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The Prestige became a decade old this week. Where's the love here?

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H

Haines

Banned
Spoilers.


I rewatched this the other day with the wife. Her first time seeing it.

I didnt understand the jackman risk on the cloning machine.

How does the machine work? It teleports you away and makes a clone in your place? And his risk was that he dint truly understand if the machine could go sideways and transport the clone a distance away instead?
 
J

John Kowalski

Banned
What did he mean by this? said:
And the twist? What is there to be said about that asinine ending. For how few dramatic magician movies are made, did they really have to ruin it with science fiction crap? Nevermind the other completely unfeasible twist of the really really REALLY committed magicians.
Did they plan that shit out the goddamn womb
Click to expand...

The sci fi was part of the big point it made about magic. The truth is horrible and it's the magician's art to make people escape the true nature of, well, nature, and become fixated in a fantasy of wonder, beauty and well meaning mystery. When, in truth,
the birds are being killed and the untranspoted man is destined to death. Similarly, the truth behind the happenings of the movie are equally disturbing. One man entertains his crowd with a fifty fifty chance of dying horribly each night, the others have only ever lives half a life each.

In fact i quite like its take on science fiction, the nature of the technology at play is always markedly amoral, mathematical- Also, Borden's keen understanding that this is exactly what he must hide from his costumers. He understands the godless truth of things and uses it to his favor.
 
W

What did he mean by this?

Member
John Kowalski said:
The sci fi was part of the big point it made about magic. The truth is horrible and it's the magician's art to make people escape the true nature of, well, nature, and become fixated in a fantasy of wonder, beauty and well meaning mystery. When, in truth,
the birds are being killed and the untranspoted man is destined to death. Similarly, the truth behind the happenings of the movie are equally disturbing. One man entertains his crowd with a fifty fifty chance of dying horribly each night, the others have only ever lives half a life each.

In fact i quite like its take on science fiction, the nature of the technology at play is always markedly amoral, mathematical- Also, Borden's keen understanding that this is exactly what he must hide from his costumers. He understands the godless truth of things and uses it to his favor.
Click to expand...

So its a commentary on the cutthroat world of magic where life and death are a flip of a coin away instead maybe a couple dozen safety crew members and emts away in real life

Is this The Wrestler for magicians?

And I thought Borden's wife as the bird allegory for the the trick, but apparently everyone is a bird
 
BibiMaghoo

BibiMaghoo

Member
Haines said:
Spoilers.


I rewatched this the other day with the wife. Her first time seeing it.

I didnt understand the jackman risk on the cloning machine.

How does the machine work? It teleports you away and makes a clone in your place? And his risk was that he dint truly understand if the machine could go sideways and transport the clone a distance away instead?
Click to expand...

My understanding was that it doesn't teleport the original, just creates a new version at another point. I think the risk was only before the water tank setup, because the trick clearly required the original Jackman to die each time it was performed. The exiting Jackman wouldn't remember drowning.
 
W

What did he mean by this?

Member
DeathyBoy said:
People calling the ending trash... I'm sorry Nolan pulled his own Prestige on y'all.
Click to expand...

I figured that out already when my friends all spent time discussing all the scenes of the twins fooling people, instead of yknow the groundbreaking alternate timeline where cloning exists in the early 1900s (and no one seems to care).

This must be a Star Trek prequel
 
G

gforguava

Member
Haines said:
How does the machine work? It teleports you away and makes a clone in your place? And his risk was that he dint truly understand if the machine could go sideways and transport the clone a distance away instead?
Click to expand...
It is unknowable.

When the flip is switched there are suddenly two Angiers. It is impossible to determine if the machine teleports the person in it out and leaves a clone in his place or if it spits out a clone leaving the original where he was.

But either way it doesn't matter because Angier's revenge was so all encompassing that he was willing to commit suicide 100 times over to get Borden. But Angier's obsession blinded him to the simple nature of Borden's "The Transported Man" which in turn robs Angier of his total revenge.
 
F

Fancyarcher

Member
One of my favorite Nolan films. Just really a great story of magicians. The ending "twist" always made sense within the context of the story to me.
 
W

What did he mean by this?

Member
Can someone make a supercut of all the times a character doesnt recognize another character right in front of them (usually in a beard) until the camera is right in frame of their face? That happened 50 times maybe
 
T

Trigonometrize.

Member
I think I prefer all of Nolan's films over it except for Insomnia because I haven't watched that one. It's still pretty good, but at the end I thought the whole experience just felt petty and I didn't care about the characters' goals.
 
