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Directed by: Christopher Nolan Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine. Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johannson IMDB.com posted:From acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, comes a mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences. From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were competitors. However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter rivalry making them fierce enemies-for-life and consequently jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them. Full of twists and turns, THE PRESTIGE is set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London, the exceptional cast includes two-time Oscar® winner Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie. I thought this was a pretty exceptional film. It's actually a Sci-fi/Drama, and even though you don't see it coming, I think it's done very well, and not too over the top. My favorite thing about this movie was all the seemingly innoculus things that go on, that you don't really pay attention to, that ALL get tied together at the end. All the actors give solid performances, even the bit characters. I don't want to go into too much detail, as even the seemingly small things end up being not at all what they seem, and a few of them are actually major plot devices. RATING: 4 PROS: Well written, decently paced, Scarlett Johannson. CONS: Really twist happy, but I kind of expected that from a movie about Magicians. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0482571/ Chappy fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Oct 21, 2006 |
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Oct 21, 2006 14:56
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I saw The Prestige last night, and it was one of the best films I've seen this year. I'd say the best if not for the existence of Little Miss Sunshine. Didn't I just see a movie about magicians just a month or two ago? Why yes, indeed I did - The Illusionist. Inevitably The Prestige will be compared The Illusionist because of their proximity to one another's release. Where The Illusionist was romance and fantasy, The Prestige was dark and gritty. I give the edge to The Prestige, even though I enjoyed The Illusionist a great deal as well. The cast is loving awesome, and plot twists are thrown at the audience quite often. The keen of eye will have seen them coming, so I suggest you watch the film very closely, as it is very rewarding if you can figure things out before they are spelled out for you by the film. And David Bowie comes out of loving nowhere! 5.0 all the way.
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Oct 21, 2006 20:49
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Brilliant movie. Aside from the actual story, I love the way Christopher Nolan constructs his scenes and the order at which they're presented. Each scene builds on the previous, and is relevent to the next, and that's hard to do when they're chronologically out of order. Nolan might be a little mainstream as a director, but he's one of the best mainstream directors ever, in my opinion. As for the movie itself; While I managed to figure some stuff out, more details kept coming up that contradicted what I thought, only to infact reinforce my ideas later on in the movie. Without saying spoilers, since this a review thread and not a discussion thread, it's kind of hard to give specifics, but let's just say that even if you figure everything out, there will still be questions while you're watching. There's also a brilliant contrast between the tagline of the movie and the ending that basically changes the meaning of the movie for me. Go to a discussion thread if you want spoilers! Some more thoughts: David Bowie as Tesla is the coolest thing ever. I want to shake the hand of the casting director. The soundtrack is pretty good, it complemented the suspense and the action on screen. Not very memorable though. My favourite movie of the year so far, 5/5 stratdax fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Oct 21, 2006 |
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Oct 21, 2006 21:44
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I loved this movie. I'm a Nolan fanboy, but I honestly don't think that fact makes me like this movie any more than I would have otherwise. It was just a tight, solid movie all the way through to the twisty ending. As others have said, the casting was PERFECT, as was almost everything else about the movie. One thing I love about Nolan's movies are the way he uses subtle music to create an ominous atmosphere. Nowadays it seems we only hear music when the scene is blatently emotional, exciting, scary etc. But Nolan uses music as a backdrop to the scene, creating a tense, and often times forboding, feel to the movie. Best movie I've seen this year outside of The Departed. 5/5
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Oct 21, 2006 22:07
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This movie is sheer brilliance (yet again) from The Nolan Brothers and all involved. I wouldn't go so far as to call it perfect, but it's easily one of the best of the year. As others have said, the film leaves several threads floating throughout the first and second acts that are all tied together in a satisfying way in the third. Every time it seems that the last puzzle piece has clicked into place, another piece you forgot about comes in and clicks, then another, and so on up until the last shot of the movie. That's not to say it's full of twists like, oh, say Basic...but it certianly is a convoluted story that I'm sure will reward repeated viewings. I would have liked a bit more of a soundtrack, but since that's the only fault that comes to mind I have to leave this awesome film at a 5/5.
