The Prestige

[polkablues]

To paraphrase Paul Rudd in 40 Year Old Virgin, I always though Jackman was kind of a Streisand, but he's rocking the shit in this one.  Yeah, the twists are too clever by half; yeah, the Tesla thing doesn't really make sense if you think about it for a couple of minutes; but the depth of Hugh Jackman's performance as a man who's destroyed by his obsessions is what redeems everything else in this movie.  Seeing him in this just makes me that much more excited for The Fountain.

[bigperm]

Very Disappointing... not a BAD movie, but...

SOME UNSPECIFIC SPOILERS

I hate movies that rely almost only on "twists and turns", especially ones you can see coming from fucking MILES away.  There were WAY too many clues in this movie and the plot twists were way too obvious and boring.  Two and a half hours for that?  I was REALLY hoping (as I usually do when I watch a movie as void of anything other than twists as this) that the obvious twists were just to misguide you while an actual interesting twist happened.  At least that would have been something.

It's a well made film... Bowie is very entertaining and the acting is pretty nice... there are a couple decent chuckles throughout, but it was poorly written.  It assumed the audience wasn't going to see shit coming so it got too cocky and installed so many winks and nods that it became easy to figure out.

If it would have underplayed the twists and made it more character driven or given it a better plot, it would have been a really good movie because the mood was set well.

They should have made Carter Beats the Devil into a movie.. with this and the Illusionist both being less than expected that might not ever happen.

u shood come ovr sumtime, we culd watch Alf re-runs 2gether.

[Gold Trumpet]

Little to argue about the production values, but another example of a weak script.

(Spoilers)
The first half hour or so of the film is very weak. The film gives us a tragedy and rivalry all in the first half hour. I just never felt any greater feelings that legitimized both events. When Jackman loses his wife, his feelings afterward are better implied than detailed. Even his relationship with his wife was minmal stuff. Then I had equal disinterest for Bale's character. He prides himself as the one who will take risks, but is this the only basis for his obsession? And why was he so keen to a rivaly with Jackman? The man who shot him early on during the stunt was never associated with Jackman or anyone significant. Plus Bale was always confident he was the better magician. He didn't worry about Jackman as an equal til much later on.

The film compounds itself early on because it starts out by telling dual stories and telling them mid story. Eventually the film finds a new storyline and develops characters (Johannsson and Caine). The problem at the end is that it still never is truly able to garner interest or belief in the rivalry or the depths of Jackman's and Bale's obsession. It tidies all this up by twists and turns that kill off much of the cast. These twists and turns are pay offs for the mind games of the subject matter, but sadly they are also the only elements that detail the two main characters.

[polkablues]

The man who shot him early on during the stunt was never associated with Jackman or anyone significant.

SPOILER

The man who shot off Bale's fingers was Jackman in disguise.

[w/o horse]

It's on my list next to Superman Returns and Lady in the Water.

[last days of gerry the elephant]

The man who shot him early on during the stunt was never associated with Jackman or anyone significant.

SPOILER

The man who shot off Bale's fingers was Jackman in disguise.

I can't believe someone missed that.

[Kal]

I liked it very much... was interested the whole time... thought the twists were not that great but the movie was entertaining enough and the performances were excellent.

Now, I'm a little tired of Nolan using the same technique and style always... back and forth and middle and back and forth... can he just fucking tell a story from beginning to end and still make it interesting?

David Bowie is the king.

[Gold Trumpet]

The man who shot him early on during the stunt was never associated with Jackman or anyone significant.

SPOILER

The man who shot off Bale's fingers was Jackman in disguise.

I can't believe someone missed that.

Someone did. Humbly so.

[Pas]

The man who shot him early on during the stunt was never associated with Jackman or anyone significant.

SPOILER

The man who shot off Bale's fingers was Jackman in disguise.

I can't believe someone missed that.

Someone did. Humbly so.

Hahaha god I'm trying to imagine how silly the whole rivalry plot must seem if you haven't noticed Jackman busted his hand !

[Gold Trumpet]

The man who shot him early on during the stunt was never associated with Jackman or anyone significant.

SPOILER

The man who shot off Bale's fingers was Jackman in disguise.

I can't believe someone missed that.

Someone did. Humbly so.

Hahaha god I'm trying to imagine how silly the whole rivalry plot must seem if you haven't noticed Jackman busted his hand !

There were still reasons to gage a rivalry (I guess). It was an honest mistake. I sometimes miss these details. My mind can't help circulating numerous thoughts during movies that I become prone to miss smaller details. I usually pick them up on second and third viewings. The Prestige stopped all interest after the first viewing.

