Chapter 178

The story continues, constantly throwing out settings.

Arthur was brought forward by two people, the woman played by Bellucci pointed a gun at his head.

Cobb said, Mal, threatening others in a dream is useless.

Mal said, it depends on how you threaten; killing him merely awakens him, but a painful blow…

Having said that, a gunshot suddenly hit Arthur's leg, and he cried out in pain.

The audience also realized that the scene here was actually in a dream.

Being killed in a dream will wake you up.

And suffering various painful blows is truly painful.

Cobb couldn't bear to see his brother suffer; he lunged onto the table, sliding forward, and shot him in the head, and Arthur also woke up in the dilapidated room.

The whole process was done in one go, extremely smooth.

Arthur also seemed to have just awakened from a great dream, dazed for a few seconds before jumping up and beginning to pack up equipment.

The keeper in the old house said, you woke up too early…

"The dream has begun to collapse!"

In the dream, gunfights, shaking houses, statues falling, bricks dropping are not unusual, but to wake Cobb, they pushed him into the bathtub.

And transmitted to the lower dream level, it produced the film's first shocking surreal shot: the entire Japanese palace submerged in floodwater.

The audience in the hall, watching the big screen alternate between "falling into the bathtub" and "water flooding Golden Mountain," all felt shocked.

Several directors, from a professional perspective, pondered how to shoot this set of shots.

In fact, this set of shots was filmed in a soundstage; the effects crew built a huge interior palace scene, then stored over twenty thousand liters of water in more than twenty water tanks carefully placed at various windows of the set.

These water tanks, opened sequentially by mechanism, produced the "water flooding Golden Mountain" effect.

On the big screen, Cobb and company fought, subdued the gun-wielding Saito, and continued interrogating him.

Because Saito was on guard, he deliberately omitted the most crucial information.

And on the street, the rioting crowd was still smashing, burning, and looting.

The keeper occasionally glanced at the outside scene, looking rather guilty.

The camera then turned, and he appeared on the train, with Arthur and the others asleep on the nearby seats.

The audience in the hall all gasped softly; like Da Tian Tian, they wondered how these people had appeared on the train again!

Those who reacted quickly realized that the few people in the old house were still dreaming.

Saito in the film also realized it, because the keeper on the train saw that the time was up, gave several companions earphones, and played music.

The few people in the dream knew the time was up; Cobb feigned rage, shoved Saito to the ground, and the latter actually burst out laughing.

"This is obviously a wool blanket, but the material is polyester; this isn't my private nest, Cobb, you truly live up to your reputation—I'm still in the dream you designed!"

Now the audience in the hall all understood what was going on: it was a dream within a dream.

One must say, the plot design of this segment is truly full of twists, incredibly clever!

Da Tian Tian, who understood, was excited and wanted to mutter a few words to someone, but sadly those around her were not very familiar.

Liu Yifei, Tang Yan, Yang Mi, etc., were seated behind her; they regretted not sitting farther back.

In the film, Cobb's operation failed, and he got off early at Kyoto Station.

At night, in his room he first used the spinning top to confirm he was in reality, then answered his daughter's call, indicating he still couldn't return.

Afterward, Arthur rushed over; the two prepared to escape together, went up to the rooftop to board a helicopter, only to discover that Saito had already taken control of the situation.

Saito did not dispose of Cobb and Arthur; instead, he wanted to implant an idea in Cobb's rival's mind to dissolve the company.

Cobb said it was difficult; Saito then used helping him return to the United States as leverage.

Cobb was still moved; he went to Paris to see his teacher (father-in-law), seeking a new "dream architect."

After some persuasion, Cobb met the teacher's prized disciple, Ariadne played by Megan Fox.

To be honest, Megan Fox on the screen is really too beautiful, not looking like a top student.

But men just like it; they wouldn't quibble over those details.

Afterward, there is a lengthy section of settings and explanations, how to set up dream spaces, etc.

The audience could still roughly understand what was going on, but what interested them even more were the stunning special-effects shots.

For example, the explosion on Paris streets, the male and female leads calmly sat at a roadside café, watching everything explode and collapse on the street.

In the slow-motion presentation, paired with operatic arias, it has an extremely strong sense of ritual.

And using thought to flip and fold the entire city left all the audience in the hall shocked beyond words.

In their impression, Jiang Heng had already pushed special effects to the limit; unexpectedly, he could still surpass everyone's imagination and shoot such shocking shots.

And the following shots amazed the audience even more: Jiang Heng actually filmed many shots of staring directly into mirrors.

Because staring into a mirror would reveal the cameraman, naturally giving away a mistake.

Although we don't know how Jiang Heng removed the exposed content, this set of shots remains incredibly shocking.

The entire film Inception runs over two hours twenty minutes; although long, it does not feel bloated.

Mainly because the film has many settings, the plot is also quite rich, plus the stunning special-effects shots and smooth fights; after watching the whole film, one feels somewhat unsatisfied, wanting more.

But what most intrigues the audience is whether Cobb ultimately returned to the real world.

During the interview interaction, a reporter directly raised this question.

Jiang Heng laughed and said, "The male lead definitely returned to the real world!" Then he moved on to another question.

That reporter asked, "Why didn't the spinning top stop?"

Jiang Heng did not answer, saying this question had already been answered, please ask something else.

Originally, in history, the spinning-top question at the end of Inception sparked considerable controversy, and fans have been discussing it with relish for many years.

Some say that the male lead finally saw his son and daughter wearing the clothes from his memory, their silhouettes unchanged, indicating he was still in a dream, after all children grow very quickly.

Some also said that, in the final shot, the top was clearly about to fall, which was exactly what happened in reality.

Some viewers said that, for the male lead, reality and dreams no longer mattered; being with the person he loved most was what mattered.

Afterward, the event ended.

The guests followed the film crew's main creators to the hotel banquet hall, while the reporters collected their travel expenses and went their separate ways.

Some also pulled aside viewers for interviews, asking how they felt after watching the film.

The vast majority of viewers said that the film had an innovative setting, stunning visual effects, a tight and smooth plot, and was another excellent work.

As for the earlier rumors that the film was hard to understand and confusing, viewers all said that it wasn't as difficult as the rumors claimed and was actually quite easy to grasp.

Of course, there were also some who just came for the fun, not really paying attention to the plot; although they watched in a bewildered haze, when they agreed to be interviewed they definitely couldn't claim they didn't understand it!

Meanwhile, Director Tian Zhuangzhuang, who had not attended the banquet but left mingling with the audience, was surrounded by a few sharp-eyed reporters who asked him about his impressions of the film.

Tian Zhuangzhuang said, the plot is quite simple, there's nothing hard to understand, and it's a pretty good commercial blockbuster!

The subtext is that this is just a popcorn movie, with no connection to art whatsoever!

(End of chapter)