[kevin]

It's certainly a smoother watch second time around because you're listening less to the 'rules' and looking more at the visual side.

But then this film and others like are designed to need multiple viewings to draw out all the details anyway, so I don't suppose that's unexpected.

[Quark]

What annoyed me the most about it was how long it took for the van to hit the water. I mean, as soon as you thought it would be close to hitting it, it's suddenly raised to increase the time. Now, I know this is used in movies where if a timer is going, or something is about to hit something (in the beginning of The Matrix when the garbage truck is about to smash the phone booth right when Trinity gets to it just in time) it just maybe prolongs it a little to give the character time or for the viewer to keep the anticipation, but seriously it took what felt to be 20 minutes until that van actually hit the water.

I mean, there is one way you can look at it, maybe the van is going the same speed and the camera is making flashbacks at it to see how fast it will hit the water and what things are going on at the same time, but not if the characters were making progress, which they were. As each character makes progress in the movie, the van would have to keep dropping. It shouldn't just be taken higher from the water if the progress is being made. Blah, that was just a little too obvious. But yeah.

[TheTrekkie]

Originally Posted by Quark

What annoyed me the most about it was how long it took for the van to hit the water. I mean, as soon as you thought it would be close to hitting it, it's suddenly raised to increase the time. Now, I know this is used in movies where if a timer is going, or something is about to hit something (in the beginning of The Matrix when the garbage truck is about to smash the phone booth right when Trinity gets to it just in time) it just maybe prolongs it a little to give the character time or for the viewer to keep the anticipation, but seriously it took what felt to be 20 minutes until that van actually hit the water.

I mean, there is one way you can look at it, maybe the van is going the same speed and the camera is making flashbacks at it to see how fast it will hit the water and what things are going on at the same time, but not if the characters were making progress, which they were. As each character makes progress in the movie, the van would have to keep dropping. It shouldn't just be taken higher from the water if the progress is being made. Blah, that was just a little too obvious. But yeah.

You have to watch the movie more carefully.
It is absolutely correct that the van is so slow.

The time in the first dream goes by slower than in reality, the time in the second dream goes by slower than the time in the first dream, the time in the third dream...
They explain that in the movie. In the last dream they had decades until the van would hit the water. The deeper you sleep, the faster the brain works the slower the time goes by

That's how Cobb could live in a dream for 60 years without aging a lot with his real body