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Oct 22, 2006 01:13
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I saw this movie last night, and I was blown away. Its far and away the best movie I've seen this year. At a few points in the film, I felt like I could sense a typical cliche movie plot device coming along, and I would think to myself "oh no, please dont do that, stay original", and lo-and-behold it always veered away and stayed true to itself. I was very pleased with the progression of the story line. Easy 5/5
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Oct 22, 2006 01:17
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Chiming in to say that I loved this movie, and agree that this is one of the best films of the year. Nolan did a spectacular job on this and you owe it to yourself to go see it.
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Oct 22, 2006 01:52
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Reminded me exactly of another Nolan masterpiece, Memento, in the way that the scenes are pieced together out of order so that the viewer only discovers what they all mean at the very end of the movie. Besides a great story, I felt really involved with the characters, and Nolan does an excellent job at making them both appear dark. It makes it hard to choose for someone to root for throughout the movie. The dialogue, which I assumed mostly was just over-the-top allegory, actually becomes very literal at the end of the movie. Great film.
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Oct 22, 2006 05:26
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I just got back from seeing this movie, and I have to say that it was amazing. Of course, as someone who's smarter than everyone else, I was trying to stay a step ahead of the movie the whole time. And I'll be damned if it didn't get me anyway. I don't know anything about the technical stuff but gently caress it was enjoyable so it must have been done right. Go see this immediately.
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Oct 22, 2006 08:05
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I was looking forward to this movie a lot, but came away vaguely disappointed. It's beautifully shot and has amazing actors, but the whole thing drags on more than it should. The resolution is telegraphed less than halfway through the movie when Jackman starts the "transported man" act, and the movie lost much of my interest at that point. I found myself hoping that there really was some ingenious twist coming up, but what we got was not only predictable but unnecessarily ludicrous. Major spoiler: If it took Jackman's girlfriend about five minutes to find a perfect double for him the first time, why on earth would he need Tesla's absurd contraption to pull off his trick? Not that "he has an identical twin!" isn't a close second to "it was all a dream!" as far as lazy plot devices go, mind you. I give it a 3.0/5. Pros: Great actors, pretty sets, novel plot and settings, David Bowie as Tesla. Cons: Long-winded, supremely silly plot development.
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Oct 22, 2006 16:04
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The group I saw it with all figured "it" out around half way through, and by the end we were all ready for it to wrap up. It's an enjoyable movie, but if you're looking for the twist you're going to find it, and then it won't be so enjoyable. Decent enough flick, though. 3.5/5
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Oct 22, 2006 23:21
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I read Christopher Priest's original novel about 10 years ago, loved it to bits and promptly recommended it to everyone I knew. Needless to say, when I found out Christopher "Memento/Batman Begins" Nolan was to direct an adaptation, I was pretty pleased. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed. The Nolan brothers' adaptation remains true to the spirit of the novel. They make a few minor changes, particularly where the denoument is concerned, but they only serve to clarify some of the novel's more ambiguous aspects and tie things up more definitively. Overall, excellent stuff. Perfectly cast. 4 out of 5. Check out Priest's The Separation, The Glamour and The Extremes if you enjoy this sort of thing.
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Oct 22, 2006 23:59
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4.5/5 awesome movie that I beleive should have had a more ambigious ending.
