his dream, and all the others' were still in it, stuck a level down in the snow fortress dream. He was incapable of leaving the dream, by waking up out of it or by sleeping within in, because it was still being occupied by other people's consciousnesses. In the van, he was basically in a coma until everyone else woke up from within his dream.
Corrected entry: When Ariadne and Cobb arrive in limbo, they are both soaking wet. But when they are riding the elevator up you can see that Ariadne's hair is dry.
Correction: This is irrelevant because the film cuts to several long sequences in the outer dream levels. The time in limbo is exponentially more compared to the other dream levels, so several hours will have gone by.
Corrected entry: "The kick" is the feeling of falling that is supposed to jolt a person awake. As demonstrated by Yusuf, even with heavy sedation Arthur woke up every time he started falling from his chair. Yet at the start of the movie, Cobb fell all the way into the bathtub before waking up. And it wasn't the fall as much as the water that woke up Cobb (water began to spray inside the Japanese temple, meaning that Cobb was still dreaming when he hit the water and was incorporating the sensation of the water into his dream). In fact, why was the bathtub even needed if all it takes is a fall to wake someone up? Wouldn't it have been safer to place Cobb's chair on a padded carpet to soften his fall, rather than have him choke on water and risk drowning?
Correction: It is evident that the kick doesn't always work in the initial sensation. Like in the dream part towards the end when the van smacked against the bridge. That was supposed to be the kick, but it failed. It is also stated that the sedative they are using in the main part of the movie when on the jet is "a very powerful sedative". And the chemist even said he specially engineered it. So it is logical to assume that there are different types, powers, and effects of different sedatives. the one Cobb was on in the beginning was likely one that needed the water as insurance that a fall didn't work or was suppose to be lifted by water anyways.
Corrected entry: When Eames clings to the back of the snowmobile, he knocks out the driver by smacking his head on the handlebars. But the driver is wearing a helmet, which smashes on the handlebars with a very distinct clunk, this wouldn't harm him in any way.
Correction: While the helmet would protect the driver from any significant damage, the impact force is still considerable and could easily stun the driver for long enough for Eames to push him off the snowmobile.
Corrected entry: In the staircase paradox scene, when Ariadna and Arthur were at the end of the staircase, it seems that the staircase is moving upwards but in real the staircase is static its just the camerawork. You can also see that the railings of the upper part of staircase is not matching with the railings of the lower part. (00:40:10)
Correction: This scene shows Arthur explaining to Ariadne how the trick is created within a dream; it's all done within the context of the film's world. It's not accidentally revealing how the shot was created for the movie because even for the characters in the film the staircase was meant to be an optical illusion.
Corrected entry: At the very end when Cobb finally gets home, Michael Caine goes outside to get the children and says, "Look who's here." When the children come in, Cobb pick ups up his daughter first and the son is on the ground. The camera then goes to Michael Caine for a second. When it goes back, Cobb's daughter is on the ground and Cobb's son is in his arms.
Corrected entry: Towards the end of the movie Ariadne is riding the kicks through the dreams, while waking in dream 4 we can see in the wide shot that there are no gloves near her but in a close-up shot we can see gloves next to her head.
Correction: You can not see the gloves next to her but you can see them slide of the edge.
Corrected entry: In the scene were Cobb is in the first dream level the train tears the ground behind it leaving tracks but as the scene continues the tracks disappear. (01:06:30)
Corrected entry: In the dream level where they are in the snow after the forger fights the guard and shoots him he is seen sliding down the hill past the main building however in the next shot he is standing next to it planting the bomb on that same building he just slid past.
Correction: He obviously stopped himself and went over to the building to place the bomb.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the Van is rolling, whilst Arthur is about to fight the black security guard with the gun, he forces the gun out of his hand as he gets it out and it is left further down the corridor. Next when they slide into the room the gun slides in with them through the door even though it was dropped much further up the corridor.
Correction: Actually, there are two guns in the hallway; when Arthur goes to hide, he pulls out a gun but is disarmed, when he and the black guy are fighting you can actually see both guns for a brief second. Obviously the second gun is closer than it should be, but I think Arthur's gun is the one that enters the room with them.
Corrected entry: The music heard in the dream(s) played on characters' earphones, to give them a hint the jerk was coming, should be time-distorted. If 5 minutes of reality is much more minutes of dream-life then the time of music played in reality and the time of music played in dreams should differ likewise. The music in the dream would be heard at slower tempo, and the music in the dream within a dream (or the dream within a dream within a dream) would be distorted massively and perceived probably only as a widespread rumble.
Correction: You're assuming that things work that neatly. They don't. It's clear that outside stimuli are incorporated into the lower level dream, but there's no particular suggestion that the time distortion consistently comes into play. For example, Cobb being slapped in the face at one level sends him flying to the ground in a lower one. If the time distortion applied, that wouldn't happen - Cobb would feel pressure on his face drawn out over a period of time, not a sudden slap sending him to the ground. Some form of stimuli occurs at one level - the dreamer's brain picks it up and manifests it in the lower-level dream. How it manifests can vary. That's just how it works.
Correction: Ah, if only sub-conscious minds worked that predictably. There are no strict rules like that when dealing with our dreaming minds. In Cobb's case, he's simply plagued by guilt, hence his sub-conscious won't let go of Mal, constantly inserting her into his dream and torturing him with a lost love that he can't stop blaming himself for. But that same sub-conscious self torture won't let him see the faces of his kids because that would provide him a comfort that deep down he doesn't feel he deserves. There are rules for our sub-conscious selves, but they're not as cut and dried as you're trying to make them.
Garlonuss ★