r/Inception • u/juniversee • Aug 02 '26
Inception‘s world doesn‘t make sense
There are extractors and few other jobs related to extraction.
It is also so well known that very important/powerful people like Fisher Jr. gets trained to defend against extractors in the dream.
The questions is: how do the extractors get so close to their target for at least several hours for extraction?
The targets are most likely well protected person.
The first time I asked this question was the first extraction scene in the movie, where Saito and the Cobb‘s crew are sitting in a Shinkansen. In Saito‘s case he let them in on purpose of an audition.
But I cannot imagine how the extractors would do it by other targets. It must involve some kind of kidnapping or setting the targets under influence to dock them into the dream machine.
Don‘t get me wrong, I love this movie and watched it way too many times and can‘t get enough. But this is something I cannot solve in my head haha
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u/SpeedyTrooper Aug 02 '26
I would guess maybe through routine business meetings and secretly spiking their drink or something like what they did to Fisher on the airplane.
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u/Werdna629 Aug 02 '26
Same way they do with Fischer and like you said, kidnapping
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u/juniversee Aug 02 '26
But kidnapping itself is already super difficult to do, especially people with power and bodyguards 24/7
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u/Imaginary_Manager_44 28d ago
Of course the whole inception universe kinda falls apart if you overanalyze it but its kinda missing the point of the movie.
Just for funsies:
*Why can someone travel around (western and western aligned countries)on an Interpol flagged passport or even get on the last flight,he would have instantly been put in a US.Marshals hold awaiting extradition just trying to enter some of these countries.
*How can someone just make a phone call and make an international fugitives charges disappear 20 minutes before landing on LAX..how did he get on the flight?(see above).
*What was Ariadne studying?,its implied she is studying something re the dreamspace etc ,but its clear she never experienced it yada yada..
I just accept its a different universe where all of these things make sense and the military invented this tech for the stated reasons and people ran with it.
After all that is what happened with all the other tech the Pentagon funded.
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u/juniversee 27d ago
I know. I just love this movie so much so I watched it too many times and went too deep this time :D
Hahaha true, the phone call to erase Cobbs charges seems to be too quick to be true.
I always assumed Ariadne was studying Architecture. But you are right. Cobb‘s father-in-law taught Cobb and Mal the skills, so it must be something about it too.
I always thought the dream technology is kinda well known just among the superpowers and vips but not not for „normal“ people. But in Mombasa Yusuf had plenty of people doing it for everyday.2
u/Imaginary_Manager_44 27d ago
It's great when a movie is so good it doesn't matter with minor "plotholes" that barely matters tbh.
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u/Garrettshade 25d ago
My theory about the charges:
Saito has already pulled the strings to clear Cobb off all the no-fly lists and charges. So, the call was just to NOT kill Cobb on leaving the airplane. It would be easier
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u/TorandoSlayer Aug 02 '26
Fischer was in a weird in-between, stressful, vulnerable part of his life at the time. His father probably had the bulk of security logistics right up until he died, and there may have been a window where the transition to fully protecting his son just hadn't happened yet. And, being trained to protect himself against extractors, perhaps he put too much confidence in that training (which likely failed because of his emotional state). Besides, this job wasn't about extraction but inception, so the training may not even work for that kind of situation. Fischer also didn't have much information needed by his enemies at the time so he wasn't expecting anyone to want anything from him. I dunno, just some thoughts.
Still, the only reason any of the team could ever get close enough to do this is because Saito is incredibly rich and "bought the airline". Money and influence can do a lot, even against others with money.
The thing is I'm sure Fischer would know after he wakes up that he'd been tampered with in his sleep. There would be a mark on his arm, surely. But maybe he would explain it away, convinced his training had worked and his emotional catharsis was his alone. Which was the goal.
When it comes down to it, this level of extraction (reverse extraction) with this amount of emotion, info, stakes, etc. was probably among the absolute biggest feats in the extraction industry. Even in the world of Inception, this job would be considered legendary, I would think.
All that said, I don't think Inception is a perfect movie with no flaws but it's still my absolute favorite of all time and holds up very well on its own with the usual levels of suspension of disbelief.
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u/juniversee Aug 02 '26
I know, Fisher‘s case is an extra-ordinary job. Since nobody believes in Inception but Cobb.
It is more about other jobs the extractors do. If they have no Saito on their side. I think it will be pretty difficult to execute.
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u/juniversee Aug 02 '26
But I absolutely agree about what an amazing movie it is. I just rewatched it yesterday for at least 99th time haha. I love this movie.
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u/FacemeltingSugarcube Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
If you are just extracting, it doesn’t really matter if the target is aware of the operation. Hire someone to kidnap them. As long as you get the info and get out, the job is done.
As another commenter said, the Fischer inception job would be considered legendary/mythic among professional extractors.
The movie explicitly tells you Saito bought the airline for the Fischer job, so the whole plane was basically a “safe zone”.
I don’t think it is explicitly explained why Fischer is traveling on a non-private plane without security though.
EDIT: It is explained why Fischer travels on a non-private flight. Still unsure why he went with 0 security, but maybe Saito twisted all the logistics in their favor.
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u/juniversee Aug 02 '26
It is explained why Fisher had to take the non-private jet flight. They rigged his private jet with an unannounced maintenance work so he had to take the flight with the crew.
But the focus of the post is how the extractors do their other jobs without a person like Saito who buys an airline for the job.
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u/FacemeltingSugarcube Aug 02 '26
Thank you for the correction! I watched it just the other night but I was a bit stoned lol
As far as doing extraction without Saito's power; I assume high value targets would be a 2 team operation. A separate team (such as ex-SF) captures the target, then delivers them to the extractors.
I assume it's mostly well funded people or entities hiring extractors.
With how skilled the protagonists are with combat and planning, they may have enough skill to capture lower value targets themselves.
To capture Fischer, without Saito's power/influence, might not have been possible with the amount of security detail Fischer would usually have. If I'm not mistaken Fischer is/would be the wealthiest man in that world.
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u/Garrettshade 25d ago
Saito bought out all the seats around him
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u/FacemeltingSugarcube 25d ago
I understand that is one explanation, but I don't think the wealthiest person/heir on earth would ditch his entire security detail simply because there weren't enough seats, even if he isn't thinking straight.
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u/Garrettshade 25d ago
he had to fly and it was the only option. He could have men on the economy seats but really, from his poin of view, what's the harm, it's get on the plane in the business class, get off the plane
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u/quietly_myself Aug 02 '26
In Fischer’s case they ground his private jet then make sure the only available commercial flight is fully booked except for the single seat in first class (which they can do because Saito buys the airline), ensuring he can’t take security with him.
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u/juniversee Aug 02 '26
Yeah, Fisher‘s case is an exception, because od Saito. The main focus is how the extractors do other jobs without person like Saito
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u/Polychrist Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
I think your confusion comes from the fact that it doesn’t normally take hours for an extraction job. Remember with dream/time dilation that dream time is longer than reality, so 1 minute in reality gives you 20 minutes in the dream. For a normal operation by less-advanced extractors, the extractors only go one layer deep: which means, if they can get their target alone for even a half-hour business meeting, they will have hours worth of dream time to attempt to get the information they’re looking for. If it’s a simple, not deeply-personal idea, even an hour could be plenty of time to locate it.