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Oct 23, 2006 01:35
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Sonance posted:I read Christopher Priest's original novel about 10 years ago, loved it to bits and promptly recommended it to everyone I knew. Needless to say, when I found out Christopher "Memento/Batman Begins" Nolan was to direct an adaptation, I was pretty pleased. I'd also read the book when I saw the movie meaning that I 1.) already knew the ending (more or less) and 2. Had something to compare it to. The movie stood up really well, and I found it very enjoyable. I give it a 4.5/5
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Oct 23, 2006 02:01
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I had much higher expectations for this movie. I thought the twists were far too obvious, then the Tesla machine actually being "magic" was a total cop out. I did, however, enjoy the look of the film, I was just expecting more. 3.5/5
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Oct 23, 2006 03:33
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I thought it was great. I came in knowing almost nothing about the movie, so I wasn't expecting anything amazing. I loved all the little twists and foreshawoding. The movie kept me questioning and I thought it didn't make sense until it would reveal what was going on, and then all the pieces fit. I agree with Eyecannon, though, it would have been better if it was all real and not a clone machine. 4.5/5
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Oct 23, 2006 04:01
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I was very impressed. I really enjoyed the foreshadowing with Bale and Jackman's deaths the same way their wives died. The twists were also great. The acting was fantastic. I was hooked throughout the entire movie and never got bored. Definitely worth seeing. 4.5/5 BobDoleBobDole fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Oct 23, 2006 |
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Oct 23, 2006 18:34
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not a review
Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Feb 27, 2007 |
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Oct 23, 2006 19:51
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I'm going to go ahead and be the first to post and say I gave it a 2.5/5 I dont watch too many movies where I lean forward in the theater, kind of look around, then turn to my friends and say "this is so boring." I did think David Bowie was awesome of course, but I was very underwhelmed with the pace of the film. I expected more of an action flick and less of a drama. I was also wondering what powered the elevator that carried Christian Bale/Hugh Jackman's characters up to the stage in the transported man trick? Steam? Electricity seems kind of doubtful in this era. I know they had but not in this kind of application.
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Oct 24, 2006 05:41
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not a freaking review
Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Feb 27, 2007 |
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Oct 24, 2006 18:04
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Sponrad posted:... but I was very underwhelmed with the pace of the film. I expected more of an action flick and less of a drama. Action... with magicians?!? What did you expect, the characters to dive across the theatre, pulling .45 caliber rabbits out of their hats akimbo-style while doves fluttered across screen in slow-motion? I can understand if action-flicks are your thing, but the trailers and any plot synopses for this film would never lead anyone to believe it was an action flick.
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Oct 25, 2006 12:51
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Saw it today, and I loved it. Sure, some of the twists were predictable, but I still found it amazing. Everything got wrapped up so perfectly in the end. I really liked the things you could notice after you find out about the twins thing. "Part of me loved her, but I love you" makes sense, the whole"some days you actually mean it when you say I love you", and the "half of me thinks I tied the regular knot, the other half thinks I tied the *knot name I can't remember* And the scene transitions at the very end were done perfectly. 5/5
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Oct 27, 2006 03:38
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Best movie I've seen in a long time. I cannot loving wait for The Dark Knight now, if this is standard of the quality Nolan and his brother put into their work. It was just brilliant, through and through. I want to go see it again. 5/5
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Oct 27, 2006 07:07
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5/5 This was everything I expected from a Christopher Nolan movie and possibly the most entertaining one I've seen all year (though Dead Man's Chest comes close). The plot was plenty suspenseful with very little humor. It rewards those who pay attention and try to think things through. As you can see with a few of the previous reviews, this movie is a hit or miss depending on how seriously you want to take the plot. I think if you allow yourself to get caught up in it (which is very easy to do), you'll enjoy it a lot more. Plus, the acting was absolutely top-notch from Wolverine and Batman. One thing I didn't understand was how the old man found out about Christian Bale's secret. He wasn't surprised when the one showed up to collect his daughter at the end. I imagine it was a deleted scene. Also, some major C&C: Red Alert nostalgia came out of this movie 
Divide Error fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Oct 28, 2006 |
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Oct 28, 2006 08:12
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nobody is explaining you anything
Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Feb 27, 2007 |
