A discussion of the film "The Prestige"

By | March 7, 2007
4 Comments

Let me get the movie review part out of the way. The Prestige is great! Go see it. 5 out of 5 stars.

What I really want to do is talk about the movie – with spoilers. Trust me – you don’t want this movie spoiled. Imagine having The Sixth Sense explained in advance. Come back when you’ve seen the movie.

[BIG BAD SPOILERS AHEAD]

  • http://robot_guy.blogspot.com Ed Minchau

    I have to agree with this assessment of The Prestige. I am astounded that this movie didn’t get widely released in theaters. In fact, I never even heard of it until I saw it on DVD a little while ago – and I’m glad I did. The comparasin to The Sixth Sense is apt; one could also compare it to No Way Out or Fight Club for all the twists and turns in the plot.

  • D. Vision

    The Prestige was an absolutely fantastic movie. There are symbols on several levels and hints all throughout the movie. I saw it once in the theater and it took a good chunk of my wild ruminations over the next couple of days just to think about it. I bought it on DVD and watched it two days in a row. Both times I saw new things.

    The symbolism with the birds is profound. Most of the disappearing bird/cage tricks require two birds, one of which is sacrificed for the trick. Apt.

    Plus, the opening scene with the top hats–it’s right there in plain sight–marvelous.

    One thing it took me until the third viewing to realize was that the wife Elizabeth figured out Borden’s secret. That’s what they were arguing about the night before she killed herself.

    The only thing I haven’t quite worked out is–OK. So you have this unbelievably accurate copying machine that can duplicate the complexities of all the nano-scale detail of a human at the molecular and cellular level….and you use it to…copy yourself?

    Why not copy a huge pile of diamonds? And then copy the two new pile of diamonds, and then those four….

  • http://www.speculist.com Stephen Gordon

    D:

    Good point. It could have solved Tesla’s money problems too.

    Best explanation: both men – Tesla and Angier – were so blinded by their obsessions that they couldn’t see the more obvious money-making opportunities for the machine.

  • DakotaP

    The thing that got me wondering, was at the end with the wrap-up. I’m probably looking too deeply into the movie, but as Alfred is leaving with Sara, Cutter looks around. Now, watch the movie, but assume that Cutter is Alfred’s twin, but he escapes or fooled the noose.
    (Hey, it worked in Romeo&Juliet) Comments?