Really, what makes this movie great is the fact that it was left open ended for the audience to decide what the whole story actually was. But from a film-making perspective, this can also be an easy way out for the director to cover up any discrepancies in the overall plot. Oh, you just now realized that something earlier didn't make sense? Well that's fine! It can't possibly be a movie-making flaw or anything that would normally get nitpicked to death by picky viewers. No, now it is a clue! If something didn't make sense, then that must be proof that the movie was either a dream, delusion, fantasy, false lead, or whatever wild theory you've convinced yourself of by now. All perfectly planned. Yep. No mistakes at all, all clues! Had the movie actually given a clear explanation at the end, whatever explanation it gave was bound to disappoint some people and/or not make complete sense with some things. But now, the viewers can make the movie anything they want, and its actually done in a way that forces them to think back on everything in order to do it. Which leads to yet another question; was this laziness, genius, or both? Now I actually like this, and really its the only way to properly end this film. The real thing I don't like about it is that this has apparently created a bunch of pretentious movie snobs now who think that they're smarter than everyone else because they "get" inception. But really, when you get right down to it, I don't think there is anything to "get". This is a puzzle that deliberately has no right answer and no wrong one. It exists solely for the purpose of drawing your own conclusions.

That said, what's my theory now? Well personally, I wasn't blown away by this movie at first because I was taking everything at literal face value. When you accept everything presented to you in a linear fashion as you would with any other movie, the movie has obvious flaws. You start wondering why so much attention is devoted to certain things, and you keep wondering when the actual plot is going to show up since it can't be exactly what they tell you will happen since that would be boring. So of course I was disappointed when everything more or less DID seem to go according to plan with just a few snags, and the REAL A plot really was planting the inception according to plan with no repercussions or consequences to those actions. Since we know that the true heart of the movie is Dom's inner turmoil, the A plot actually seems superfluous. It is ultimately after all just a way for Dom to get home in the grand scheme of things, yet we seem to devote a lot of time on parts of this plot that have no meaning to Dom whatsoever. Don't know if this is making sense to anyone but me at this point though so I'll move on.

Anyway, at the end we realize that everything might not have been at face value, and the key to solving the puzzle lies in connecting the beginning scene to the ending scene and determining just what limbo is. Also for me, since I found the face value story a little lackluster, if I accept the ending as true reality and the "they all lived happily ever after" ending, then the whole movie was kind of lame. The movie is equally lame if the ending pulled a Bob Newhart where "everything was just a dream". So my solution is, I want more plot to this plot. So here's my logic: This is a movie about manipulation and planting an inception, but who is the main character here? The main character is Dom. Now who do we spend the whole movie trying to manipulate and plant an inception in? Some rich millionaire who's name I can't even remember. That doesn't add up to me, so there must be a reason for it. I figure 1) We are seeing the whole movie through Dom's eyes. 2) This is a movie about manipulation and planting an inception. 3) The plot that Dom believes is happening and that he is in complete control of, doesn't quite make sense from an outside perspective, but makes perfect sense to Dom. 4) If Dom is being as masterfully manipulated as he think he's manipulating the millionaire, then the audience is manipulated right along with him.

So I conclude that while Dom thinks this whole plan is about planting an inception in the millionaire, what's really going on is that the others are planting an inception within Dom. Since Dom is a master extractor, things had to be this elaborate with him believing that he was actually the one planting the inception in another in order for him to believe that the idea originated within himself. This is the same thing that happened when they explained that they would have to inform the millionaire that he was dreaming and under attack by extractors in order for him to believe what they wanted him to believe. Plus think about it, an inception has to occur on a deep level, and Dom goes deeper than anybody along with Adriadne who I believe is the main extractor planting Dom's inception. Why else would she be so interested and completely bold and unstoppable when it came to uncovering secrets about his past?

So that's my main conclusion. As for details, I may change my mind, but I think that Dom's father hired everyone else in the film to perform the inception on Dom. He was probably inspired to do this once he realized how talented Adriadne was. I mean think about it, who introduced Adriande to Dom? His father, probably because that was part of the plan already set in motion at the beginning of the film. The guy Dom is supposedly "working" for was also hired by Dom's father. What is the inception being planted? Four possibilities: 1) I am home again with my children 2) I need to move on from Mol, 3) I don't want to be an extractor, 4) My world is real. I think everything we see with the millionaire inception serves two main purposes, 1) to convince Dom that the plan we see really is all that is going on, and 2) to give the audience a way to see all of the stages of inception that Dom is actually going through by paralleling them with the millionaire's stages. This would explain why we spend so much time on all the nuances of the millionaire inception plot when in relation to Dom, all it is is a way for him to get home. It's actually a lot more in relation to Dom than we realize. The whole plot is actually a parallel to what's being performed on Dom's own mind. I mean compare The millionaire's conversation with his dying father to Dom's conversation with Mol in Limbo. I think we are meant to see a deliberate parallel because they are both moments at which inception is taking place.

Plus I'll probably have to see this again to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that the last scene is a dream, but is it a dream that takes place after Dom's inception has occurred. That's why the kids look like they would really look, and why he is actually able to see their faces when they turn to see him. Something had to have changed for that to happen. My theory is that it was probably impossible for him to ever go home again in reality, so the father arranged it to make him believe he was actually home.