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Oct 30, 2006 19:55
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the first time i saw this movie i was so intoxicated that i only saw the beginning, 10 minutes of the middle and the end. i lucked out and those were all it really took to understand what happens at the end of the movie without having to bother everyone about what i missed. but having heard from everyone who saw it with me how good it was, i had to go back and see it again. and this movie really is, without a doubt, one of the most rewatchable movies ive seen in a long time. knowing the big reveal at the end far from ruins this movie. it enhances it. it is chock full of hidden motion and subtext, 98% of which you will miss the first time thru. everyone else can give you great reasons to see this movie the first time. all of them are true. but i am here to strongly urge you to see it a second. 4.7/5
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Nov 1, 2006 14:00
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god drat it no explanations
Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Feb 27, 2007 |
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Nov 2, 2006 04:11
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At some point in the film, either Jackman or Bale's character posits that magic is all about seducing the audience, making them believe, even for a split second, that the real world isn't the final word on what's out there and that magic is possible. He's correct enough if you take it to be referring to magic in the Victorian period in which the film is set, but it's not an eternal truth. Modern magic is a battle of wits. You know it's all a trick, and the magician knows you know, and he comes at you expecting you to be watching him every step of the way to try and figure out how he does it. Penn & Teller embody this perfectly, with their forthright honesty that everything's a lie and their willingness to let the audience in on the trick every now and again. They have one trick in which Penn tells the audience, every step of the way, exactly what he's doing. However, since he moves quickly and talks quicker, and your attention is split in half trying to listen to him and watch his hands at the same time, you come away still having no idea how he just did it, even though he told you how as he was doing it. That's the game -- you're going to watch as closely as you can, he's going to try to distract you as cleverly as he can, and then let's just see what happens, shall we? I bring all that up because The Prestige, like its subject matter, is entirely a battle of wits, staged between Nolan and the audience. "Okay, you know I like to make twisty movies, and I'm doing a film about magicians, who are tricksters by their very nature," Nolan is saying. "I'm going to trick you this time and you know I'm going to trick you, so let's not fool ourselves. I'll open the movie with a tacit admission that a great act of misdirection has just been started, I'll explain the basic narrative structure I'll be working with, and I'll urge you to keep your eyes open and watch for the trick. We're going to play fair here, tonight. Ready? Okay... now... watch closely." And then the movie is off, propelled by a taunt, suspenseful plot, powered along by an absurdly talented cast who have all been handed wonderful, complex roles and are repaying Nolan by knocking them out of the park. Even if there were no twists to be watching for, no metaplot of the battle of wits Nolan is engaging the audience in, the movie would still be worth your money -- you're going to be so entertained by the actual movie that at times it's hard to remember to keep your eyes open for clues. And that, of course, is half the point: it's all misdirection. The battle of wits adds a layer of complexity and triple meanings onto even the most banal of lines. When it's stated that there's nothing better than a pretty assistant to distract the audience, and then Scarlett Johannson walks onto the screen, how are you supposed to take that? As basic exposition? As a clue to keep your eye on Johannson's character? As a trick, another version of Penn & Teller's "I'm going to tell you exactly what I'm doing to trick you but you still can't stop me"? All of them at the same time, maybe? It's maddening at times, and fantastically so. Nolan plays completely fair with the audience. When the last act comes and the twists and turns start coming heavy and fast, Nolan isn't flipping over hole cards, he's not taking the easy "aha, I told you it was X but in fact it was Y, gotcha, suckers!" route. Nolan plays with his cards up throughout the entire movie. There's not a reveal or a twist that doesn't play off of something you were straight-up told earlier in the film. What makes it work is that, most of the time, you didn't realize you were being told something important. A throwaway line in the middle of the first act turns out to be crucial. The first shot of the movie sets up the final twist. It's all there on the table, if you had only been looking in the right place instead of falling for Nolan's misdirections. And, unfortuantely, that's also the one flaw of this movie. If you kept that first directive (look closely) in mind, if you were watching for tricks and searching for hidden meaning -- in other words, if you came into the battle of wits determined not to lose -- and if you're clever enough, you'll figure out every twist ahead of time. I came in swinging and ended up figuring out many of the twists pretty much at the moment that Nolan placed the final clues he'd need later on to reveal them. That fair play is a double-edged sword. Luckily, they're still great twists whether you figure them out as soon as they're available or when Nolan gets around to filling the slower members of the audience in on the truth, the sort that make you go "wait, wait.... OHHHHHHHH!" in that wonderful "NOW I see it" ecstasy that so few movies can pull off. It's a very small complaint, and that's the only complaint that I have. The movie's that good. Go see it.
