INCEPTION BREAKDOWN! Ending Explained, Easter Eggs & Deeper Meaning! 

Actually the most disturbing thought is that we dont remember the begining of a dream, but we also dont remember the begining of our lives, which again leads to the question - are we dreaming rn

The fact that we are still talking about INCEPTION proves why it’s one of the greatest movies EVER...

cobb always looks stressed. maybe he’s not getting enough sleep

Christopher Nolan lives rent-free in our minds

When you realize you only ever got 10% of the movie but liked it anyway

Nearly 9 years later and we're still discussing this movie... nice, love that movie!

I came here after just staring at my turned off tv for 15 minutes straight after watching this movie.

i dont like the fact youtube suggested this after i watched this movie a day ago

"an idea is like a virus, It can define you or destroy you." Leaving the top spinning in the end scene planted the idea into our head questioning Cobbs reality and ours as well

Mal’s totem is the only totem the audience sees in action. That makes it our totem. The deepest metaphor is that the audience is asleep to the subconscious manipulation of our society through the passive and suggestive state our minds are in while being entertained.

The spinning top leaving us in doubt is giving us a small taste of what Mal and Dom were going through.

There's only two scenarios that make sense on where Cobb is at the end of the film: -He's back in reality and it's a happy ending -Or the entire movie was him still dreaming, and he's now stuck in a further dream state in limbo because he believes he made it back to reality. Then when he wakes up for real, he will have lived MANY lifetimes in his head and quite possibly go mad.

It doesn’t matter whether he’s dreaming or not, because Cobb is in HIS chosen reality now.

Me going to watch Inception for the 139th time after this: Ah shit, here we go again

One of the best Movies EVER. Nolan is a GENIUS, yes, a GENIUS.

Notice how the kids are wearing the same clothes in ‘reality’ at the end as they do in cobbs dreams..

Inception run time: 2hrs 28mins ‘Non, je ne Regretted Rien’ run time: 2mins 28sec MIND BLOWN

You ever get into a fight when you’re dreaming. And your arms feel like spaghetti

I’m glad that this was the first movie I watched of the decade

in addition to Youssif being Joseph who has 12 brothers in the old testament , Youssif also had 12 dreamers in the dream chamber scene

16:05 notice how in the tumbling hallway, Arthur stands back up on floor 5, just like his loaded die always lands on 5?

how this didn't win Best Picture is the real mystery here...what kind of reality do we exist in???

I've always felt the point of the ending was that it really doesn't matter if he's still dreaming or not. If Cobb is still dreaming, he accepts the dream and will ride it out forever.

"We did grow old together"...blew my mind haha

We all know Nolan was actually inspired by High School Musical 3's use of the rotating room

To answer your question of whether we think Cobb is still dreaming, I think you summed it up pretty nicely. The question we should ask ourselves is not whether we think Cobb is still dreaming but is "Does it matter if Cobb is dreaming or not?" All Cobb really wants, is to be able to live and grow with his kids. If we are truly able to choose our own reality, then the ending symbolizes that regardless of whether Cobb is dreaming or not, he has chosen the reality that includes life with his kids and father.

Cobbs actual totem was his kids, and their faces, during dreams and when he left, he never saw their faces, until he “woke up” So even though the top kept spinning, he did what he couldn’t do in a dream, see the faces of his kids

Not even 2min into this video and I’m already lost.

“Dreams pay” haha also an anagram for “A dream spy” which makes more sense

You guys are going to have to do Memento now and complete Nolan's back collection 😍

I think that the fact that Cobb walks away from the totem before it falls means he does not care if he is in the real world or not He got what he wanted, to see his children

Soon we will be all talking about Tenet

Really wasn't expecting this today but THANK YOU!! 👌👌

You'll know a movie is a masterpiece when it's almost a decade and you still can't grasp to fully understand it.

Finished the decade watching this

Remember the scene in the washroom where Cobb spinned the thing but Saito interrupted him and it fell? That's it. He never got to know if he's dreaming or not at that moment. The ending dilemma starts from this scene, maybe he's still sleeping there.

The top rotates perfectly in the dream world; it never wavers or wobbles and never slows down... That was all the proof I needed that he's in the "real world" established by the movie...

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.“ Albert Einstein

Throughout the movie the characters kept saying “Take a leap of Faith”. So I believe Mal was right, Cobb was stuck his dream.

Nolan’s movies aren’t movies, it is poetry.

Interstellar next! (or sometime in the future plz)

Wow, so many layers, so much detail I missed! * mind blown *

10 years later and it’s still the best movie ever. Hands down.

