First of all, here's a huge:

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I'm serious, if you have not watched the movie yet, don't read the rest of this thread, but go see it instead. It's a very good movie, you won't be disappointed.




Anyway, if you're still reading by now, you must have seen the film. There's one thing I don't understand about it.

In the very first dream level, the one where they encounter a freight train in the middle of the street and are put to sleep in the white van (driven by the chemist).

As soon as Dom warns everyone that they cannot kill themselves to wake up (if they do they end up in limbo), he explains that he wants the job done as quickly as possible. Because Fisher's mind is armed against extractors (like them) it is putting up a fight, and he says that he does not expect anyone to live for a week.

The week comes from the fact that they have their timer (on the airplane, in reality) set to just under 10 hours, which translates to 10*20 = 200 hours or just over 8 days. So they would spend 8 days in level 1 at most, if they let the timer run out. Multiply by 20 again, and they would spend about 23 weeks in level 2 (the hotel), and about 9 years in level 3 (the snowy mountain). Obviously do not want to spend 9 years in their dreams, so they construct a series of 'kicks' to wake them up as soon as they finished the job.

But: there is no kick in the airplane. In the airplane, they are just going to let the time run out. 10 hours, which translates to 8 days in the first level.


So, at the end of the movie, they have just succeeded their job and everyone (except Dom and Saito) was awakened by the kicks. But they awoke in the first dream level, not into reality.

Here comes the crucial part I don't understand... Dom said he does not want to spend a week in level 1 as he thinks they will all get killed and sent to limbo. But, how does he plan to leave level 1, assuming everything went correctly? They have just awakened, and assuming this is still the first day (in their dreams), then they still have a week to go in this level, with nothing to wake them up! There is no kick mechanism in the airplane, so they are forced to spend the week in level 1...



1. Why did they not get killed?
2. Assuming they somehow managed to survive Fisher's defenses for a week, why did Dom say he doesn't want to spend a week in level 1, knowing that they have no choice? There is no kick in reality, the only option is to sit it out...


Anyone can shed some light on this? It's the only point I still don't understand. It took quite some reading to understand the rest, it's quite complicated, but this just seems like a mistake even.