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Nov 4, 2006 01:58
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I just came back from watching it. I found it to be an enjoyable movie. I did like the nice cameo at the beginning with Ricky Jay as the magician who initially uses Bale and Jackman. Although some of the movie is predictable, there were many nice moments and more than a few interesting twists with the plot and the characters. With that said, I would ask Mr. Nolan to please make a Tesla movie with David Bowie right away. 4/5 It hit me the other day when I was looking IMDB that Tesla's assistant Alley was played by Andy Serkis (aka LOTR's Gollum). spooky kid fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Nov 10, 2006 |
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Nov 5, 2006 08:19
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spooky kid posted:
agreed. i voted 5/5, it was very good, good acting by all, especially bale which you understand at the end; and jackman which is a good show too. Great plot, great story, some sweet fx, an all around fun move. Scarlett is hot as always.
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Nov 10, 2006 01:00
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I have to give this movie a 4/5. I enjoyed the movie very much, and reccomend it, and maybe I was slow the night I way it, but I had a bit of trouble following the way the storyline was told (jumps between memory and present tense).
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Nov 11, 2006 05:14
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I really, really enjoyed this film. I think Capnandy's review is pretty accurate, you're told pretty much everything to figure out the end. I also like the parallel rivalry of Tesla/Edison with Jackman/Bale's rivalry in the film. 5/5
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Nov 12, 2006 14:32
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I love this movie. Very clever and well crafted. I think I would have enjoyed it in a more chronological order... but even so it kept me riveted. 4.5/5
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Nov 26, 2006 01:01
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I went to see the Prestige at the weekend. It’s not a good movie. I was pretty disappointed for several reasons. I mean you’ve got your basic ‘Christian Bale is a bastard and thus awesome’ thing, you’ve got Michael Caine, who is just awesome, without qualification, and you’ve got Christopher Nolan, who gave us Memento and Batman Begins, both of which I really like. It’s also an interesting idea. A feud between magicians at the turn of the century. Probably full of damsels being sawn in half. Awesome. Except it’s not. It’s full of 1,000 camels in the form of Nikolai Tesla. I’d better explain. Willian Goldman wrote a book, explaining how to write scripts, or at least, what not to do. And seeing as Goldman wrote Buch and sundance, Misery, The Princess Bride, and is probably the highest paid script doctor in the business, he probably knows at least something about what he is talking about. He says, when writing a screen play, to not be dumb. If you write a movie, and it begins: Ext. Daybreak, Central Park Establishing shot. A rumble is heard in the distance gradually getting louder. 1,000 CAMELS come into view, running across Central Park. Then you aren’t going to get anywhere with the person who has to read it. The first thing he’s going to think of is ‘What the gently caress? Book Central Park? In the morning? Does he know how much that will cost?’ and the second thing will be ‘1,000 camels? Are there even 1,000 camels? This guy is insane’. He’ll then throw your manuscript into the bin. Because it’s loving insane. He’s right. Sure, he’s a beancounter, but sometimes beancounters have very good points. If your name is Woody Allen, or Martin Scorcese, he’ll read to the end, because he’s assuming based on who you are, that you have some idea of what you are doing. The problem isn’t solely with the Beancounter. An audience can see something patently ridiculous, and it’ll stop THEM dead, too. People will laugh, and find the notion ridiculous and spend more time thinking about the stupidity of the idea than they do about the movie. Nikolai Tesla is 1,000 camels. The story centres on a feud, between to magicians, who spend their time trying to figure out each others tricks. In between, there’s a rather nice device whereby one character is reading the journal of the other, and trying to figure out his tricks, and also, 3 years later, the other character is trying to figure out the first characters journal. It’s a bit Mementoey, and like Memento, it’s centred on a mysterious twist. The problem with the twist is that the blind put over the audience to stop them