Dominic Cobb eventually returned to reality because; 1. Michael Caine's scenes only take place in reality as per Christopher Nolan's assured guidance to him. 2. At exactly 2:27:55 in the movie's runtime, as the title "Inception" is displayed for the third time in the end credits, you can faintly hear the totem spin to a stop in the background behind Hans Zimmer's bass score. The top coming to a stop confirms the reality Cobb is in

At 23:34 when you mention that 528491 was a merely random number to drive the narrative forward, on the contrary, Christopher Nolan knows it's significance. This is one of the big secrets Hans Zimmer/Nolan 'hid' on the soundtrack as they even has it as a title as a song on the soundtrack. “528” and “491” have numerological meaning. “528” is the harmonic (Sacred Solfeggio) frequency for the note “mi”. The harmonic scales were developed in monasteries - “mi” is for miracles. 491 is a reference to the "unforgiveable" sin. (The Lord would forgive you 7 times 70 times.) (Matthew 18: 21-22) “21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Cobb descends into Limbo because of his guilt over the “unforgiveable sin” and he/Fisher rises up through forgiveness due to the “miracle”.

I’ve always thought the ending was still a dream. His children always appear with the same clothes and ages as he remembered from when he left. And those are the same clothes and ages when he saw their faces. Also, repetitions are important in this story, and they’re called when they're playing, looking the other direction. He just stayed in that reality and accepted it.

Ending scene is 100% a dream. Both kids are wearing the exact same outfit as his last memory of them, in the same position in the same yard doing the same thing, and haven't aged.

Ok I swear one night I dreamed within a dream but I don’t remember anything about it only that it was a nightmare and when I “woke up” I thought to myself “ugh so glad that was a dream” and then woke up again

If I remember correctly, one of the rules of the dream totem is that you can never let someone else touch it -- which we learn in the scene when Ariadne is creating hers (a chess piece). Therefore, when Dom adopts Mal's totem the top's behavior is (presumably) no longer a reliable indicator since it's not his -- it's hers. Mal's real totem is the presence (or absence) of his wedding ring -- though maybe he's not fully aware of this -- and there are a lot of shots in the movie where it's not clear whether he is or is not wearing it. Still a nice walkthrough of a movie with a huge amount of depth.

I’m relieved that the dissection and analysis of this movie is just as confusing *as* the movie... Seriously, though, this is excellent analysis of this classic!

Also, the fact that we feel like we dream of deja vu moments that we later experience in real life is like the opening scene as well

Unpopular opinion: Nolan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tarantino. And Inception is one of the greatest films of our time. Shit was awesome af

*what a masterpiece of a film.* definitely my favorite besides shrek 2 of course..

When you’re talking about Arthur being the 5th member, the floor they were on is FLOOR 5!!!🤯🤯🤯

I watched this in school and when it cuts to black at the end after the top wobbling the bell for class rang perfectly. The whole class started screaming. It was great!

Imagine being as brilliant as Nolan and his crew and putting this incredible movie together. (As well as his other great movies)

I remember showing this movie to my friends for the first time and they were almost so confused they didn’t care. I told them going into the movie it’s difficult to understand everything once with the movie. Low and behold the second time I convinced them to watch it they were totally engrossed the entire time the movie was on.

Bruh after watching this episode, I need to watch inception again. I believe in Christopher Nolan

11 years later and we are still talking about it. One of the greatest movies of the decade

I’m watching this movie on acid it’s been playin for like 6 hours lol

Great interpretation of that last scene. The point isn't whether or not the top stops spinning, it's that Cobb chooses not to look at it and embrace his children. This is one of my favorite movies, and this video was a delightful surprise today.

The way you used Groot as your totem made me laugh on the bus out loud, got some weird looks and I had to get off 3 stops early. So thanks, for the exercise....I guess.

if cobb/the gang are the production team behind all these "movies", would that make them the Dream Team?

The hotel scene takes place on floor 5 too. Arthur’s loaded dye. I’m here all week

I want to see what you can dig up on Fight Club! There's so much hidden content in that movie, it'll be a treat for many people

The prestige is another one that would be amazing to analyze. 😀

The opening score sort of hints that this whole movie is a dream, no?

The one thing I love about some of the more recent Nolan films is his love for his kids absolutely pours through them. They are beautiful and immortal tributes to them, and I, too, hope I can one day create such a beautiful tribute to my children.

I have been waiting for this video my whole life.

You can do a vote for which movies to break down next, like google form poll you did when you asked what content changes to do.

Nolan was such a great director. The fact that he presented 80-pages report envisioning "dream stealers," based on lucid dreaming to Warner Bros is mind-blowing.

12 years and still open to hear about it

Great finds! A couple of things: * The buildings collapsing in limbo were full size recreations of the sand buildings that Cobb and wife built on the beach and partly destroyed. * The idea that you are suspending logic while watching a movie has been around for a long time - described as "suspension of disbelief" 200 years ago and referenced by Aristotle when describing the principles of theater. His idea was that, when watching a play, you must accept that you are no longer in a theater, but are actually watching a scene in a house, a meadow or a castle. I learned about this concept when taking playwright classes in college back in 1969. Nolan may have had the same kind of education.

