The Prestige Spoilers being the cut and all through the comments

[puppetmaker]

Since I know at least one other person who would love to discuss the film I am putting up this entry. Don't click if you don't want to know


We both thought that Christian Bale's accent went in and out and that was bad action UNTIL the reveal that it was two people and then both the accent and the lines like "I love you but not today" made a hell of a lot more sense.

Comments

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think about the "Do you love me?" "Not today." until a day after I saw the flick. The accent never occured to me. Why would twin brothers have different accents? Him not knowing what knot he tied at the funeral made more sense. I knew early on that "Silent Bob" had to be a double or some other mystery thing. For some reason I fancied that he was some sort of magical creature that Christian had befriended. This is because the trailer led me to believe there'd be "real magic" in the movie. I was expecting a sort of "science vs magic" showdown. So the big reveal of the twin was kind of a letdown.

I don't know about you, but I had very little idea of the history of stage magic. The fact that they actually killed birds to do that cage trick sickened me. But I see it being very much a part of the plot. It's all about obsession. About doing whatever it takes to make the illusion.

I started feeling ill as soon as I saw the two cats. Because I remember years ago, when I was a kid, watching a Canadian short animated movie about a guy who invents or finds a teleporting machine. Except it teleports by making an exact duplicate and killing the original. And it's the source of much existential angst, both in the short movie and in my own head. So seeing Hugh do exactly that was much of a shock, and horrifying. He killed himself every night for the sake of the illusion. Or did he? I mean, following the memory chain, whenever he does the trick, he's the one who's transported. He never has to see the other him drown. As far as he's concerned, he never dies. It makes me brain hurt and my stomach flip.

And I just want to say that I found my inner fanboy squeeing a bit at David Bowie's portrayal of Tesla.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

The fact that he committed "suicide" every night was just stomach churning for me as well. Notice that he was most surprised when he was shot and realized that he wasn't jumping anywhere. The final shot in the theater with the body in the tank and realizing that he was willing to do it 100 times just for the chance to get back at Bale or that is all the basement of the theater would hold I wasn't quite sure and don't know if I want to know. He didn't know if he was the copy or the original and didn't really care either.

I did know about the collasping cage trick but I have worked with a number of magicians over the years and have signed a number of NDA in blood (OK not really but doggone close) so I went into this with more knowledge than the average viewer.

It is a story of obession and obession gone horribly wrong.

I did find parts of the writing a bit scizo in terms of what the main characters motivations were at any point. I find it kind of funny that the hero of the piece really becomes the villian by the end and the villian not so much since it was his brother that did most of the bad stuff (Oh you could do a whole sub-plot on jeckle and hyde on this one)

[eilonwy.livejournal.com]

I think that Angier *did* care about committing 'suicide' every night-- he says as much, says that that's his sacrifice right before Borden explains all the sacrifice he and his brother did ("It was simple but never easy.") He just didn't care as much as he cared about getting at Borden.

I was never sure who was 'supposed' to be the hero or the villian, and didn't see it that way, really. I was with Borden from the start, although as soon as I figured out that Borden was two Bordens I did want to kick him for not telling the truth to Sarah. I guess maybe we were supposed to be with Angiers because (one of the) Borden(s) killed Angier's wife, but she nodded and told him to go ahead with the other kind of knot.

And since both Bordens were both, um, Borden I'm not sure that you can say that his brother did most of the bad stuff. Maybe I'll have to watch it all again to see if I can figure out which Borden is which. (Darn, more staring at Christian Bale, oh woe is me. How ever will I manage it? ::grin::)

One of the friends I went to see the movie with made a good point-- that fire at the end wasn't exactly racing out of control, and Borden had just lost his twin brother, the 'thing' that made his most amazing magic possible, and there's that machine there that makes exact duplicates... And then the movie ends.

I immediately (and I do mean immediately, racing to Borders with only 10 minutes to spare before closing) bought the book and plan to read it just as soon as I get through some schoolwork, and will undoubtedly talk about it in my LJ, if you're curious.

I didn't see the Illusionist, but you say you liked it better?

Um, oh, hi! By the way. :) I followed you here from Shadesong's journal. ::Waves::