[MacGuffin]

Interview: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN MESMERIZES OVER THE PRESTIGE
The director of the magician flick talks the challenges of making a small film and working with Christian Bale again. 
Source: iF Magazine

Christopher Nolan made a big impact with the amazing re-imaging of BATMAN BEGINS with a tale of the Dark Knight the way it should have been from the beginning and luckily for everyone no Governator in sight.

THE PRESTIGE is a far cry from BATMAN BEGINS in that it focuses on two competing magicians who are so fierce in their rivalry that it leads to murder. The film is a turn-of-the-century period thriller with no spandex in site and that means no superheroes but real world representations of character and, of course, the evil within humanity.

"I think that any field where obsessive behavior and extraordinary ambition are rewarded is a place where certainly that environment becomes conducive to otherwise unacceptable behavior," Nolan says. "I think that human society has all kinds of rationalizations and structures that allow for inhuman behavior whether it's the corporate structure that depersonalizes behavior towards other people or other institutions or whether it's the excuse of supporting a family or ambition or artistic achievement – whatever it is."

And people behaving badly is what THE PRESTIGE is all about and for Nolan that is where the mystery and the extraordinary nature of characters in film comes into play.

The novel which THE PRESTIGE was based on presented its own challenges because squeezing down a sprawling book into a two hour movie isn't the easiest thing to do.

"I think that the biggest challenge was probably translating some of the narrative devices that we really wanted to retain such as the use of diary's in the book and the specific resonance of that. Other things that we tried to retain like the present day framing device ultimately could not stand and we replaced them with different framing devices," Nolan says. "So it took a long time really to whittle it down and really focus on the essential elements that would make a movie. It's a loose adaptation, but I think that it's one that's true to the spirit of the novel."

But that was only one part of the challenge for Nolan and after having such a large budget for BATMAN BEGINS to direct a film on a much smaller scale presented challenges of there own. "I found THE PRESTIGE in technical terms to be something of a refresher course in keeping filmmaking a little looser and little more spontaneous and in going back to a more formal and bigger budget, an action film and all the rest, I would hate to not retain some of that spirit," Nolan says. "It was a fun way to make the film and it was much more in line with my first films in terms of just the feel of the filmmaking and it was fun to get back to that, and it's certainly something that I wouldn't want to dismantle. There is no reason to."

Nolan wasn't afraid that using Christian Bale again would be a problem after playing BATMAN because his chracters are never written with a specific actor in mind. "I don't think of performers because I find that limiting because you start to write them as like Christian Bale in AMERICAN PSYCHO or Christian Bale in ..." Nolan says. "I always try to view the characters as simply who they are in the script and so before I finished the script I certainly didn't say to him, 'Oh, I have this great part.' Or anything like that."

Actually, Nolan was afraid Bale might balk at the idea of working with him because of the possibility of the two doing another BATMAN film shortly. "So that's three films in a row," he says. "That's a very long road to walk together, but he seemed up for it which was great."

[modage]

There were still reasons to gage a rivalry (I guess). It was an honest mistake. I sometimes miss these details. My mind can't help circulating numerous thoughts during movies that I become prone to miss smaller details. I usually pick them up on second and third viewings. The Prestige stopped all interest after the first viewing.

so you were missing crucial details in the film because you were already thinking up your negative review?  surprising.

[last days of gerry the elephant]

There were still reasons to gage a rivalry (I guess). It was an honest mistake. I sometimes miss these details. My mind can't help circulating numerous thoughts during movies that I become prone to miss smaller details. I usually pick them up on second and third viewings. The Prestige stopped all interest after the first viewing.

so you were missing crucial details in the film because you were already thinking up your negative review?  surprising.

my thoughts exactly.

[Gold Trumpet]

There were still reasons to gage a rivalry (I guess). It was an honest mistake. I sometimes miss these details. My mind can't help circulating numerous thoughts during movies that I become prone to miss smaller details. I usually pick them up on second and third viewings. The Prestige stopped all interest after the first viewing.

so you were missing crucial details in the film because you were already thinking up your negative review?  surprising.

There was a time when you didn't approach me with an asshole mentality and we actually got along well. What happened? And no, I wasn't already rendering a negative verdict, I was just assessing the details of what I had already seen. My reviews on here are lengthier than others but they are actually still snippet reviews. My reviews are best exemplified by 3,000 word plus reviews I sometimes do for Alternate Takes. That's the only place I feel I get everything I want say in.

[Pubrick]

There was a time when you didn't approach me with an asshole mentality and we actually got along well. What happened?

he realised you guys share the same opinion on The New World. he hates what he's become. also he saw a picture of you wearing a white wig.