GSV wrote:Was the van driving off the bridge supposed to be a kick? If it was, why didn't Arthur wake up on the van?

Either because the sedative is so strong the he has to get a kick on the lower level at the same time, or he can just dismiss the kick and keep on sleeping.

The last sequence seems to set up the logic that they need to be kicked not only from the level above, but also self 'kicked in the level that they are in, to wake up. Of course, this is never explained, so it's impossible to know for sure unless Nolan releases some sort of explanation.

Let me know if you agree with these thoughts on kicks out of levels/limbo.

1) I think I understand why Arthur does not get kicked from level 2 back to level 1 when the van hits the rail. Like many of you I thought because he was the only one"awake" in level 2 that he should have been kicked into the van. But remember Cobb in the Saito heist. He was in level 2 dream and Nash had to tip his chair in level 1... but the FALLING chair does not achieve the kick... the Water achieves the kick. Cobb is fighting off the kick in attempt to extract more info. So I think the person in the dream can be aware of what is happening above and hold on to the dream a little longer.

2) I think I remember, earlier in the heist planning, the chemist (or someone?) saying that the kicks need to be much stronger 3 levels down. So I think blowing up the fortress was part of the plan to make the elevator kick more effective in getting them back to level 2. Perhaps if you are falling in level 3 then you are more likely to "feel" the falling in the elevator in level 2 and not miss the kick. I agree that blowing up the fortress was part of the plan all along, it was not improvised.

3) I am sure that Ariadne (and Fischer) kick out of limbo to level 3 by FALLING (not dying), the film shows her kick out before she hits the ground. I used to think that Ariadne and Cobb went to a level 4 dream but now I am convinced they are consciously following Fischer into Limbo. It also seems that by consciously going down to Limbo gives more self-control than dying into limbo.

4)Fischer is not dead in level three, but Cobb says there is no point in reviving fischer because, even if he is kept alive, his subconcious is already trapped down there (I don't know the exact wording used). So they think they failed, but Ariadne's improvised idea is to go down there to find Fischer and somehow get him back to level 3. After a while, Eames cannot wait anymore and starts reviving Fischer and in Limbo there is lightning and Cobb knows they have to hurry. Fischer is sent falling just in time so that when he is revived his subconscious is back in level 3.

If I'm correct, I seem to remember someone saying something about them needing 2 kicks to get out from limbo. They jumped off the building for kick 1 and the fortress exploding would be kick 2. Although that doesn't explain why Eames was setting the explosives before Cobb and Ariadne went into limbo, if that indeed was the case.

Eames planted explosives on level 3 so that everyone in level 3 could be kicked back to level 2 as a kick requires both a sense of free fall from your current level and the level about you so if we start from Limbo the 2 kicks are the jumping off the building and the falling of the building, Level 3 the 2 kicks are the falling building and the elevator falling, Level 2 is the elevator and the van hitting the water allowing them all to return to level 1. From there they had to wait until the sedative wore off or until the plane begins to descend (as inner ear function still works), The only Flaw is when Authur is testing it out, he wakes up only from a kick in reality to wake him up from a level 1 of a dream.

Can someone also answer me Who is the dreamer in Level 3 (they tell Fisher it is browning who is a projection), Than Cobb says they are entering Fisher's subconcious and then we find out it is Eames dream? CONFUSED!!!

I thought the needing 2 kicks theory was the first theory I could believe a while back, but the next day I realized a part of the movie: Yusuf specifically states that no matter how strong the sedative works, it has no effect (impairment) of the inner ear function, meaning that the movie logic did not intend for this theory as explanation. One kick (Push or Pull, whichever) is all the movie logic intended for.

The explosion in level 3 is to drop the persons there and kick them to level 2: Eames Fischer and Ariadne...
Saito and Cobb are in Limbo...and so cant be reached.