The Prestige.

[UncleMao]

It was good.

Too good I actually felt dumb for not being able to figure everything out.

4.5 out of 5.

Review on the way.

[efilflah]

I was disappointed with it in all honesty.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW


...



LOOK AWAY NOW...

I was really looking forward to this movie, it's about the only movie in 2006 that I really wanted to go out of my way to see and it was just a big let down in terms of story and script.

The production values were great, the acting was decent, the cinematography I loved and the score was also very good; nice and subtle, but the execution of the story was poorly handled by Nolan, which is surprising given that his previous "twisty" effort; Memento, was done quite well.

The main gripe I have with the movie, is that it felt like it wasn't sure what kind of a movie it wanted to be. It was almost like Nolan decided that he'd make a mystery movie with a twist but show you the reveal early on and hope you don't notice, leaving absolutely no surprises at the end but then still make the ending seem like he was revealing something.

The movie beat you over the head with clues early on, almost like it was daring you to figure it out in the first 30 minutes, and if you did, the rest of the movie just seemed to be a slow confirmation of everything you'd already guessed with no real surprises in it until about 40 minutes from the end. And that's where my second major gripe comes in. When Tesla's machine is revealed and Jackman shoots his first counterpart, it was instantly obvious that Bale was in prison for no reason, and with that information the rest of the film became even more deflated, following it's linear track of paint by numbers plot twist revelations with the confrontation followed by a flashback of all the clues in the movie.

There was just no mystery in it, and some may argue that may have been intentional, but it completely fails at being a character study about obssession and sacrifice as the characters aren't developed enough, it would've been a decent movie it hadn't tried to be too clever.

Disappointed <_<

[AngelBaby]

Now this is what I call magic...

[UncleMao]

I was disappointed with it in all honesty.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW


...



LOOK AWAY NOW...

I was really looking forward to this movie, it's about the only movie in 2006 that I really wanted to go out of my way to see and it was just a big let down in terms of story and script.

The production values were great, the acting was decent, the cinematography I loved and the score was also very good; nice and subtle, but the execution of the story was poorly handled by Nolan, which is surprising given that his previous "twisty" effort; Memento, was done quite well.

The main gripe I have with the movie, is that it felt like it wasn't sure what kind of a movie it wanted to be. It was almost like Nolan decided that he'd make a mystery movie with a twist but show you the reveal early on and hope you don't notice, leaving absolutely no surprises at the end but then still make the ending seem like he was revealing something.

The movie beat you over the head with clues early on, almost like it was daring you to figure it out in the first 30 minutes, and if you did, the rest of the movie just seemed to be a slow confirmation of everything you'd already guessed with no real surprises in it until about 40 minutes from the end. And that's where my second major gripe comes in. When Tesla's machine is revealed and Jackman shoots his first counterpart, it was instantly obvious that Bale was in prison for no reason, and with that information the rest of the film became even more deflated, following it's linear track of paint by numbers plot twist revelations with the confrontation followed by a flashback of all the clues in the movie.

There was just no mystery in it, and some may argue that may have been intentional, but it completely fails at being a character study about obssession and sacrifice as the characters aren't developed enough, it would've been a decent movie it hadn't tried to be too clever.

Disappointed <_<

Spoiler Warning

I had this conversation with someone at work on whether The Prestige delivered with a conventional *OMG Liam was actually Ra's Al Ghul* kinda twist and the fact was it didn't.

The point being I feel the whole exercise behind the movie was the subtext of a twist within a twist within a twist. The whole blatantly obvious twin premise was just a distraction to sidetrack away from the more intricate twists in the tale, because if you look at it, there are at least a dozen intricacies in the film that can be looked at as twists.

For example:
1) Cutter knew about both men and their tricks all along. He all but tells Angier that Borden uses a double for his act. In fact, it's highly likely that Cutter hired BOTH twins but kept them hidden from Angier - who was new at the time, who was also the disguised Lord Caldlow.

2) The question that begs the question: "If Tesla actually made a machine that replicated Angier, why couldn't it be possible that Borden was the result of a similar experience, given that Tesla HAD made a device for him as well, before Angier.

3) The reveal to Borden at the film's end that Borden was mistaken that the ongoing Transported Man tricks were a result of Angier's wanting to get revenge. In fact Angier did it for the love of the audience, to be able to pull off what was essentially the perfect magic trick. Of course by what he had to sacrifice to achieve this, Angier was truly the eviler of the two, and not Borden, who was portrayed as being the bad guy through the course of the film. While Borden sacrificed by living half of a full life, Angier had to kill himself literally every night, in order to achieve his magic, plus the fact that neither the death of his loved ones, or the sacrifices of those around him did anything to dissuade him from pursuing the course of the ultimate illusion.

As for some revelations that only come out from a second viewing -

1) The twin who was responsible for Angier's wife's death was the twin who hanged. The other one was the one who lost his wife and ended up with his child. The twin who died was in love with Scarlett's character.

2) The Lord Caldlow (Angier), the amateur magician who was purchasing everybody's tricks or learning how to, was ultimately the ringer who was playing Cutter and Borden, wanting from the very beginning to ascends to heights of the craft the the other two were not willing to go for.

3) Encountering Tesla and the machine in Colorado might not have been a totally random event as thought to be. There were cues in the film on second viewing that hinted that at least one of the twins was hoping to show Angier the dark side of obsessing over the perfect trick.

All that being said however, the twists in the prestige are subtle plot ones, kind of a "who was really playing whom" rather than a big startling reveal as in Memento or Batman. It DOES work as a film where multiple interpretations can be made, and some of those are truly chilling when you comprehend. The analogy of the bird cage trick with that of Angier's trick is one of those.

Hopefully this will take away some of your disappointment, HL. It is a film you get more out of with repeated viewings - but yes, it does not have 1 clear cut definitive conclusion.

Oh yeah, at the final scene you see one of the Angier doubles in the water tank exhale bubbles. Could that be some kind of clue.

[efilflah]

Hopefully this will take away some of your disappointment, HL.

It doesn't, but thanks for trying

Whilst I agree there is a lot of subtext there; and I did enjoy analysing certain parts of the movie afterwards, the direction and subsequent traditional revelations seemed like Nolan was trying to make a film that catered for both the popcorn eating blindsided folk, and the movie enthusiasts who analyse every single detail. A jack of all trades and master of none in a sense.

My complaints have more to do with the way the narrative was constructed, not the actual content. I actually liked the story, I just thought the direction and pacing of the movie lent itself more towards a mystery, and yet there was very little about this movie that was mysterious.

It wasn't a horrible movie or anything, but it just didn't strike a chord with me at all.

[AngelBaby]

Well, I finally watched this, and have to say I found it quite entertaining.

This is despite the fact that I figured out pretty much everything before the reveals. I can't say it was that difficult really.

David Bowie was awesome.