Five bucks if you can solve this enormous "Inception" plot hole.

[da_suns_fan]

I just saw "Inception" on HBO and its driving me crazy that there seems to be a a huge plot hole and all the explanations Ive googled neither acknowledge or explain it.

There are too many "kicks"!

- The group got themselves out of "limbo" by killing themselves (by jumping off buildings or shooting themselves).

- They were brought out of the "snow/fortress" dream by the elevator/hotel explosion

- They were brought out of the "hotel" by the van hitting the water.

- They were brought out of the "van/rain" dream when the sedative ran out.

So why did they set up bombs in the snow fortress?

Some diagrams say it was to create a "free fall" kick by blowing the support columns of the building. That makes no sense!! There were no more planned dreams so there was no need to create a free fall scenario. Some say "its to wake up ellen page/leo out of limbo 'Limbo'" which is also wrong because Ellen page brings her self out of limbo by jumping off a building (killing herself) and leo and the asian bring themselves out of limbo by shooting themselves.

The bombs in the ice fortress serve absolutely no purpose.

[redzero]

The bombs in the ice fortress serve absolutely no purpose.

But they do make the scene cooler, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.

[MannyIsGod]

You've got it wrong. They were brought out of limbo by the jump and falling, then out of the snow level by the explosion, out of the hotel by the elevator. The van hitting the water did nothing because they weren't out of the hotel yet. That is why they were sitting on the edge of the water waiting for the sedatives to run out.

[da_suns_fan]

You've got it wrong. They were brought out of limbo by the jump and falling, then out of the snow level by the explosion, out of the hotel by the elevator. The van hitting the water did nothing because they weren't out of the hotel yet. That is why they were sitting on the edge of the water waiting for the sedatives to run out.

No, you are confusing "pushing myself out of a dream (by killing yourself)" versus "pulling someone out of a dream (by making them feel that theyre falling)".

The film demonstrates that pushing over someone in a chair while theyre sleeping wakes them up automatically (the feeling that youre falling wakes you up) . Joseph Gordon-Levitt brought the people out of the snow dream by using the elevator explosion to create the sensation that they were falling (since he had lost gravity and couldnt simply push them over in their chairs).

Then hitting the water woke up the sleeping peeps in the van.

Then the sedative wore off and they woke up on the plane.

Again, whats the use of the bombs in the snow fortress?

[jaffies]

The whole thing is a dream.













Gimme 5 bucks.

[MannyIsGod]

No, you are confusing "pushing myself out of a dream (by killing yourself)" versus "pulling someone out of a dream (by making them feel that theyre falling)".

The film demonstrates that pushing over someone in a chair while theyre sleeping wakes them up automatically (the feeling that youre falling wakes you up) . Joseph Gordon-Levitt brought the people out of the snow dream by using the elevator explosion to create the sensation that they were falling (since he had lost gravity and couldnt simply push them over in their chairs).

Then hitting the water woke up the sleeping peeps in the van.

Then the sedative wore off and they woke up on the plane.

Again, whats the use of the bombs in the snow fortress?

You realize if your theory was correct they would have all come out of everything the moment the van started falling?

[da_suns_fan]

Manny might be right, but this scene makes it confusing.

Here they push the dude over, make him feel that he's falling to wake him up (at 1:20):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di4gVPRaDcA&feature=related

[MannyIsGod]

You have to feel the sense of falling within the dream you're in to get the kick. Thats why you jump in limbo, thats why the bombs go off in the snow level, thats why they do the elevator trick, and thats why they needed the van to fall. You can't be kicked out of a dream from a kick in another dream or else the moment the van started falling you'd be out of all the other dreams.

[da_suns_fan]

You have to feel the sense of falling within the dream you're in to get the kick. Thats why you jump in limbo, thats why the bombs go off in the snow level, thats why they do the elevator trick, and thats why they needed the van to fall. You can't be kicked out of a dream from a kick in another dream or else the moment the van started falling you'd be out of all the other dreams.

Right, but why do they show that dude getting pushed over in the chair and being woken up (in the link above)?

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Manny might be right, but this scene makes it confusing.

Here they push the dude over, make him feel that he's falling to wake him up (at 1:20):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di4gVPRaDcA&feature=related
Because that scene is the actual physical person being tipped, not the person in the dream. They used a powerful sedative that required a kick in every dream to wake everyone up.

[mFFL03]

That doesn't sound like a plot hole.

I think the biggest plot hole is the hotel hall fight scene. Not so much the fighting, but what's happening in the room beside them. If the whole world is turning, shouldnt the bodies be thrown around and be kicked awake?

[BlackSwordsMan]

42.

[MannyIsGod]

Right, but why do they show that dude getting pushed over in the chair and being woken up (in the link above)?

He's not sedated in a dream. He's just asleep. Watch him - he doesn't have that machine hooked up.

[da_suns_fan]

He's not sedated in a dream. He's just asleep. Watch him - he doesn't have that machine hooked up.

Hmm...okay. I guess i owe you five bucks. You have to come phoenix to get it though. :hat

I still think that scene adds confusion. I would have bet my life he was sedated when they pushed him in that chair but youre probably right.

[CuckingFunt]

A lot of this was discussed in the first Inception thread.

The jump pushes Fischer and Ariadne out of limbo. The explosions push Fischer, Ariadne, and Eames out of Eames' dream. The elevator explosion pushes Fischer, Ariadne, Eames, and Arthur out of Arthur's dream. The van hitting the water pushes Fischer, Ariadne, Eames, Arthur, and Yusuf out of Yusuf's dream. Since all the other dreams/levels have ended, Cobb and Saito killing themselves in limbo wakes them up.

The people in the hotel room likely don't shift around with the hotel because of the loss of gravity. None of them are restrained or otherwise attached to anything in the room. In theory, then, a loss of gravity would cause them to float (for lack of a better word) into the middle of the room and hang there while everything else was moving around them. When Arthur returns to the room and is weightless, you can see that everyone inside the room is at an angle to the furnishings, but they are all in positions similar to the sitting/reclining/laying positions they had been left in.

The van hitting the water is the kick, not the van tumbling around. The inner ear function that brings people out of the dream responds specifically to a loss of balance or a feeling of falling, not to movement in general. Since everyone in the dream was secured to their seat (and the van itself) with seat belts, there may not have been the feeling of falling required to wake everyone up.

[Agloco]

The van hitting the water is the kick, not the van tumbling around. The inner ear function that brings people out of the dream responds specifically to a loss of balance or a feeling of falling, not to movement in general. Since everyone in the dream was secured to their seat (and the van itself) with seat belts, there may not have been the feeling of falling required to wake everyone up.

I don't buy this though. You're subject to the same inertial forces regardless (ie those prevented by a belt would be negligible). I've never understodd the physics after the hotel level tbh. The feeling of wieghtlessness doesn't translate to the lower levels.

[DMC]

Three words: Suspension of Disbelief