When the explanation is just as confusing as the film

And here I was still over-analyzing what happens at the very end

One the best opening scenes in movie history. Hooks you immediately.

I think if they are going to make a Matrix 4.. Nolan should write and direct it

Masterfully picked apart a truly amazing movie. My take of the ending is that Cobb learned that life is literally a dream, where your imagined potentials become your future. He keeps finding more and more of his dreams in reality, to the point that it doesn't matter anymore if either his dreams created his reality, or his dreams are his reality. Reflect on yourself as the viewer, don't we all feel like dreams became more of a power in our lives after viewing this movie? That's why I put this on my top ten, it's so deep and enjoyable to mull over.

It’s so amazing how you guys researched these details and educated us of those facts. So enriching 💖 Now Inception is truly given the proper appreciation that completes us fans.

I agree that Nolan is sub-narratively saying that Cob is now in the real world (for the same reasons the video mentions): 1) The top wobbles, whereas the top in Mal's safe shows no sign of spinning out. 2) The absence of the wedding ring. 3) The appearance of his father in law. This is definitely Nolan's intended effect here, but because he did such an amazing job of building the rules of Inception, he has actually written a movie whose ending CANNOT be solved, even with these previous clues. For example: 1) The top wobbling could simply be Cob's subconscious doubting whether or not this is really a dream, as each time the top wobbles (representing Cob's desire to believe that this is real), it snaps back to an upright position (representing his inner fear that this world is a dream). All in all, the top could just be a dream-element that moves with his subconscious just as we see the other dream environments parallel the dreamer's subconscious in the heist. 2) Though the catch of the wedding ring being Cob's true totem is a keen take by NewRockstars, this doesn't necessarily mean that this is the REAL world. It simply means that it is A world, which keeps its continuity through the absence of Cob's ring, because Mal killed herself in this world. This could just be another layer of the dream that Mal had the foresight to ascend from when Cob didn't. 3) The appearance of Cob's father-in-law as another sort of totem isn't an established fact within the movie but is rather a personal preference of meaning taken by Nolan and some of the cast. It does not create a rock-solid piece of evidence for the the real-ness of the world. I'm not saying that these definitely mean that the whole movie was itself a dream. The original clues spotted by NewRockstars have that touch of Nolan-esque mystery to them that he purposefully plants in his movies for the dedicated (nerdy) moviegoer. To Nolan, these were meant to establish that Cob is truly in the real world, but because Nolan went to such great lengths to establish the movie's rules, he has seemingly written himself into a corner with this ending. Inception truly cannot be solved. Not even by it's creator.

After watching this I'd say do Fight Club!

You can hear the top fall over during the credits

And amazingly the kids still have the same clothes that he remembered them as from his last memory from seeing them.

Thanos: Reality is often disappointing

best movie ever made. cant believe that nolan worked 10 years on the script but this is a pure masterpiece

I really love this film, it's perfect on so many levels. So rewatchable too.

One of my favorite movies. Watched it when sick but fell asleep due to cough syrup. And woke up during the credits when they were playing the kick song! I was like holy shit it actually works, I just woke up from the kick! Lol

Nolan is an architect himself, I see this movie more as an intricately created world than just a movie.

Amazing work. Really really impressive! Much gratitude

This was beautifully done, I didn't realize there were so many levels to story telling and movie making. BRILLIANT!!!

the real question is, "Does Groot stop dancing at the end?"

Your video is my totem. Whenever the video freezes at 4:56 that's how I know I'm dreaming.

I just rewatched the movie today after wanting to do so since I saw it in 2011. This a legendary movie that can never be metabolized in one watching and your analysis was fantastic!

Cobb never woke up from his dream when he went to recruit Yusuf. When Cobb "woke" up from that dream, he went to the bathroom to spin his totem but it fell on the floor when he was interrupted. Hence he is still in THAT dream.

This is one of the best videos I've watched on RU-vid in a long time. Well done and thank you.

Cobb is back in reality. Erik, you said it yourself "He's awake when he doesn't have his ring on". The entire final scene, from the time he wakes up, he has not ring on.

The Prestige The Prestige The Prestige The Prestige I BEG. DO THE PRESTIGE. P.S: and then, memento as I still can’t understand it 😂🤷🏻‍♂️

Seriously do the OG Tron. I think you guys would find some pretty cool things

"One of the crazy meta coincidences in this movie." It's Christopher Nolan, nothing is coincidence

This RU-vid video is even more mind blowing than Inception itself.