realising the main twist is so absolutely, patently ludicrous that I lost any faith in the ability of the director to maintain interest, the actors to perform with a straight face, and the ability of the main twist to compensate for the stupidity of the blind. IT’d be like a conman trying to con someone out of a fiver by exploding the sun. I mean, it’s impossible, and completely outside the realm of believability. Spoilers eh? Spoilers. The plot basically revolves around Hugh Jackman seeking revenge for his woman being killed by Christian Bale. Christian Bale doesn’t blame himself, and so there’s a battle of careers, until Christian Bale comes up with the Transported Man, a trick where he bounces a ball, walks into a door, and then appears instantaneously a few meters away, opening a door to pick up the ball. It looks like he teleports. Hugh Jackman can’t really compete with this, so he sets out to find out how the trick is performed. He steals Christian Bales’ journal, and from it, finds out that he got the secret technique for the trick from Nikolai Tesla, who’s a pretty famous historical inventor, who got royally screwed by Edison, who is a far more famous historical self publicist. Jackman asks Tesla to recreate the trick for him. Jackman then finds out that the journal he stole is a fake, planted by Bale to get Jackman to waste time farting around with Tesla. However, Jackman discovers that Tesla didn’t make a teleporter, he made a copier. Anything in the field of the copier would be duplicated, and a copy created some distance away. Think about this. You are a renowned invented, and you’ve just invented something that is so far beyond the bounds of science and possibility that you would be farting through silk if you created it. Of course, your brilliant idea is to just give it to the bloke who asked for it. Jackman has his solution, though. He can get revenge. He will use the duplicator 100 times, for 100 shows, with a trapdoor. He will duplicate himself and the copy will reappear elsewhere, allowing him to recreate the illusion of the Transported man. But of course, there’s a problem. What about the one left behind on the stage? Easily solved, he’ll just use a trapdoor to drop his original into a tank of water, where he will safely drown. Around this point, if you aren’t thinking ‘That’s insanely loving stupid’ then shame on you. He’s killing (or planning on killing) 100 versions of himself so that he can get at Christian Bale. He’s cloned a blind guy 3 times so they can push the water tank containing the corpse into storage in his theatre. It’s painfully, pitifully stupid. The plan is that Christian Bale will go downstairs at the show, come to the tank, and be caught drowning the original or cloned Jackman. It doesn’t really matter. I think the point is to pummel your reason into such a state that you are willing to accept anything, no matter how stupid, as an explanation for the truth of how Christian Bale does his version of the Transported man gimmick. The real trick being extremely obvious: He has a twin, one goes in the door, one comes out the other door. Hey presto. So I saw the whole thing coming, and I’m not really one who is good at this sort of thing. I am surprised by the sun rising in the morning, so mystery twists are just that, a mystery. This was just fantastically, mindbendingly stupid. 1.5 out of 5
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Nov 27, 2006 16:44
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I enjoyed a lot of this film but found the twists pretty bland. They were telegraphed a mile off, and the only surprise left pertained to the possible actions the characters might given the twists that had been given away. However this wasn't the most disappointing thing about the film. The most disappointing thing was the issue of the protagonist. Who was the protagonist? I thought it was bloody unfair for Angier to be put through so much pain and suffering, to lose everything he had loved, to have his career brought to a crashing halt by Borden not once but three times, his wife killed, himself tricked and hounded, and at the end to have his only remaining friend betray him apparently with a clean conscience because he had supposedly been horrible. And yet really he is a victim. Yes, at the end he is pursuing a pitiless and lethal revenge, but the provocation that drove him to it was outrageous. I just couldn't enjoy seeing him brought low again and again and again only to be treated as a villain in the final reel, in what I felt should have been his moment of triumph against the vermin that was Borden(s), who killed Angier's wife but would not take responsibility for it, who got their comeuppance in the bullet catch but would not accept it, and who took every chance to push Angier to the edge of reason and beyond.