M

MomoPufflet

Member
I get bored rewatching every other Nolan movie except this one. I wish he made more films like this. I find myself coming back to it every couple years and it always has an effect on me.
 
Raonak

Raonak

Banned
One of my top 3 movies of all time.
definitely nolan's best as well.

Awesome movie to rewatch, because theres clues hidden everywhere in the movie.
 
J

jelly

Member
I get more confused by people being confused than what happens in the film. I'm one to admit things do fly over my head sometimes but the film is so clear with what happened other than
the man in the tank being a clone or the original
but that doesn't really matter in the end.
 
I

Iceman

Member
The perfect script. Every single facet of the movie bled from a fascinating question: how far would you go to experience the highest prestige? Are you willing to risk everything?

Of course, a huge credit goes to the original book that inspired the adaptation.
 
N

NaDannMaGoGo

Member
Still among my top 3 favorite movies easily. It's stupid how often I can rewatch it or follow yet another online discussion and still find a neat aspect I didn't notice so far.

It's bloody absurd how many hints there are in plain sight throughout the entire movie, yet it wasn't shortly before the reveal at the end that I actually realized it myself. It's wonderful when dozens of puzzle pieces then begin to click into place <3

I mean, right in the middle of the movie Cutter just outright says
'he's using a double'
but fuck me if I payed mind to that notion.
 
I

ibyea

Banned
NaDannMaGoGo said:
Still among my top 3 favorite movies easily. It's stupid how often I can rewatch it or follow yet another online discussion and still find a neat aspect I didn't notice so far.

It's bloody absurd how many hints there are in plain sight throughout the entire movie, yet it wasn't shortly before the reveal at the end that I actually realized it myself. It's wonderful when dozens of puzzle pieces then begin to click into place <3

I mean, right in the middle of the movie Cutter just outright says
'he's using a double'
but fuck me if I payed mind to that notion.
Click to expand...

And Angier is like "no it's too simple". In a rewatch, the dramatic irony is just amazing. The thing is, magic tricks can actually be that simple. And this fact is part of why the
the cloning machine
is such an important part of the movie. This is a movie that gets what magic tricks are about.

Man, this movie is the best.
 
E

emag

Member
My favorite movie.

Iceman said:
The perfect script. Every single facet of the movie bled from a fascinating question: how far would you go to experience the highest prestige? Are you willing to risk everything?

Of course, a huge credit goes to the original book that inspired the adaptation.
Click to expand...

I like that in the movie it is clearer that
the Angier who starts out on stage dies every time the trick is performed, as opposed to the book where it's explained to be the opposite (and goes way more into the supernatural). Angier's obsession leading him to literally kill himself (repeatedly!) just for his legacy
is a much more powerful story.
 
I

ibyea

Banned
emag said:
My favorite movie.



I like that in the movie it is clearer that
the Angier who starts out on stage dies every time the trick is performed, as opposed to the book where it's explained to be the opposite (and goes way more into the supernatural). Angier's obsession leading him to literally kill himself (repeatedly!) just for his legacy
is a much more powerful story.
Click to expand...

I thought it was ambiguous. Not even Angier
knows which "Angier" he is
.
 
K

krang

Member
xtrasauce said:
I'm still not sure how to feel about the introduction of
"real magic" slash made-up science
at the end of the movie.
Click to expand...

I mean, just arcing electricity and having it do that was a bit far-fetched. That's the kind of thing I used to do as a kid to create a time machine...
 
N

NealMcCauley

Member
I remember watching it for the first time and doing a double take when
Angier said "I don't care about my wife, I care about his secret."

That's when it first dawned on me maybe Angier was going mad.
 
M

Mondrian

Member
I love this movie a lot, but I'm totally shocked that so many people think this is Nolan's best... I mean, I'm a fan of all his movies but Memento is clearly his pinnacle... there will never be anything else like it.

I rewatched the prestige recently and just adored Bowie as Tesla. I've always wanted to read the book to see how the story compares.
 
C

Crimson-Death

Member
Familienoberhauptvogel said:
Yup he says it's anguishing not knowing whether he'd be the one to drown or to appear in the crowd.
Click to expand...

I always thought that was something he said to himself to make it easier for himself, but for all intents and purposes he is
both, and is killing himself every time.
One of many great talking points in the movie.



Broken Joystick said:
Nolan's best film.
Click to expand...

Completely agree, edging out Memento for me.
 
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