Inception - Cobb's Pistol
 

Just saw Inception last night (bloody awesome movie btw) and was intrigued to see at the start of the film, when they are inside Saito's dream, Cobb puts a suppressor on his pistol (which I since learned was a Beretta Px4 from this site) and proceeds to manually work the slide as he takes down Saito's guards.

Now, I'm aware some semi-automatic pistols are designed (or can be modified) to have a slide lock so the weapon doesn't cycle, specifically so firing with a suppressor is quieter - not sure if that's the case with the Px4 or not - but in the movie it looks like he's actually working the slide to fire a round, which is weird.

I don't know if its just a mistake on the director's or sound editor's part, but as Leo lifts his weapon and pulls the slide back, it flies forward and then you hear the sound of the weapon firing - rather than lifting the weapon, firing it, then working the slide.

Anyone else notice this?

It means that the prop weapon was probably having trouble cycling blanks. I've seen the same thing being done in "Dog Soldiers", for exactly that reason.

Maybe it was being realistic since subsonic ammo doesnt have the power to cycle the gun

He wasn't racking the slide, he was catching the brass as soon as it ejected from the weapon so he wouldn't leave evidence of his presence in the dream.

I must admit, for a second or two after the first shot, I was like, 'wait, did he just rack the slide to fire?', but it soon dropped what he was actually doing (as Gunmaster45 said), which was quickly confirmed with successive shots.

Well sadly, I wasn't paying attention to that part of the movie. I was trying to keep up with the plot

He only did it a couple of times in the beginning, so it was kind of a blink-and-you-miss-it deal.

It was a nice addition to the movie. And I also think Leo is one of the few actors that could pull it off and make it look cool instead of something stupid and unrealistic. In my opinion he has some of the best gun handling in his movies that I've seen.

I know. You saw him in Blood Diamond

Hahahaha, when I saw him do it, I started laughing (because I rarely see such cool stuff in films) and my friend who was with me asked why I was reacting to and I said 'Check it out!' He's snatching the brass when it ejects! Awesome!!!!' He looked at me and rolled his eyes "Gun Geek!!" LOL