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Jan 30, 2007 17:47
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I saw this in theaters and loved it. It had a great mixture of fun and magicianship and a more dark, sinister tone. Both actors were great, as they usually are, and the story and directing was really immersive. It's definitely somthing that merits more than one viewing, so I plan to joyfully pick up the Blu-Ray release on Feb. 20th.
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Jan 30, 2007 18:30
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First of all it is a travesty this sits now on the second page. Having seen this just in advance of its dvd release, and finishing the final credits with my jaw on the floor. Honestly CapnAndy did a wonderful job summarizing the emotional grip this movie takes on you. Sitting down to see a tragedy in the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Followed by a gripped battle of showmanship as two magicians fight to out-do eachother. But under this comical battle lies a growing battle of wits to utterly destroy not just each others careers, but their very lives. There is an amazing point made in the first 20 seconds, "you dont really try, because to know his trick makes it worthless" This is what Von Linus is unable to do. He cries more for the fairness of the trick to be explained, unable to enjoy the suspense. And for all the eloquence of CapnAndy and his review, he too is unable to just let go.... CapnAndy posted:I came in swinging and ended up figuring out many of the twists pretty much at the moment that Nolan placed the final clues he'd need later on to reveal them. I give this movie an outrageous 6/5, you must sit down, and watch the movie. Not fight so you can brag to your friends that you guessed he was Tyler Durden all along.... If you are willing to watch the magician at work you will find your hero and protagonist crutches ripped from your hands, cast aside as such petty cliché’s and a story told that will leave you breathless. Helix fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Feb 16, 2007 |
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Feb 16, 2007 11:55
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The Artificial Kid posted:However this wasn't the most disappointing thing about the film. The most disappointing thing was the issue of the protagonist. Who was the protagonist? I thought it was bloody unfair for Angier to be put through so much pain and suffering, to lose everything he had loved, to have his career brought to a crashing halt by Borden not once but three times, his wife killed, himself tricked and hounded, and at the end to have his only remaining friend betray him apparently with a clean conscience because he had supposedly been horrible. And yet really he is a victim. Yes, at the end he is pursuing a pitiless and lethal revenge, but the provocation that drove him to it was outrageous. I just couldn't enjoy seeing him brought low again and again and again only to be treated as a villain in the final reel, in what I felt should have been his moment of triumph against the vermin that was Borden(s), who killed Angier's wife but would not take responsibility for it, who got their comeuppance in the bullet catch but would not accept it, and who took every chance to push Angier to the edge of reason and beyond. This is exactly what I thought, word for word. It really felt like Borden wouldn't accept that he had killed Angier's wife, yet he came out in the end as the victor, with Angier as the supposed "villain." I really wanted Angier to get what he deserved, which was to get revenge for the loss of his wife, but as we all know, he didn't. Because of how I felt about this, I'm going to give this a 1.5/5. Great cast, but I really didn't like that strange lapse in who's good/bad.
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Feb 21, 2007 09:41
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poof! magic (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Feb 27, 2007 |
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Feb 26, 2007 23:55
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AntF posted:This is exactly what I thought, word for word. You realize that the Borden that survives in the end might not have been the Borden that kills Angier's wife, right? One of the Bordens was innocent, the other one tied the knot. The movie lets you decide for yourself who is good and bad rather than telling you how you should feel. A bit of a shame that you voted it a 1.5 for this
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Feb 27, 2007 15:42
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