Sorry if there is already a thread about this, I tried to search the forums but I couldn't find anything.

There's one thing about Inception that I can't really figure out. What are Saito's real intentions? Does he really care about preventing a dangerous energy monopoly, or does he simply want to save his business? What prevents his group from becoming a superpower after he has got rid of Fischer Morrow? (He does say he's the only competitor of Fischer...)

And what about Cobb? He asks Saito why he wants to perform Inception, and warns him that the thing is serious. Why does he accept, since he knows what the consequences of inception - even if performed with every good intention in the world - can be? Does he accept because he wants to go back to his children, no matter what? Does he accept because he believes Saito is working for the good of humanity? Would he have turned down Saito's offer if he had refused to explain why he wanted to incept Fischer, or if his goals had been purely egoistic?

Lynn wrote:Sorry if there is already a thread about this, I tried to search the forums but I couldn't find anything.

There's one thing about Inception that I can't really figure out. What are Saito's real intentions? -- Well, yeah, he was totally just wanting more money/power. Let's face it, he was basically saying he just wanted to become one on his own. The ignored moral complications of the film is actually one of my favorite parts of it. These men are criminals, potentially ruining TONS of people's lives, but we're rooting for them to succeed anyway. Damn fine writing. Does he really care about preventing a dangerous energy monopoly, or does he simply want to save his business? What prevents his group from becoming a superpower after he has got rid of Fischer Morrow? (He does say he's the only competitor of Fischer...)

And what about Cobb? He asks Saito why he wants to perform Inception, and warns him that the thing is serious. Why does he accept, since he knows what the consequences of inception - even if performed with every good intention in the world - can be? Does he accept because he wants to go back to his children, no matter what? Does he accept because he believes Saito is working for the good of humanity? Would he have turned down Saito's offer if he had refused to explain why he wanted to incept Fischer, or if his goals had been purely egoistic? Keep in mind, Cobb's a thief now. He works in corporate espionage, and lets rival companies be...rivals, he takes no part in what's 'right' or 'wrong' at this point anymore, or at least that's what we're led to believe.

Honestly, these are some of my favorite aspects of the film that truly show Nolan's skills as a storyteller, as well as his fantastic characterizations.

Vader182 wrote:The ignored moral complications of the film is actually one of my favorite parts of it. These men are criminals, potentially ruining TONS of people's lives, but we're rooting for them to succeed anyway. Damn fine writing.

Thanks Vader, this is exactly what I was talking about. I agree with you, as I tend to think that the film doesn't really try to justify what Cobb & Co. are doing. IMO, as you said, Nolan simply doesn't address the issue.

It's an interesting question, though. A friend of mine thinks that the film wants to make us think " Saving the world's a noble goal, the end justifies the means, go ahead and mess with this poor guy's mind as you like".
Actually, I think that Cobb himself sort of thinks like this: he needs the job done no matter what (he even lies to his own teammates about the sedative!) because it's the only way he can see his children again.

My friend, though, thinks that Cobb only really accepts to perform the inception on Fischer after Saito has appeased his conscience with his speech about Fischer's energy monopoly. I don't think so. IMO, he accepts much earlier in the movie, in the elicopter scene, when Saito asks him if he wants to go home. I think Cobb only wants to make sure Saito is ready to do it.

SAITO:
"Fischer Morrow has the regulators
in their pockets. We're the last
company standing between them and
total energy dominance and we can
no longer compete. Soon they'll
control the energy supply of half
the world. They'll be able to
blackmail governments, dictate
policy. In effect, they become a
new superpower. The world needs
Robert Fischer to change his mind."

what change is that??

COBB (reads aloud)
"I WILL SPLIT UP MY FATHER'S
EMPIRE."

(turns to his team)

"An idea Robert Fischer's conscious
mind would never accept. We have to
plant it deep in his subconscious."

You really have to make an analogy here with a virus.. a virus that can successfully evade the immune response of its host and use the host's own machinery and energy supplies to accomplish immunity and eventual spread.. this entire movie and its plot is driven by the analogy... even some of the script (one example being the "Stein Job"... which in my opinion refers to the Epstein-barr virus)..

Throughout the movie what we are actually supporting is an infection..

o and i should probably reference the script:

http://www.raindance.org/site/scripts/Inception.pdf

Interesting interpretation, Viral. I wouldn't know about the Stein =Epstein thing specifically, but I agree that there are some interesting parallels between the inception of an idea and contagion. Cobb himself defines an idea as a kind of unstoppable parasite that takes hold of the mind, and then, later in the film, Mal's shade explicitly tells him "You infected my mind".